News The Iraq War on Trial
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.
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.
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.