|
FEATURES
Armenia
Bolivia
Chagos
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Italy
Israel
Philippines
Spain
South Africa
Turkey
Mehmet Tarhan
Switzerland
UK
Gulf War 2
USA
World
War 1
World
War 2
Vietnam
Gulf
War 1
Gulf
War 2
Stephen
Funk
Venezuela
Civil
disobedience
Disability
Mothers
& fathers
protest
Other voices
Rape
NEWS
AND UPDATES
GETTING
OUT!
For
more information on how to get out of the military, see the War
Resisters' International website for
UK and the US,
and Central
Committee for Conscientious Objectors
for the US.
Payday/UK
Po Box 287 London
NW6 5QU England
Tel: +44-20-7482 2496
Fax: +44-20-7219 4761
Payday/US
PO Box 11795
Philadelphia, PA 19101
Tel: +1-215-848-1120
Fax: +1-215-848-1130
payday@paydaynet.org
for
more about Payday
for more
about the Global
Women's Strike
|
|
Court-Martial of Watada Might Not Come:
U.S.
District Judge Benjamin Settle on Thursday imposed a preliminary
injunction to temporarily bar the Army from trying Watada a second time
while saying the officer likely will prevail on the merits of his
pending case.
9
November 2007 |
|
A win in U.S. District Court For LT.
Ehren Watada:
What we seek: 1.
Stop the Army from putting Lt. Watada on trial again. 2.
Drop all charges against Lt. Watada.
3 Release Lt. Watada from the Army and grant him an honorable discharge.
8 November 2007 |
|
In Los Angeles
the Vigil to Protest Second Court-Martial of Lt. Watada
will
take place again
on Monday, Oct. 15, 5:30-7:00 p.m.
and every Monday until further notice at the corner of Alameda
and First Streets in Little Tokyo.15
October 2007 |
|
Watada's Double
Jeopardy
no
American can be tried twice for the same offense ... It is the
absolute responsibility of everybody in uniform to disobey an
order that is either illegal or immoral.
12 October
2007 |
|
Benjamin Settle
stayed
the Watada trial from beginning on Tuesday, October 9
and set a hearing for Friday, October 19. His ruling also states
that the trial cannot begin until at least October 26. The
bigger question is whether it will ever happen at all. Now there
is no chance that this case is going to escape strict
international scrutiny. None.
6 October 2007 |
|
Listen to Ehren Watada's lawyer in preparation for trial,
2 October
2007 |
|
Alert from Carolyn Ho and Mike Wong, Vietnam war refuser
and Watada supporter,
29 September |
| Watada's
court-martial halted by
double-jeopardy argument. Seattle
Times
19 May 2007 |
|
Victory in Lt. Ehren Watada court-martial!
If I am guilty of any crime, it is that I
learned too much and cared too deeply for
the meaningless loss of my fellow soldiers
and my fellow human beings. Lt. Ehren
Watada
1 March 2007 |
|
Messages of
support from
Rosie O'Donnell and
Stephen Funk |
Audio report of Lt. Watada's
Court-Martial.
Listen to Margaret Prescot, Women of Color
in the Global Women's Strike, and Eric
Gjertsen, Payday men's network.
Click
here |
|
Watada
Court-Martial ends in mistrial
The court-martial of First Lt. Ehren
Watada has ended in a mistrial, a
military court judge ruled Wednesday.
7 February 2007 |
|
Making an
Example of Ehren Watada.The
people running the Iraq War are eager to
make an example of Ehren Watada. They've
convened a kangaroo court-martial. But
the man on trial is setting a profound
example of conscience - helping to
undermine the war that the Pentagon's
top officials are so eager to protect.
6 February 2007 |
Refusing to join the killing
Ann Douglas of the Morning Star reports on
Britain's part in the global solidarity campaign
for US military refusenik Lieutenant Ehren
Watada
6 February 2007 |
1,000 rally
for Lt. Watada at Fort Lewis during court
martial
As Lt. Watada’s mother Carolyn Ho
entered the legal building at 8:30 am, dozens of
supporters, lined up across the street, erupted
into cheers. This is probably not something that
happens on Fort Lewis often
6 February 2007 |
Instead
of Iraq, a battle all his own
Thousands of GIs have gone AWOL or voiced
opposition to the Iraq war, but when an officer
says he won't go, the whole military machine
must take note. A Los Angeles Times
article.
5 February 2007 |
Unpublished letters to The Guardian and The
Independent,
by Michael Kalmanovitz, Payday
5 February 2007 |
|
Photos
of the International day of action
5 February 2007 |
PRESS:
Guardian (UK)
3 February 2007
San Francisco Chronicle
30 January 2007
Washington Post
4 January 2007 |
|
Amnesty International
press release:
USA war
objector's
freedom of conscience must be respected
2 February 2007 |
VIDEO:
Watch
Ehren's Speech at the Veterans for Peace
Conference 12 August 2006. Get a copy on
DVD by writing to
payday@paydaynet.org
Read the
speech here. |
 |
|
Participating countries so far - International Days
of Action 3-4-5 February 2007
England
Ireland
Phila
Washington DC
2
February 2007 |
|
Watada Agreement Means
Journos Won't Have to Testify in "Anti-War"
Case.
29
January 2007 |
|
International Day
of Action 5 February 2007
"Although officials claim that they do
not care what the public thinks, they are
certainly tuned in to the pulse of the national
and international community. Public opinion is
a critical part of the defense and the
prosecution must know that the world is watching."
Carolyn Ho
24 January 2007 |
Lt.
Ehren Watada faces Court Martial for
refusing to serve in Iraq
An interview with Amy Goodman,
Democracy now
23
January 2007 |
Judge refuses to consider legality of Iraq
war
On January 16th, a Fort Lewis military court ruled that Lt. Ehren Watada
cannot present defense arguments relating to the legality of the Iraq
War.
17 January 2007 |
Payday
model letter of support.
Lt. Watada’s refusal speaks for millions.
Poll after poll around the world, including
in the US, have shown public rejection of
the war and the occupation of Iraq.
9 January 2007 |
|
National Day
of Action 5 February 2007 -
Lt. Watada Military Court Martial
"Help us mobilize the local, national, and
international community through your personal,
professional, religious and other networks."
Carolyn Ho
9 January 2007 |
Military injustice
There is no security interest at stake, and
no matter of national urgency. The Army can
make its case against Watada without
pestering civilian journalists. Sustaining
the military subpoena would set a troubling
precedent. It's time for the Army to back
off.
8 January 2007 |
Summary of
pre-trial hearing - 4 January 2007
The day began under dark
clouds as over 100 supporters of Lt. Watada
began to gather for a rally and vigil at a
freeway overpass near an entrance gate to
Fort Lewis.
5 January 2007 |
A Mother
Fights for a Soldier Who Said No to War, Washington Post
article
Phoebe Jones of Global Women's Strike, an
international antiwar network that supports Ho and Watada, was at Ho's
side on Capitol Hill. "The work of mothers
is protecting life, beginning with their
children," Jones explained. "And that is
really the opposite of the obscenity of
war."
4 January 2007; |
A
Mother’s Voice vs War -
East
Coast Tour of Carolyn Ho
The tour provided a
platform for this mother who, like so many mothers, aunts and sisters,
have campaigned tirelessly behind the scenes for war refusers
6
December 2006 |
|
»
Jonathan Hutto
solidarity statement
with Lt Watada for Dec 2 The
Appeal for Redress stands in solidarity with all those who resist the
current occupation of Iraq, the mass murder of the Iraqi people, the
harm and destruction done to American service members and their
families and the ill use of American tax dollars which is diverted from
much needed social programs on the home-front.
2 December 2006 |
|
Carolyn Ho,
the mother of Lt. Ehren Watada – the first
commissioned US Army officer to refuse to
serve in Iraq – will be speaking across the
Northeast and Midwest in support of her son.
16
November 2005 |
|
Carolyn Ho supports Michael Berg for
Congress Despite the tragic
death of his son, Nicholas, at the hands of
his Iraqi captors, Michael has traversed the
path of indescribable grief and transmuted
his pain into forgiveness and the quest for
peace. He stands for an alternative to
war. Give peace and diplomacy a chance.
Vote Michael Berg for Congress.
6 Nov 2006 |
|
Carolyn Ho,
mother of first commissioned Army officer to
refuse to go to Iraq,
in Philadelphia 1 Nov 2006 |
|
Carolyn Ho's letter to her sisters in spirit
As
a mother, I experienced shock, dismay and
untold grief for him and his future. “What
would it be like to be a stranger in one’s own
country, to be vilified, hated, and demeaned?”
31 October 2006 |
|
Lieutenant
Watada Faces New Charges.
The
wholesale slaughter and mistreatment of the
Iraqi people with only limited accountability is
not only a terrible moral injustice, but a
contradiction to the Army's own Law of Land
Warfare.
18 september 2006 |
|
Watada hearing succeeds in
placing war on trial
“This case is really about
the duty of individual soldiers to look at the facts
and fulfill their obligation to national and
international law,”
26
August 2006 |
|
Lt. Watada
addresses national veterans convention
Today, I speak with you about a
radical idea. It is one born from the very concept of
the American soldier (or service member). It became
instrumental in ending the Vietnam War - but it has
been long since forgotten. The idea is this: that to
stop an illegal and unjust war, the soldiers can
choose to stop fighting it.
14
August 2006 |
|
|
Officer Faces Court-Martial
for Refusing to Deploy to Iraq
The
New York Times:
"if other officers followed suit, it would be nearly
impossible to run the military".
July 23, 2006 |
|
Vigil in support of Lt. Ehren
Watada and Suzanne Swift
on
the steps of St Martin-in-the-Fields
Wed
12 July 2006, 5.30-7pm., Trafalgar
Square, London |
|
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF
ACTION FOR LT WATADA: PHILADELPHIA, LA, VENICE, ROME, LONDON
28 June 2006 |
A Brief History of Military Resistance
The public refusals here at Fort
Lewis (Washington) of Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, Sgt.
Kevin Benderman and Spc. Suzanne Swift to deploy to Iraq
are the most recent chapter of a long and noble history
of resistance within the U.S. armed forces.
28 June 2006 |
A letter from Ehren's
mom
As a
mother, I have evolved from fearing for his safety and for
his future to the realization that there is a higher purpose
to all that has transpired. My son no longer stands at the
crossroads. He has chosen “the road less traveled.” Come
what may, he is committed to staying the course.
|
International Day of Action in support
of Lt Watada
Tuesday June 27,
noon
– 1pm
Leafleting at
National Constitution Center,
Market St. between 5th & 6th St.,
Philadelphia
Protest in Philadelphia called by Payday (for info or to
endorse, call 215-848-1120)
|
|
Payday's call in
support of the Day of Action -- including model letter to US
Embassies:
The number of young men and women signing up for
the military (particularly people of color) is at an historic low despite
the pressure of the “poverty draft”. In the UK, which has the second
largest contingent in Iraq, the number of deserters has tripled since the
invasion. |
|
JUNE 27 "National Day of Action" To
Stand With Lt. Watada! |
| Lt.
Watada refused Iraq deployment today; under complete
restriction and gag-order without charge. |
An interview with
Lt. Ehren Watada
The deciding moment for me was in January of 2006. I had
watched clips of military funerals. I saw the photos of these
families. The children. The mothers and the fathers as they
sat by the grave, or as they came out of the funerals. One
really hard picture for me was a little boy leaving his
father's funeral. He couldn't face the camera so he is
covering his eyes. I felt like I couldn't watch that anymore.
I couldn't be silent any more and condone something that I
felt was deeply wrong.
07 June 2006 |
Statement from Payday in support of First Lt. Ehren Watada
In defending Ehren, we
are defending ourselves and our sisters and brothers in every country
against the devastation brought on by Bush’s “endless wars” and the
billions of dollars stolen especially from those of us with least to pay
for it.
07 June 2006 |
Intial Call to
Support Lt. Ehren Watada
“I refuse to be silent any longer. I refuse to watch
families torn apart, while the President tells us to “stay the
course.” … I refuse to be party to an illegal and immoral war
against people who did nothing to deserve our aggression. I
wanted to be there for my fellow troops. But the best way
was not to help drop artillery and cause more death and
destruction. It is to help oppose this war and end it so
that all soldiers can come home.” - U.S. Army
Lt. Ehren Watada
06 June 2006 |
|
