Seattle Post-Intelligencer
By JOE COPELAND
Sunday, January 28, 2007

If Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada has some extra hope this morning about ending the Iraq war, Americans can take a little credit. Toward the end of last week, the 28-year-old officer who courageously refused orders to go to Iraq was hoping for good turnouts in anti-war events planned for Saturday in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS  January 29, 2007

SEATTLE (AP) -- Dale E. Noyd, a decorated Air Force captain and fighter pilot who became the first conscientious objector to oppose a specific conflict during the Vietnam War, has died. He was 73.

Ehren Watada is echoing what many before him have said about the foolishness of the Iraq War. Unfortunately, he's done so while in uniform - and that carries a heavy price tag.

"When you are looking your children in the eye in the future, or when you are at the end of your life, you want to look back on your life and know that at a very important moment, when I had the opportunity to make the right decisions, I did so, even knowing there were negative consequences." - Lieutenant Ehren Watada, June 7, 2006

International Examiner: January 17 - February 6, 2007
BY KEN MOCHIZUKI

International Examiner: What is your current assignment at Fort Lewis?

Watada: My current assignment is serving on the main base which is I Corps or 1st Corps. There’s no other way to put it – it’s an administrative position. I help out in any way I can, and I told my commanders, I mean my supervisors, that I’m just here to work. They’ve been pretty fair and professional to me since I’ve joined that unit. 1st Corps is a headquarters unit, so a lot of civilians, Department of Army civilians work in 1st Corps. It kind of gives you the difference between the ground unit, the infantry guys, the grunts, they go out and do their training, as opposed to the headquarters unit, which is primarily the bureaucracy, the administrative work, so that’s what they have me doing right now.

It is a sad day in American jurisprudence when a soldier of conscience is court-martialed — not for lying, but for telling the truth; not for breaking a covenant with the military, but for upholding the rule of law in wartime. 

The court-martial of First Lt. Ehren Watada is set for Feb. 5 in Fort Lewis, Wash. The 28-year-old soldier from Hawaii is the first commissioned officer to refuse deployment to Iraq.

While Lt. Ehren Watada awaits his fate at a court martial at Ft. Lewis, Washington in February, American citizens, including Iraq War veterans, will come to nearby Tacoma to participate in a "Citizens’ Hearing on the Legality of U.S. Actions in Iraq." The organizers of the January 20-21  “tribunal” indicate that it is of particular relevance to military personnel and their families, and welcome their attendance.

The nation's first Army officer to refuse deployment to Iraq urged the public in a statement Wednesday to "stop the war so that the death and sacrifices of American soldiers will not be in vain" after a major legal setback in his court-martial proceedings.

FORT LEWIS, Wash. - An Army lieutenant who called the Iraq war illegal and refused to deploy cannot base his court-martial defense on the war’s legality, a military judge has ruled.

Lawyers for 1st Lt. Ehren Watada planned to argue at the Feb. 5 trial that the war was illegal because it violated Army regulations that wars must be waged in accordance with the United Nations charter.

Carolyn Ho is a mother on a mission.

She came to Washington in mid-December to build support for her son, Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse deployment to Iraq. 

Barring some kind of miracle, he will be court-martialed on Feb. 5 at Fort Lewis, about 45 miles south of Seattle. If convicted, he could be sent to military prison for six years. There's going to be a pretrial hearing today.

By Dennis Kyne
U.N. Observer
January 12, 2007 

Camp RESISTANCE!
Please support this move. . . . as troops are gathering to support Ehren Watada in his stand against the lies that have gained our nation nothing more than death and despis[ing].

Fort Lewis, Washington (June 22, 2006) - U.S. Army First Lieutenant Ehren K. Watada reported to duty at 2:00 a.m. early this morning, Thursday, June 22nd and refused orders to move to the adjacent McChord Air Force Base to prepare to fly to Iraq. Lt. Watada believes that the war and occupation in Iraq are illegal, and thus participation in the war is also illegal. At this time he has been restricted to base and has been ordered to have no communication with non-military personnel.

Lt. Watada's attorney Eric Seitz said, "This morning Lt. Watada has been restricted to base without any actual charges or proper process. By placing a complete gag order on Lt. Watada, the military has again shown that their first concern is silencing Lt. Watada's speech in opposition to the illegal war in Iraq. We will immediately challenge these highly questionable and improper restrictions." Mr. Seitz is currently the only non-military person authorized to have any contact with Lt. Watada.