The War of Lieutenant Watada

On June 22, 2006, Lieutenant Ehren Watada became the first U.S. Army officer to refuse deployment to Iraq. Then he faced a court-martial and up to eight years in prison.

By Kathryn Robinson

The third charge against Watada, the single damning count of missing troop movement, allowed the defense to do what it fervently hopes it will be able to repeat in fuller fashion at the inevitable court-martial: Put the war itself on trial. Nearly three hours of the four-hour hearing were devoted to defense witnesses, who painstakingly laid down the ways the war broke international law, and thus the reasons Watada’s defiance constituted appropriate disobedience. Seitz had lined up heavy hitters: Retired Army Colonel Ann Wright, a career diplomat who resigned in protest the day Bush declared war; former United Nations Undersecretary and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Denis Halliday; and University of Illinois international law professor and rules-of-engagement expert Francis Boyle.

Army prosecutor Captain Daniel Kuecker and investigating officer Lieutenant Colonel Mark Keith peppered the witnesses with queries, pressing hard on the one at the heart of the matter: “Has any bill appeared before Congress saying the war is illegal? Any success in the courts around this -issue?” Though Seitz revealed a German -precedent, the team could not produce the binding U.S. federal court decision it would take to pronounce the Iraq war indisputably illegal.

Without such precedent, Kuecker declared, Watada was simply a loose cannon. “His behavior is dangerous,” he said. “He betrayed his fellow soldiers and desecrated the time-honored traditions the U.S. military was founded on. His behavior is dishonorable.” A week after the hearing Lieutenant Colonel Keith recommended court-martial on all charges. If upheld by a higher military body, the trial could take place as soon as next month.

Watada is keenly aware that almost eight years in military prison could result. But whenever he speaks of the possibility, he doesn’t speak about fear of imprisonment or the pain of a chewed-up youth. It’s as if his own fate has become ancillary to the soldier’s higher purpose. “I’m just fighting for this war to stop,” he now says matter-of-factly from his Olympia apartment. “I would never have done what I did had those in positions above me—the president, Congress, the senior military officers—done the responsible thing, the lawful thing. What I think I’ve done is raise awareness about this war for a lot of people.”

He pauses, opens his wallet, takes out the card he’s carried there since his days in basic training. “This is my Values Card,” he explains. “Every soldier gets one.” On it are printed several words, and in a voice resonant and steady, Lieutenant Ehren Watada reads them off. “Loyalty. Duty. 
Respect. Selfless Service. Honor. Integrity. Personal Courage.”