Disenchantment Bay, Alaska

Historic Barbarians

Today marks the 62nd anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in Japan.

Japan has so far recognised the total number of victims who died of radiation illness and injuries in Hiroshima as 253,008 and in Nagasaki as 143,124.

HIROSHIMA:

* At 8:15 am on August 6, 1945, an American B-29 Superfortress bomber Enola Gay dropped a 10,000-pound uranium 235 bomb on Hiroshima, instantly killing about 78,000 people. By the end of 1945, the number of dead had reached about 140,000 out of an estimated population of 350,000.

NAGASAKI:

* Three days later, at 11:02 am on August 9, 1945, the United States dropped a 10,000-pound plutonium-239 bomb, nicknamed "Fat Man", on Nagasaki. The bomb instantly killed about 27,000 of the city's estimated population of around 200,000. By the end of 1945, the number of dead due to acute radiation exposure reached about 70,000.

Our local community held it's annual memorial, to those who lost their lives, and to vow to work so that this never happens again. The truth of the matter is nuclear proliferation is still occurring, with more countries amassing nukes, and previous agreements and treaties have been broken by the U.S. Government, so other countries like Russia, Korea, and perhaps Iran, have a kind of "if you can have them so can we" approach to nuclear weapon build ups. It IS bizarre that the U.S. has embraced the philosophy that because we are "good", we can have whatever weapons we want, but we have the authority to dictate to other countries what weaponry they can or can't have, because they are "evil".
I won't even expound on the good nukes/bad nukes mindset other than to acknowledge it's sheer insanity.



The keynote speaker, Bob Watada, father of Ehren Watada, the soldier at Ft. Lewis WA, who refused to deploy to Iraq, because of his pledge to defend the Constitution, against all enemies foreign & domestic- declared the Iraq war an illegal and immoral act, which he refused to participate in.
Mr. Watada spoke of learning about Barbarians in school. In Northern Europe they became known as the Teutons, Norse, Goths, and Celts. Quickly displacing or assimilating the indigenous people of the regions they entered, they never truly settled anywhere, ever-moving as their needs and resources changed. They wanted the gold and valuable resources of the places they attacked.

The only thing that has changed in the ruthless, rape and pillage the barbarians engaged in, are the "spoils" they seek. Perhaps then, it was land and gold, now it is oil. He came to the conclusion that Barbarian acts have continued into the 21st Century.

So as we commemorated the loss of so many lives in the only nuclear bomb attacks in history in the 20th Century, we also realize it is not just nuclear weapons that are so Barbaric, but the current practices of the occupation of Iraq are equally Barbaric.

As for his son's trial with the Military, he likened it to the Witch Hunts of Salem. Where juries were ordered to go back to the deliberations room until they came back with a "guilty" verdict. The trial of Ehren Watada was under way. A jury selected, testimony given, when the judge declared it a Mistrial- thereby creating double jeopardy, voiding the case. The double jeopardy appeal is pending. Ehren is in good spirits. He knows he is doing the right thing, and that keeps him going.
Ehren Watada is a Soldier of Conscience. The gathering closed with floating luminarias on the waterway. The images have a ghostly ambiance... perhaps a reminder we should be haunted by mistakes of the past & present?

WATADA

The trial of Ehren Watada, the first soldier to openly refuse to deploy to combat in Iraq, based on his oath to protect the Constitution & follow International law, has been postponed until October 9th. Watada's trial has been under way- jury selected, testimony given, when suddenly the military declared it a mistrial. The judge said it was because Watada misunderstood a paper he'd signed. The military thought the paper was an admission of guilt (for not deploying?), and Watada signed the statement agreeing he'd "said what he said". Watada had attended a regional Veterans for Peace Conference and (gasp) spoke of the truth. The speech was recorded, and the military lobbed more charges against him after his speech. Watada wisely agreed to sign off/verify that he did indeed. say what he said.
Watada is a squeaky clean, exemplary person, Eagle Scout. The military people who were called to testify, basically gave him glowing reviews- excellent record, one of their finest. So now it stands to be determined if the Watada trial is double jeopardy-- and has to be thrown out all together. Initially they had bargained a 4 year sentence, but the charge is back up to 6 years. Certainly in civil court, this would be thrown out as double jeopardy. You can't just throw out a case because it is not going in your favor. I suspect the military wants to make an example of Watada. And what an example he is..... Duty, Honor, Accountability, actually following the law. My hope is Watada is the man who goes down in history as the person who opened the floodgates for others in the military to *opt out*, Just say NO, actually adhere to the laws, rules, treaties, and militaries' own rules of conduct. If you swear to defend the Constitution (there is the Noble Cause), and you review the laws, then it would be your obligation to refuse to participate in this illegal occupation. The military has problems though....if they don't honor the double jeopardy legal rule, then they have to let the trial proceed. Watada brings the question of the legality of the war & his sworn duty to the forefront. In a perfect world, the big whigs- Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, and Bush would have to testify as to just how they botched the information that happened to mislead us into this 5 year illegal occupation.

In any case, Ehren Watada is a man of honor, and his courage and sane actions have reverberated across the planet. His supporters include Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Despond Tutu, Rose O'Donnell, Amnesty International, Prof. Howard Zinn, Susan Saran don, Martin Sheen, etc.

Here is the link to his web site:

ht.://www.thankyoult.org/

Blog On!

Out of the blue, today I decided it would be fun to start a blog- or as my friend calls them "brain droppings". Writing is a good release, and as the Ancient curse goes, I happen to live in Interesting times. It's gone beyond interesting, here in the US, some kind of rogue lawless dementia, where the government wanders the globe ignoring Interntional law, and it's own Constitution, and somehow the citizens don't respond. Maybe they think they can just channel surf to different, better programming? In any case, this is the beginning of my "Ramblings", and I will blog on.