Ehren Watada

Ehren Watada (born 1978) is a First Lieutenant in the United States Army, a member of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Stryker Brigade Combat Team, who in June 2006 publicly refused to deploy to the war in Iraq saying that he believed the war to be illegal and that it would make him party to war crimes.

He was the first commissioned officer in the U.S. armed forces to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq, Watada will face a court-martial set to begin February 5, 2007.

Related SourceWatch Resources

• Defend The Press
• Sarah Olson
• U.S. Military Code of Conduct
• War in Iraq

External Links

General

• "Ehren Watada", Wikipedia.

Websites

• ThankyouLt.org.

By Lt. Ehren Watada

• "Lt. Ehren Watada's Speech at the Veterans for Peace National Convention" with commentary by Dahr Jamail, truthout, August 14, 2006.

Articles & Commentary

Articles by Sarah Olson about Lt. Watada

• Interview: "First Officer Announces Refusal to Deploy to Iraq," truthout, June 7, 2006.
• Report: "First Officer Publicly Resisting War Gains National Support," truthout, June 8, 2006.
• "The Courage to Resist: A US Lieutenant Refuses Deployment to Iraq," Left Turn, June 8, 2006.
• Perspective: "When Soldiers Refuse to Fight: Is the US Army Trying to Silence Lt. Watada?" truthout, June 14, 2006.
• Report: "Lieutenant Watada Refused Iraq Deployment Orders Today," truthout, June 22, 2006.
• Interview with Lt. Watada: "Dissenters or Deserters?" Making Contact/National Radio Project, July 12, 2006.
• Report: "Iraq War Vets' Support for Lt. Watada Growing," truthout, August 16, 2006; AlterNet, August 17, 2006: "A growing number of Iraq war combat vets are resisting orders, going to jail, or going AWOL -- and they want to talk about why."
• "Lieutenant Watada Faces New Charges," truthout, September 18, 2006.

Also see:

• Gregg K. Kakesako, "Watada could face prison and discharge for defiance. Refusing to report for Iraq could elicit a court-martial," Honolulu Star Bulletin, June 8, 2006.
• Dahr Jamail, "Democracy Now! Interview: U.S. Army Tries to Force Sarah Olson and Dahr Jamail to Testify Against Ehren Watada," Atlantic Free Press, January 4, 2007.

2006

• "Army Lieutenant Becomes First Commissioned Officer to Refuse Deployment to Iraq," Democracy Now!, June 8, 2006.
• Brad Wong, "Soldier's Iraq war stance backed: Watada has right to refuse to go, retired officer says", Seattle Post Intelligencer, June 20, 2006.
• Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith, "Lieutenant Watada's War Against the War," The Nation, June 26, 2006.
• Robert Shikina, "Watada court-martial set for Feb. 5: A forum supporting the Army lieutenant is held at UH-Manoa", Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 20, 2006.

2007

• Jeff Paterson, "Lt. Watada military hearing tackles free speech for soldiers, relevancy of truth. Journalists and anti-war activists subpoenaed for Army prosecution," Not in Our Name, January 6, 2007.
• Aaron Glantz, "More Subpoenas Come Down in Watada Case," Inter Press Service (Electronic Iraq), January 9, 2007.
• Jeanine Plant, "Putting the War in Iraq on Trial?" Wire Tap Magazine, January 9, 2007: "By focusing on the political comments about the illegality of the war made by Lt. Watada -- rather than his refusal to deploy -- the prosecutors of the 28-year-old officer might force the indictment of the war itself."
• Editorial: "The case against Lt. Ehren Watada," The Seattle Times, January 9, 2007.
• Ben Hamamoto, "As Watada Pretrial Begins, Local Nikkei Activists Arrested," Nichi Bei Times, January 11, 2007.
• "Interview a Soldier, Go to Jail," PRWatch.org, January 17, 2007.
• "Watada cannot use 'illegal war' defense," Associated Press (Honolulu Star Bulletin), January 18, 2007.
• Bob Egelko, "Judge lets charges against Army officer stand. Trial to proceed on refusal to deploy, criticism of Bush," San Francisco Chronicle, January 18, 2007.
• Editorial Board, "An Army lieutenant's unbecoming conduct," Austin American-Statesman, January 22, 2007.
• "Lt. Ehren Watada Faces Court Martial for Refusing to Serve in Iraq," Democracy Now!, January 23, 2007.
• Marc Cooper, "The Press and the Watada Trial," The Nation, January 23, 2007.
• Zbignew Zingh, "The People Lead When Their Leader's Freeze. A Report on the Citizen's Hearing on the War in Iraq," Dissident Voice, January 23, 2007.
• Dave Collins, Opinion: "Military judge applied double standard," Vietnam Veterans Against the War published in Austin American-Statesman, January 23, 2007.
• War-Tribunal, "Veterans, Military Families, Community Leaders Deliberate on Two Days of Testimony Charging that the Iraq War is Illegal: Citizens' Panel to Announce Findings Before Watada Court Martial," ZNet, January 24, 2007.
• "Conduct Unbecoming," ToTheCenter.com, January 24, 2007.

Wikipedia also has an article on Ehren Watada. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the GFDL.