Ft. Lewis…hours before the big rally

Today I spent another four hours outside the Madigan gate of Ft. Lewis, with sign and flag, hoping to ignite some sort of continuing vigil in support of Lt. Watada.  

Watada has really offered a golden plum to the anti-war movement by making such a bold stand on behalf of international law.  If his stand gains widespread media attention and continues to remain in the news, it could make the general public cognizant that there is a thing called international law which this country routinely ignores and often breaks.  It could bring about self-examination and an earnest discussion.  International law is a subject which is near and dear to my heart, as a result of this war, and that is why I am willing to put the time into standing outside the gates of Ft. Lewis for Watada.  

There is a lot of belligerence to my standing there.  Many people give me the finger or shout obscenities.  Of course, anti-war vigilers are used to this sort of thing.  It’s just a little more intense at this location.  

One staff sergeant came over to give his opinion when I indicated I could not hear what he was saying.  He told me he did not appreciate me standing there because he had been to Iraq and he was defending my right to stand there.  I didn’t tell him that he shouldn’t mind my standing there if that was the freedom he was defending.  I also didn’t tell him that Iraq had nothing to do with my freedom, or his for that matter.  I did tell him that I appreciated his courage and the courage of others who went to Iraq.  But I said that the war was illegal and a disaster.  He indicated there was not much he could do about that.  I said people could refuse to go there, like Watada.  I gave him a couple of op-eds on the topic of the illegality of the war.  He took them and tore them up and threw the pieces on the ground.  Then he walked back across the street.  I shouted after him, “Be stupid, then  Be stupid.”  Oh, well.  

I sense these people know the war is a disaster.  They know Bush lied to get us into it.  But they do not want to confront the fact that it is so terribly wrong when they may well have to go back there.  It’s hard to carry out a mission when you can’t get up for it.  I can really empathize with them.      

Actually it is surprising the amount of support I see.  A fair number give thumbs up or honk in support.  Maybe that’s because I am at the Madigan exit where there might be a lot of medical personnel driving through.  

After I first got there a wife of a soldier came along on her bicycle and asked if she could take a picture of my sign which stated “Refusing to fight in an illegal war takes courage!”  Watada’s picture is stapled next to the slogan.  I gladly obliged her.  She took the picture and said she agreed that Watada was very courageous.  

Later a 20 year air force veteran and member of the Tacoma VFP came by and joined me for an hour.  His name is Tom Daly.  That helped to break up the tedium of the 4 hours.    

After standing there for four hours, I left at 2 PM.  I will go back again Thursday at the same spot from 10 AM to 2 PM.  

Sometimes I wonder if it is worthwhile and if I am accomplishing anything.  An even better question is “what is my goal?”  I guess I’m really there to communicate with the officer corps.  First, I want them to be reminded of his stand and maybe start thinking about why he is doing it.  Do they have the guts and integrity to do something similar?  Second, I want them to support Watada.  It’s a long shot.  But one can hope.                  

Tom Krebsbach

Mike Yanasak and I stood vigil outside the Madigan gate at Ft. Lewis once again today in support of Lt. Watada.  Mike’s sign read, “The Occupation of Iraq is Illegal.  Don’t go.”  My sign read, “Who has the guts and integrity to stand with Lt. Watada?” on one side.  On the other it read, “U.S. War Crimes:  The Invasion, Abu Ghraib, Fallujah, Haditha, etc.”  

For most of the time our vigil, which lasted from 10:15 to 2:00, was fairly nondescript.  There were a few thumbs up and peace signs.  There were quite a few more thumbs down, one finger salutes, and assorted verbal criticisms.  

Clearly, many find us very annoying, like gnats that fly up the nostril.  I enjoy this fact.  It makes me feel like maybe we are having some effect.  If we are simply ignored, then we are probably wasting our time.      

The last half hour was somewhat more eventful, in that we actually had close up contact and communication with a few people.

First, a buck sergeant stopped his vehicle along side the on ramp to I-5 and came over to talk with me.  He said he appreciated what we were doing, but thought that it was necessary to get rid of Saddam Hussein and his sons.  He thought that the occupation should have ended after that was accomplished.

I said that things would have worked out a whole lot better if we had left at that point.  I told him that the invasion itself was illegal.  He said he thought Watada should uphold his contract.  I said that he was upholding his contract, that his contract required him to uphold the Constitution and international law which the U.S. had signed onto.  I said there were many war crimes being committed as part of the occupation in places like Abu Ghraib, Fallujah, and so on.  He said that he thought higher ups should be held responsible for Abu Ghraib, which I agreed with.  He indicated that Fallujah was carried out by the marines, who are a bunch of wackos.  

I gave him a few articles to read on the legal status of the war.  We made a little bit of small talk, shook hands, and he wished me a good day.  I reciprocated.  

Shortly after that, a guy pulled up in his older model Cadillac with one of those small American flags attached to the back window.  As he got out and started walking towards us, he looked slightly threatening, like he might be a real redneck.  He was husky, had long hair under a white cowboy hat, was wearing cowboy boots and strode like he was going to give us a piece of his mind.  He looked a bit like Kenny Rogers.  He walked over to me first and asked what was Watada.  I said Watada was Lt. Watada.  I asked him if he had heard of him.  He said yes, but I don’t think he had.  He asked me if I were anti-war and I said yes.  He said that he was a Christian preacher and that he knew many Iraqis who were happy that we were over there.  Then he walked over to Mike.  I let Mike deal with him for about fifteen minutes.  I felt bad about that, but I didn’t want to deal with him.  

Eventually he came back to me.  There was no getting rid of this guy, so I unleashed the verbal arsenal.  Did he know that, according to surveys, that 70 to 80 percent of the Iraqis want us out of there?  If we are so liked, why do close to half of the Iraqis feel it is OK for the insurgents to kill Americans?  What would he do if somebody invaded America?  Would he simply allow them to do that without resisting?  Would Christ have invaded Iraq?  Would he have killed tens of thousands?  If we are doing such a good job over there, why is the Green Zone the only secure place in the country?  Did he know that Saddam Hussein had tried desperately to prevent war by offering to hold elections in Iraq, offering to allow 2000 FBI agents in Iraq to look for WMDs, offering to give the U.S. a good deal on oil, and offering to work with the U.S. to resolve the Israel/Palestinian conflict?  Did he know that Bush had refused all this because he lusted for his little war?  Didn’t he realize that you can’t export democracy at the point of a gun?  Isn’t Iraq a lot worse off now, then before we invaded?

Eventually he didn’t have all that much to say except that I was passionate about my position and he wanted to know what was my Christian background.  Mike came over and we had a few laughs.  We shook hands with the cowboy preacher and he went off on his way.  

We decided it was time to go and started walking back to the car  Then a couple of young guys came over to talk to us.  They had flipped us off earlier in the day.  One asked me why the UN hadn’t done anything about the invasion if the war was illegal.  I thought that was a good question.  I said there wasn’t much the UN could do because the United States would veto any resolution which was critical of the U.S. action.  I said China had attempted to pass a resolution after Kosovo that was critical of NATO and the U.S. and that the U.S. had vetoed it then.  So what was the point of trying?  

Mike asked them where they were from.  One was from Oregon and the other from New York.  They are infantry and are shipping out for Iraq tomorrow.  I offered to give them some of my articles.  The guy from Oregon said they couldn’t take them.  They can’t be reading subversive material, don’t you know.  Mike laughed and said, “C’mon.  They can’t stop you from reading.”  Then they took the articles.  They seemed concerned about their pending tour but fatalistic.  Mike said, “Well, don’t go.”  They said they didn’t have a choice, that they could serve 5 years in jail.  I said that they had a choice but that it was an extremely difficult one.  

Mike told them not to try to be heroes over there.  We told them to take care of themselves and each other and to make it back alive.  

I felt bad for them.  They are just kids yet, not quite men.  They don’t deserve to go through this bullshit.  Nobody does.  

Tom Krebsbach