<Begin Segment 19>

TI: So you wanted to, you volunteered to go early, but then your unit wasn't, so continue. What happened next?

EW: And so that was September of '05, and then so when I... so the Air Guard said, "You're still, you're still okay, you can still get in," so I said, "Okay, that's fine." So I decided to, that's when I think I started to read about what was going on in Iraq. I really felt that -- back in Korea, I told you we had a strict commanding officer. He wanted us to be well-rounded officers, learn everything there was to know about our profession. Every manual out there, every technical manual, every field manual, be well-rounded in current events and historical war events, and things like that. And so I began to read and try to find out everything there was to know about the Iraq conflict, why we had gone into it in the first place, and what we could look forward to seeing in the future. Not just my, not just the technical aspects of my job, and certainly I could have just looked at that and said, "All I need to do is know how to call in fire, call in the artillery support and that would be it, and at the end of the day, let's go home." But I think for an officer, there's a lot more that you have to educate yourself about, because you owe that not to just yourself, but to the soldiers as well. Not to just be, not to just say, "Okay, I'm just gonna do my job and that's it." You have to know everything there is to know about your job, not just the, like I said, the technical aspects. So I began to read about how we got into the war in the first place -- and this was after I had read, I read several books on the accounts of the units that had gone in in 2003 during the initial invasion, 2004. And then I just, by chance I started reading about what had happened to lead us up into that point. And I think it was very shocking.

TI: Now, were there particular books that you recall that you read that really had an impact on you?

EW: Sure. Like I said, the first books about, there was a story about the 3rd Infantry Division when they invaded Baghdad and occupied Baghdad. A story about the 101st Airborne Division, and just, you know, it's important to read about that because you can, you know what you can expect when you go to the country, and you know what you can reinforce upon your soldiers to expect when they go there.

TI: Now, were other officers at Fort Lewis doing the same thing? Were they reading some of this?

EW: I don't know. It's really up to the, the personal motivations of the officer. But in any case, I just happened to read upon, or happen upon a book that kind of detailed what led us up to the invasion in the first place. And it was very shocking to me, and almost devastating to find out that not only were there no WMD, which practically everybody now knows, but that those who had tried to justify the invasion knew there were no WMD, and in fact, intentionally manipulated, strong-armed intelligence analysts to bring forth evidence that did not exist in the first place. And that, to me, is just, you get a sense of betrayal, and that you had placed your life, your trust, in your leadership and these people who really have their, have your life in their hands. And to find out that over something as serious as war, for all those soldiers who have died, and the families who have just been torn up by this, to think that it was all for, really, it was based upon a lie, many lies, a deception of the American people, and the other people within our government. And that, for me, just really turned me on my heels. Before, I had doubts about, you know, there's always shady things that go on in government, there's always corrupt politicians. But when I joined the Army, I really believed when the administration told us that there were WMD in Iraq. I really believed that Iraq or Saddam had ties to al-Qaida, and that at any day now, my family and friends were, could be attacked by terrorists with chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons.

TI: So it sounds like, I mean, so what I hear is you don't think of yourself as naive. You realize that there's this gray area, that certain things can happen.

EW: Sure.

TI: But when you read this and other information, you felt that it went over the line, that this was beyond what you would expect or hope for, for our country.

TI: Right. I mean, we had a President, past administration, who lied about his personal sexual conduct, and he was impeached for that. That, that certainly has moral implications, but who does it really affect? What impact did that have on the national security or the lives of American soldiers? And then you look at this, and now have almost 3,000 soldiers -- I think at that point it was probably about 2,000 soldiers who have been killed, 30,000 wounded, etcetera, etcetera, all those Iraqis who have been killed. And then you think, this definitely, it crosses the line. It's a lie that is so much beyond just lying about your personal and sexual conduct, and nobody was owning up to it. And not only that, but there were no investigations that were taking place to find out what was going on, and find out if we in fact had been lied to.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.