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Thursday, August 17, 2006

The Iraq War on Trial

Posted by on August 17 at 9:30 AM

As you read this, I will be sitting in a hearing room on the Ft. Lewis Army base, just south of Tacoma, listening to Lieutenant Ehren Watada defend his refusal to ship off to Iraq, as ordered, on June 22.

Watada.jpg

The case of Lieutenant Watada has garnered national attention and his repeated description of the Iraq War as “illegal” has received widespread support from anti-war activists. As it winds its way through the military justice system, the case is also creating a spectacle that the Army would no doubt like to avoid.

Today, in what’s called an “Article 32 hearing,” Watada gets a chance to prove that he doesn’t deserve to be court-martialed for refusing to deploy, and in his defense, he and his lawyer will argue that it is a soldier’s duty not to obey illegal orders.

To prove that he was in fact refusing an illegal order when he refused to deploy to Iraq, Watada has to prove that the Iraq War itself is illegal. And so, today, for the first time in any legal setting (as far as I can tell), the Iraq War will be on trial.

Watada says he is eager and willing to deploy to Afghanistan or any other spot where he is needed. But Iraq, he says, is a different case.

“It is my conclusion as an officer of the armed forces that the war in Iraq is not only morally wrong but a horrible breach of American law,” he says. “The war and what we’re doing over there is illegal.”

Specifially, Watada argues that the Iraq War’s illegality stems from the fact that it was launched based on “deception” and “lawlessness” on the part of the civilian leadership in this country (i.e., the President, the Vice President, the Secretary of Defense, and others). To support the contention that the Iraq War was illegal in its genesis, and continues to be illegal in its execution, Watada’s lawyer, Eric A. Seitz, will call for testimony from a former United National Undersecretary, an expert in international law, and a retired Army Colonel.

Should make for an interesting day.

It’s unlikely Watada will prevail in his attempt to have the Iraq War ruled illegal through the military justice system, which means that sometime after today’s pre-court-martial hearing, he will probably be scheduled for a full court-martial (likely to take place later this year).

A few other soldiers have refused orders to deploy to Iraq, but Watada seems set to become the first officer to be court-martialed for such a refusal, and he faces up to seven years in military confinement if he is found guilty of all charges (missing movement, not deploying, contempt toward officials, and conduct unbecoming an officer).

His lawyer, Seitz, thinks it will be a long time before it comes to that, and in the meantime, he told me, the military’s choice is between allowing Watada an honorable way out of Iraq service or making him more of a “martyr” to the anti-war movement.

Still, Seitz says, he doesn’t think the odds of proving the Iraq War illegal at today’s hearing are very good. “I doubt that the military is going to buy this,” he told me on Tuesday.


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Open and shut. Guilty on all charges. It shouldn't take them long, either. He has no case at all. They'll let his lawyers finish talking and then convict in ten minutes.

The Iraq War _is_ an illegal war, based on International Law & treaties which the US has been signatory to since it's inception. The invasion of Iraq was just that: an invasion. With no legitimate causus belli, the US acted aggressively & invaded a sovereign nation, with the purpose of installing it's own hand-picked government. The UN has defined the Iraq War as an act of aggression & unjustified.

Remember, we went to war with Iraq in 1991 over the very same issue, when they invaded Kuwait. (And Hussein has a far more legitimate causus belli against Kuwait than the US did against Iraq three years ago.) I'm sure living is easier with your head in the sand, Fnarf, but you're just going to have to wake up to the fact that there are other countries besides America, and it's not up to us how they should live.

Gee, Queequeg, you think? You think there are other countries besides this one? Gosh, that's terrific news. I had no idea.

Please go back and read my comment again and then explain where I defended the Iraq war.

Then go and have a close look at the uniforms on the people who will be hearing his case. Then ask them what the US Army thinks of the notion that soldiers don't have to do what their superiors tell them to do if they don't want to.

There is a difference between soldiers and officers, FNARF. You'd know that if you'd served. Officers are supposed to question orders. Soldiers aren't.

It is not a matter of what's right, or what officers are supposed to do. It is a matter of the machine grinding up the truth. Fnarf is right; this won't be tried in an international court. It will be tried by the Army. That makes it open and shut.

MIKE IN MO Wrote:
"That makes it open and shut."

I am not so sure it will be that simple. I suspect the Army will do whatever it takes to get this out of the spotlight, and I think
Lt. Watada will be asked to resign for the good of the service. This would make the problem disappear....The question is: Will Lt. Watada want to disappear or will he exert his right to appear at a court martial? Will Lt Watada pit his moral convictions, at great personal risk, against the U.S. Army?

This is a very fascinating story.

---Jensen

Israel and America are waging a just war. The United Nation wants to charge Israel with war crimes. They'll never make it stick.


Israel has mandatory draft. We should find out what Israel does when a soldier refuses to serve. America's military needs to be more like Israel's.

I just want to thank you for taking the time to travel to a place that I find disturbing..... I had the misfortune of growing up in the confines of Uncle Sam. We had to stand for the National Anthem before movies, go through soldiers bearing arms at the gate(s) and if you were in range of the cannons shooting off at 5PM on weekdays, you had to face in the direction of the firing and remove any headgear and salute to, oh, I can't even remember the tune. From ages 2-12, this was my life, I am thankful for all of the forests we could play in and the diversity of my friends, but the rest is very foreign to me.

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