I learned of Watada’s release from the Army and Officer Hoh’s resignation the same day. At first I was equally exhilarated by the stories, but then Hoh’s came to seem suspect. As Arthur Silber more eloquently puts it, Watada is the genuine hero, while Hoh’s resignation lacks any underlying moral principles.
The main point of Hoh’s four-page resignation, which many commentators are fawning over, seems to be this: that he is Not a Wussy. (I’d put it in stronger terms, but I’m trying to keep this a family-friendly blog, for the 3-year-olds who might be reading.) I’m surprised “Matthew Hoh – Totally Not a Wussy” wasn’t in the footer for each page. As Silber did, I found the following passage the most indicative of this attitude:
“I’m not some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love,” Hoh said. Although he said his time in Zabul was the “second-best job I’ve ever had,” his dominant experience is from the Marines, where many of his closest friends still serve.
“There are plenty of dudes who need to be killed,” he said of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. “I was never more happy than when our Iraq team whacked a bunch of guys.”
Basically, Hoh is not against killing per se; he is thinking it unwise to continue in a “wasteful” war. He is even willing to take a cut in pay and prestige to do it. I haven’t looked, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this got the career blogs humming. It seems few can fathom turning down a promotion.
Perhaps because his resignation lacks principle, he is getting the bulk of the media coverage. Watada’s resistance and release is getting less play. Is it because his stance is the more genuinely liberating one?
“I believe the only real God-given right we have is the freedom to choose,” Watada says. “And when we take that away from ourselves, then we put ourselves in an invisible prison that nobody else imposes on us except for ourselves. When you tell yourself again that you do have a choice–I could go to prison for it, I could be tortured, I could die for it, but I have that choice and I can make it–then that invisible prison kind of lifts off, and you feel free. I felt so free when I told myself that I have a choice.”
It is good to be reminded of this. When we complain that the government is oppressing us, we concede that our freedom comes from the government. That leaves us even less free than before.
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