Given what you've read and seen on TV, if your president ordered you to Iraq to fight for our country, would you go?

Legally, members of the military don't have a choice.

But Army 1st Lt. Ehren K. Watada, a 28-year-old Kalani High School alum serving with a Stryker Brigade in Washington, doesn't want to go.

He is not seeking conscientious objector status because he doesn't oppose war in general, just this one. Watada finds the fighting in Iraq illegal and immoral and wants no part of it.

He is willing to risk jail time, a tarnished military record, and the criticism of his peers to prove his point. By refusing to go to war and stating his reasons, Watada is displaying the same stalwart conviction that motivates many of the young men and women currently fighting in Iraq.

If I was in his shoes, I have no idea what I would do.

But as a 26-year-old journalist, I'd go to report on the war in a heartbeat, if given the chance.

If my country can send men and women to faraway lands to fight and die, then someone should go with them to create an objective account of what happened when they got there.

The horror in Haditha is yet another example of why we can't count on the government as our sole source of information.

The hope is that by reporting on war, you are able to provide an accurate account of the losses, the triumphs, the tragedies and the horrors. Advertiser reporter William Cole and photographer Richard Ambo traveled twice to Iraq and Afghanistan to document the conflicts for our readers.

People will use the information to substantiate whatever stance they favor on the war, but I think it is necessary that they are informed.

So did Honolulu-born CBS news correspondent Kimberley Dozier and the scores of journalists maimed or killed while covering the chaos in Iraq.

I have no qualms about risking my life to document the experiences of soldiers and Iraqi civilians. However, I don't know if I could kill for this cause. I don't believe the reasons or the arguments my president used to justify the war.

I admire equally the spirits of those Americans who fight without question and those who refuse.

But I'm troubled by the lawlessness and violence in Iraq. The debate over whether to fight or object means nothing to those who are dying.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.