Military Expert Weighs in on Watada

Military Expert Weighs in on Watada
by Lisa Kubota

Hawaii-born solider Lt. Ehren Watada is awaiting an important ruling on his upcoming court martial. Within days, a judge could dismiss some of the charges, but he could also deal a big blow to the defense.

The usually outspoken 28-year-old stayed silent during a news conference last Thursday after his pre-trial hearing. As the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq, Watada has called the war illegal and immoral. But the judge may not allow the defense to present evidence about the legality of the war.

“Although the judge obviously has indicated that he’s not necessarily going to allow us to go as far afield as we’d like as far as arguing about the illegality of the war, he certainly is going to preserve our rights to mount a defense,” said Watada’s attorney, Eric Seitz, in a phone interview from Ft. Lewis, Washington last week.
   
Long-time military attorney, Earle Partington, said he was not surprised by the judge’s view.

“The courts do not adjudicate political questions,” he explained. “We have a long history of that. They tried the same thing in Vietnam…

I don’t know how many soldiers tried it. They lost every single case. It’s not going to be any different now.”

Partington said he served a year and a half in Vietnam with the U.S. Army despite his own reservations about the war.

“I was opposed to the Vietnam War even when I was there, but I realized that I didn’t want to jeopardize my future,” he said. “Can you imagine what would happen to our military if people could decide the legality of where they’re being sent? I mean, it would be chaos.”

Partington agreed with Watada’s lawyer that the charges relating to the soldier’s anti-war statements should be dropped. But he does believe Watada will serve some time in prison.

“It’s inevitable. No one doubts what will happen in the case,” he said. “I think the only question is how much time are they going to give him in confinement?”

Still, Watada’s supporters are rallying behind him from the streets of Honolulu to the gates of Ft. Lewis. No timeline was given by the judge, but Watada’s lawyer expects a decision by midweek.

The court martial is scheduled to begin on February 5. If convicted of all the charges, Watada faces six years in a military prison and dismissal from the service.