Word: watada
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...seems clear that the court-martial of Army Lieut. Ehren Watada, which begins Monday on a military base south of Seattle, is not going to turn out the way the officer and his supporters in the antiwar movement had originally hoped...
...Watada, 28, refused to deploy to Iraq last June, calling the war there "manifestly illegal," and he had planned on using his court-martial proceedings to put the war itself on trial. He wanted to prove that the war was launched in violation of U.S. and international laws, and thus that he had a duty to his Army oath, and to his own conscience, to refuse the "illegal order" to serve in Iraq. In proving this, Watada hoped, he would inspire other soldiers to reconsider their own Iraq service...
...Mark Keith, who presided over the proceeding, is expected to decide within the next few days whether to recommend a court-martial for Lt. Watada. If one takes place, and Watada is convicted, he could face up to seven years in prison...
...That, prosecutors said, is exactly what they most fear. To give credence to Lt. Watada's argument, they said, would create a breakdown in military order and discipline. "It's just dangerous in our Army to allow that to happen," said Capt. Dan Kuecker, one of the prosecutors. Whether the war is legal, he said, "is not a decision for a lieutenant to make - it's a decision for politicians and legislators." Watada's behavior, Capt. Kuecker told the hearing, "is dishonorable and it is disgraceful...
...clip, from a Veterans for Peace convention held last weekend in Seattle, Watada explained that he is trying to put forward a "radical idea" first born during the Vietnam War. "The idea is this," he said. "That to stop an illegal and unjust war, the soldiers and service members can choose to stop fighting...