Lt. Watada and mother Carolyn Ho

Action Alert: Demand Army drop all changes and accept Lt. Watada's resignation now!

March 13, 2007 update

The military was hoping to court martial Lt Watada on February 5 and send him to prison as an example. Instead, the military judge forced a mistrial, partially out of fear of Lt Watada putting the war on trial. In the aftermath of the military judge orchestrating a mistrial, Lt. Watada's lawyer Eric Seitz explained "When it's not going well for you, you can't just call a mistrial and start over again."

Recent Iraq War vets join all-day rally for Lt. Watada, Ft. Lewis WA. 2/5/07

FORT LEWIS, WA – Last week in the Army court martial of First Lieutenant Ehren K. Watada, the first officer to publicly refuse to fight in Iraq, military judge Lieutenant Colonel John Head orchestrated a legal mulligan. The prosecution had just rested a poorly argued case before the jurors. This “do over” proclamation appeared to offer the government a chance to get their act together and try again in the spring. However, given the likelihood that the entire case against Lt. Watada will eventually be dismissed due to the constitutional protection against double jeopardy, the question is why?

Also from Courage to Resist:
Lt. Watada mistrial clear victory, “very likely” unqualified (Feb. 8)
1,000 rally for Lt. Watada at Ft. Lewis during court martial (Feb. 6)
Stand with Lt. Ehren Watada - court martial underway (Feb. 5)
Army drops activist subpoenas for Lt. Watada trial (Jan. 31)
Lt. Watada prosecutors surrender on journalist subpoenas (Jan. 28)
Judge rules “illegal war” debate forbidden during court martial (Jan. 16)

Courtroom sketch by K. Rudin / Truthout

FORT LEWIS, WA (February 8, 2007) – In a complex and confusing turn of events yesterday, Army lead prosecutor Captain Scott Van Sweringen reluctantly requested, and was granted a mistrial in the case of First Lieutenant Ehren K. Watada, the first military officer to publicly refuse to fight in Iraq.

In summation, the day after the prosecution rested a poorly presented case against Lt. Watada for “missing movement” to Iraq and two counts of “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman,” the prosecution then requested—over the strenuous objections of Lt. Watada’s defense team—in essence a “do over.” Lieutenant Colonel Judge John Head then agreed to the “do over.” The basis for which, and the judge’s motives, may likely be a matter of debate for some time.

Lt. Watada's civilian lawyer Eric Seitz later explained, “The mistrial is very likely to have the consequence of ending this case because a retrial would be a case of double jeopardy based on the military rules for courts martial and applicable case law.” Should the Army proceed with a second trial, Seitz said he would seek dismissal of the charges with prejudice so they could not be again filed. “I do not expect a retrial to ever occur,” stated Seitz. Army Captain Mark Kim, Lt. Watada’s appointed military defense lawyer, noted that he agreed with Seitz’s conclusions.

Subpoenaed activist Phan Nguyen

After surrendering earlier this week on subpoenas intended to force journalists to testify against Lt. Ehren Watada for his critical statements of President Bush and the Iraq War, the Army today dismissed subpoenas targeting three anti-war activists as well.

In December Olympia, Washington anti-war activist Phan Nguyen, and Veterans for Peace (VFP) Seattle Chapter organizers Tom Brookhart and Gerri Haynes were placed under order by the U.S. Army to appear for the prosecution in the case of U.S. v. Watada.

Lt. Watada on Fort Lewis during pre-trial hearing. 1/4/07

Courage to Resist. January 29, 2007 

Army prosecutors of Lieutenant Ehren Watada, the first military officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq, surrendered today on two charges of “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.”  

These two charges—each of which carried a one year possible prison sentence—were based on interviews Lt. Watada held with independent journalist Sarah Olson and Greg Kakesako of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. In dropping these charges, and dismissing the subpoenas of these journalists, the Army likely realized that it had little to gain from a building showdown with the media.

February 2, 2007

USA: War objector’s freedom of conscience must be respected

Pending the trial on Monday 5 February of Ehren Watada over his refusal to participate in the Iraq war, Amnesty International stated that a guilty verdict would be a violation of internationally recognized rights to conscientious objection.

“If found guilty, Amnesty International would consider Ehren Watada to be a prisoner of conscience and call for his immediate and unconditional release”, said Susan Lee, Amnesty International’s Americas Programme Director.