NikkeiWest--Northern California Japanese American Newspaper

By J.K. Yamamoto

With domestic issues like health care reform and unemployment dominating the headlines, the seventh anniversary of the Iraq War (March 19) passed with little attention from the media. But the war is still going on, and questions about the decision to invade Iraq persist.

Freida Lee Mock’s latest documentary, “Lt. Watada,” which was shown March 14 during the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, brings back a time when there was heated debate over the war, with one man as the focal point — Lt. Ehren Watada, the only commissioned officer to be court-martialed for refusing to go to Iraq and publicly stating his belief that the war was illegal. To his supporters, he was taking a courageous stand; to his detractors, he was giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

Although he faced up to eight years in prison on such charges as failure to deploy with his unit and conduct unbecoming an officer, the court-martial ended in a mistrial, the remaining charges were quietly dropped, and he was ultimately discharged from the Army “under other than honorable conditions.”

Watada, who grew up in Hawaii, joined the Army after 9/11 and was stationed in South Korea. When he was assigned to Iraq, his commanding officer told him to learn everything he could about the mission. It was in the course of his research that Watada concluded that the Bush Administration’s rationale for invading Iraq — the presence of weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein’s ties to Al Qaeda — was false, and that thousands of Americans and Iraqis had died needlessly.

Watada did not oppose the war in Afghanistan and offered to serve there, but was turned down. He continued to work at Fort Lewis in Washington but was prohibited from leaving the state. His parents, Robert Watada and Carolyn Ho — divorced but united in their support of their son — spoke on his behalf at peace rallies across the country.

Mock, a five-time Academy Award nominee and a winner for “Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision” (1995), a portrait of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial’s designer, wanted to document Watada’s case as it was happening.

Watada publicly stated his position that the war was illegal and immoral at a June 2006 press conference that was covered by the Seattle-area media. Mock heard about him when the New York Times picked up the story.

“It really was not a news-oriented story for me as a filmmaker,” she said. “I wanted hopefully to tell a story, which meant that I needed cooperation with the family and with him to do other than the news. So I needed time to establish that relationship. That was done by e-mail, letter and phone.

“Eventually, I planned things out so that I could cover things before he was going to jail. Most people thought he was going to be convicted because there was very little defense left for him to argue. The judge just said, ‘No, you can’t argue those issues (such as) the Nuremberg Principles as a defense against missing movement, and you can’t argue First Amendment rights because you don’t have those rights.‘ So virtually all the charges against him were indefensible. He was all packed and ready to go to Leavenworth — we figured it would be Leavenworth.”

Dueling Rallies

Mock was with Watada and his supporters before, during and after the trial. Cameras were barred from the courtroom, but she was able to use a court artist’s drawings. She also shot rallies for and against Watada. Supporters carried signs that said “Stop the illegal war” and “Thank you Lt. Watada — You stand for us, we stand with you.” Opponents countered with “Jail weasel Watada” and “Honk for the troops, fart for Watada.”

Mock described the scene as “an interesting town square. The town square was on the overpass (above Interstate 5) … I think the two camps sort of decided which overpass they would take. The anti ones took another overpass. They were further out.”

Many Nisei veterans spoke out publicly against Watada, stating that his actions were an affront to their record of accomplishments during World War II. Mock was aware of this but said, “They didn’t come up there and I didn’t go seek them out because I decided it was his story. I wasn’t doing a cable (news) story.”

She added that Watada did not present his case as a Japanese/Chinese American. “I felt that was not what he was arguing, that was not what he was about. He was a citizen, a soldier … a patriotic person, and an officer. He was taking his position from those aspects of his personality. He did not think twice about what Asian people would think. It was his own personal act of both an intellectual decision as well as a decision of conscience.

“Had it been a huge thing in his own story, to say ‘I really had to agonize over being a representative of an Asian American group’? He never said that to me and I didn’t ask him about that. Because I looked upon him not in that way … The Asian-ness was not a part of the story for me, although it kind of caught my eye when I got into the story.”

Fundamental Questions

Mock found Watada to be “an intelligent person, incredibly articulate, well read, very reasoned out about his position. He was just doing this for his own beliefs … hoping that people would learn by his own story to ask questions … I think the fundamental thing to ask is: Why are you going to war? You have to ask yourself that question. Most people don’t.”

The documentary includes a scene where a woman tells Watada that she initially opposed him but was persuaded by his speech. Mock said that happened a number of times during that particular public meeting.

Noting that Watada “wanted to do something for his country” after 9/11, Mock said that nothing in his background suggested he would become an anti-war activist. “He was raised with a very high respect for authority … Boy Scout, Eagle Scout, listened to his professor, did well, no reason to be rebellious.”

But the turning point came when his commanding officer told him, “You make sure you know why you’re sending your men into harm’s way, possibly to their death.” As a result of following that order, he became disenchanted with his country’s leadership.

“Even when he said he was going to speak out,” Mock said, “someone said, ‘You have to go talk to Public Affairs, make sure you’re doing it according to guidelines.’ He asked them, ‘What can I do?’ (and was told) ‘You do this out of uniform, off hours, and off campus.’ So he did everything by the book, so to speak.”

At one point Watada was offered a desk job in Baghdad’s Green Zone, a place of relative safety, but he declined. “He was protesting,” Mock explained. “It wasn’t to get the easy way out. He could have done that, spared himself all this scrutiny, but it would have been violating what his oath was about. He’s a man of great integrity … His mother and father taught him to do what’s right.”

Her research for the film was like a civics lesson. “I didn’t realize that an officer’s oath is not to the president ... An officer’s oath is to the Constitution. So your oath is that you are to defend your country against enemies foreign and domestic … What would you do if your president’s lying to you?”

Epilogue Added

Three months after completing the film, Mock added an epilogue about the outcome of the case. “As his attorney said, they lost in the courtroom ... They could not relitigate the more serious charges of missing movement because it was unconstitutional to retry him — double jeopardy. Anyway, in the end they dropped the last two remaining charges and they discharged him. So he’s been discharged for a couple of months now. He’s now in civilian life and he’s figuring out what he’s going to be doing next. “

Mock did not know Watada’s career plans, but said he wants to reclaim his private life after three years in the spotlight. “He never set out to be a public figure.”

As for the film, which is only 40 minutes long, Mock may continue to show it with her other new documentary, “Sing China!,” as she did at the SFIAAFF. The latter film, a sequel to “Sing!” (2001), is about the Los Angeles Children’s Choir’s recent tour of China.

She also wants to show “Lt. Watada” to high school students. “It raises some questions for young people about the military and ethics issues involved.”

“Eventually, it will be on PBS,” Mock said. “Already there’s interest in it. All my films eventually end up on PBS … I think it will have a long life.”

Mock has profiled a number of notable individuals, but stresses, “They’re not biographies. They happen to be about people who come with a lot of social and political issues surrounding who they are.” In Maya Lin’s case, many veterans opposed her design for the Vietnam memorial, in part because she was Asian and a woman.

Citing Watada as an example, Mock said, “Oftentimes these people are kind of in the eye of the storm … Their work is a reflection of who we are politically and socially.”