Topic: Hearing In Two Days For Anti-War Officer

Team Infidel

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
January 3, 2007
By P-I Staff and News Services
FORT LEWIS -- The lawyer for an Army officer from Honolulu who refused to deploy to Iraq said military prosecutors don't want 1st Lt. Ehren Watada to have the chance to defend himself by arguing that the war in Iraq is illegal.
"They're claiming that the only real issue is whether or not an order was given to Lieutenant Watada, which he refused to carry out and whether he made certain statements to the media," Eric Seitz said Tuesday, two days before a pretrial hearing at Fort Lewis.
Watada's court martial is to begin Feb. 5 at Fort Lewis. He refused to deploy to Iraq on June 22 with his Fort Lewis-based unit because he believes the war in Iraq is illegal.
A judge at the pretrial hearing will decide some of the parameters of the trial, including whether Watada's opposition to the war could be included in his defense.
Seitz said prosecutors have filed motions to exclude all of what Watada had planned to say in his defense.
Meanwhile, Seitz has filed motions that include declaring the intent to defend Watada based on the claim that under international law the war in Iraq is a "war of aggression" in which he has the right to refuse to participate.
Officials at Fort Lewis were not available for comment late Tuesday.
Watada initially was charged with missing troop movement, conduct unbecoming an officer and contempt toward officials. While the Army later dropped the contempt charge, it added another specification of conduct unbecoming based on comments Watada made in Seattle during the national convention of Veterans for Peace.

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