Poor excuse for an officer won't get to put war on trial
Published Wed, Jan 17 2007 12:34 PM
Technorati Tags: News and Politics, War on Terror, Iraq
From the Seattle Times:
In a major blow to the court-martial defense of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, a military judge has ruled that the Fort Lewis Army officer cannot try to justify his refusal to deploy to Iraq by raising questions about the legality of the war.
The ruling released Tuesday sets the stage for a Feb. 5 court-martial trial, where Watada faces up to six years in prison for his failure to join his brigade in Iraq last June and his outspoken attacks on the Bush administration conduct of the war.
Defense attorneys had hoped to argue that the war is illegal, in part, because it violated Army regulations that call for wars to be launched in accordance with the United Nations charter.
Army regulations have nothing to do with launching wars. The Army doesn't launch a war, Congress does. In any case, we've been over this before, the war in Iraq is a legal war. Lt. Watada's little political tirade is what he's on trial for anyway (that's the source of the four "conduct unbecoming" charges). He shouldn't be allowed to continue it in court.
But in a ruling, Lt. Col. John Head said that "whether the war is lawful" is a political question that could not be judged in a military court.
Head, citing federal court precedents, also rejected defense attorneys' claim that Watada's First Amendment rights shielded him from charges relating to his criticism of the war.
Instead, Head ruled that there are limits to the free-speech rights of military personnel and that a military panel should decide whether Watada's criticism of the war amounted to officer misconduct that could have endangered the morale, loyalty and discipline of troops.
"We have been stripped of every defense," said Eric Seitz, a civilian attorney representing Watada. "This is a disciplinary system, not a justice system. Otherwise, we would have been entitled to defend ourselves."
This has always been the case. Lt. Watada is being tried under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, not civilian law. The court-martial may find him not guilty, but that's not too likely at this point. Lt. Watada wanted to use the very offenses he's charged with as a defense against the charges.
That plan has backfired. This weasel will probably get the six years in a military prison that he has coming to him. Even leftist rallies that will try to put the war on trial during his court-martial won't change that.
Cross posted to NWBloggers.com
Trackposted to Rightwing Guy, The Random Yak, Big Dog's Weblog, stikNstein... has no mercy, basil's blog, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, Conservative Cat, Right Voices, and OTB Sports, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
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