Posted on 01/04/2007 12:25:09 PM PST by jazusamo
The opening round in the court-martial of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada could be key to defense hopes of putting the Iraq war on trial along with this Fort Lewis Army officer who refused to deploy to Iraq.
At a pretrial hearing today, Watada's attorneys will try to persuade a military judge that they should be allowed to argue that the war is illegal, in part because it violates military regulations that wars be fought in accordance with the United Nations charter.
That stance is crucial to the defense of Watada, who faces charges of missing a troop movement and conduct unbecoming an officer.
"The entire scope of the trial is going to be pretty much decided by the judge's ruling," said Eric Seitz, Watada's civilian defense attorney.
The hearing, expected to last at least a day, is a prelude to a court-martial scheduled to begin next month.
Watada, one of the first commissioned Army officers to refuse to serve in Iraq, has drawn international attention for his stand. He also has joined with peace groups to attack the Bush administration's handling of the war.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Watada swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not the United Nations.
Snowball meet hell...ain't going to happen.
Is that real?
OMG. What a moron.
When they were sure that Cheney would be frog-marched to justice, they are probably SURE that now Bush will be going on trial as a "war criminal", I would guess.....
This "man" (for lack of a better word) makes me want to vomit.
His lawyer is going to argue that the war is illegal, thereby turning all of our Marines, Soldiers, Airmen, and Saliors into virtual criminals.
Unbelievable.
They should revoke his citizenship and send him to live with his UN brethren.
Agreed, this guy is disgusting!
Maybe he should get Ramsey Clark to be a part of his defense team? I understand Clark's last client doesn't need him any longer.
Watada PREFERS to serve the UN.
Saddam ignored the UN. Funny how the Communists hold the US to a different standard.
Judge Roy Bean is hopefully in charge of the Courts Marshal.
Shop for the right judge and it might.
Can't. He was born here.
Actually Kofi had pretty nice digs paid for by the public.
As an aside, I gagged when I had PBS on yesterday and they ran an inhouse ad that had the word "courage" juxtaposed with a shot of Kofi.
Good one. I'll bet Clark wouldn't want the case, he knows he'd this one too.
He should be swinging like Saddam
That's--lose this one too.
I look at his list of his cleints and I don't think Clark's won one for the last 25 years.
He definitely has an agenda and probably did when he signed up.
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