Category: Ehren Watada

Each of the later four charges relates to Lt. Watada’s public explanations of his refusal to deploy to Iraq.

Political charges of “contempt towards the president” dropped, four years prison still possible for political speech critical of Iraq War. Trial date set for February 5, 2007.  “I think as the recent elections show more...

As a member of the armed forces, sworn to uphold the US Constitution, he refuses to blindly participate in a war of aggression, an illegal war that undermines who we are as a nation and violates international law.

He has been charged with “contemptuous words” towards President Bush and conduct unbecoming of an officer. These charges represent the first military persecution of an objector for First Amendment speech since 1965.

My moral and legal obligation is to the Constitution and not those who would issue unlawful orders. I stand before you today because it is my job to serve and protect those soldiers.

He will announce his intention to disobey the illegal order to deploy to Iraq in coordinated press conferences in Tacoma, Washington and Honolulu, Hawaii.