Soldier of Conscience Survives Court-Martial, Goes Free

	<a href='http://www.truthdig.com/banners/www/delivery/ck.php?n=a9cd87eb&cb=670063042' target='_blank'><img src='http://www.truthdig.com/banners/www/delivery/avw.php?zoneid=1&cb=670063042&n=a9cd87eb' border='0' alt='' /></a>	May 22, 2013
		Text Size

Trending: chris hedges economy elizabeth warren politics robert scheer

Rise Up or Die

A Call to Action

Bizarre, Apparently Jihadist Slaying in London (Video)

Hell on Earth for Greeks

Another Memorial Day in This Endless War

Another Memorial Day in This Endless War
By Amy Goodman

Does Anything Change in Los Angeles With Election of New Mayor?
By Bill Boyarsky

The Path of Hubris and War
By William Pfaff

Glaciers Are Melting Slowly but Surely
By Tim Radford, Climate News Network

Bizarre, Apparently Jihadist Slaying in London (Video)

Lawmaker Gives Atheist ‘Prayer,’ Glenn Beck’s Latest Controversial Comment, and More

U.S. Admits Drones Killed 4 Americans

Hell on Earth for Greeks

Apple Bullies the U.S. Government for Lower Taxes

Anthony Weiner Announces NYC Mayoral Bid (Video)

Eric Holder Should Resign Over Spying, Editor of The Progressive Says

Watch: Sen. Warren Grills Jack Lew on Too Big to Fail Banks

Economic Murder: How and Why Austerity Kills

‘Left, Right & Center’: The White House Scandal Trifecta

A Call to Action
By James Cromwell

‘SNL’: Stefon’s Farewell Features Anderson Cooper

Act of Congress
By Jesse Eisinger

Daily Rituals
By Gabriel Thompson

The Questions Education Reformers Aren’t Asking

Dig led by Mike Rose

Gore Vidal: His Life and Legacy

Dig led by Truthdig Staff

A Life at the Margins: Keeping the Political Vision

Soldier of Conscience Survives Court-Martial, Goes Free

AP / John Froschauer

Lt. Ehren Watada, the soldier who refused to deploy to Iraq on grounds that serving there would be participating in war crimes, is finally free of the Army. His court-martial ended in a mistrial and the military decided to let Watada go. —PS

Los Angeles Times:

Watada, 31, a native of Honolulu, was court-martialed for refusing to join his unit on its deployment to Iraq in 2006. He also was accused of making statements critical of former President George W. Bush and the war that the military deemed “conduct unbecoming an officer.”

The proceedings ended in a mistrial, and a judge ruled that the Army could not retry Watada on most of the counts because of double jeopardy. Military prosecutors could have tried him on two charges stemming from statements Watada made that had been conditionally dismissed prior to trial.

Read more

More Below the Ad

Advertisement

TAGS: army court martial ehren watada iraq military war war crimes

Related Entries

Email to a friend

Get truth delivered to
your inbox every week.

Previous item: Baucus & Co. Shoot Down Public Option Amendment

Next item: CBS: 2, Rather: 0

New and Improved Comments

If you have trouble leaving a comment, review this help page. Still having problems? Let us know. If you find yourself moderated, take a moment to review our comment policy.

By Hulk2008, September 30, 2009 at 7:35 am Link to this comment

I wonder if the Blackwater dudes have to go through courts martial if they don’t want to take a specific gig. Might also be interesting to know what would happen if one of the military “contractors” decided to throw in the towel in the middle of a fire fight.
Apparently the Lieutenant just made the mistake of staying in regular military. I never quite understood the idea that when you took the oath in the military that you automatically gave up most of your rights as a US citizen. The UCMJ vs. Citizen’s Rights has always been an enigma.

Report this

By Jim Yell, September 30, 2009 at 7:35 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Our founding fathers gave us a process for going to War. The process has been circumvented by sending troops illegally to war without first deliberating, without first examining all the “intellegence” and opinions before committing the military to battle. That is what happened in the Bush/Cheney bulling us into invading Iraq. This led to the rape of our national treasury by the Republicans and their gangs of goons, with unnecessary no bid contracts and no oversight.

Keeping these incidents of rebellion to military authority to a minimum is why we aren’t supposed to allow war on the impulse of a minority of aggressive leaders. It is why our military is supposed to be the United States Military and not the Corporate Goon Squad. No that they have acknowledged that they cann’t gain anything by prosecuting someone for observing the “Emperor Has No Clothes”, maybe we can get to the point of trying Bush/Cheney and Rumsfield amongst others for criminal treason and violating their oaths of office and so much more——like crimes against America and Humanity.

Report this