By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times
January 30, 2007

In a deal with defense attorneys, the Army has dropped two misconduct counts against a Fort Lewis officer who refused to serve in Iraq.

The agreement — confirmed Monday by an Army official — knocks two years from a maximum six-year prison sentence that 1st Lt. Ehren Watada initially faced at a court-martial scheduled to begin next Monday at Fort Lewis. 

"The bottom line is that he now faces a maximum of four years in prison," said Joe Piek, a Fort Lewis spokesman.

The agreement also means the Army will not try to call journalists as witnesses in the trial, according to Piek.

Watada has claimed the war is illegal, and that he was duty-bound by his officer's oath not to obey the order to deploy. The case has drawn international attention.

Watada had faced up to two years in prison for his refusal to deploy with his brigade last June, and up to one year in prison for each of four statements in which he said the war was illegal, denounced the Bush administration for lying to the American public and accused the Army of war crimes.

Monday, the Army agreed to drop two of the misconduct charges in exchange for Watada's admission that he made all the statements included in the two remaining misconduct charges, relating to a June 7 news conference in Tacoma and an Aug. 12 speech before the Veterans for Peace convention in Seattle.

"Today, I speak with you about a radical idea," Watada said in his Aug. 12 speech. "That to stop an illegal and unjust war, the soldiers can choose to stop fighting it ... "

Defense attorneys maintain that all of Watada's statements made in public appearances and to journalists are protected by the Constitution, according to Eric Seitz, a civilian attorney representing Watada.

The Army will seek to prove at the court-martial that the June and August statements amounted to misconduct.

The two charges that were dropped involved statements Watada had made to journalists.

In an effort to prove those statements in court, the Army had subpoenaed journalists and was prepared to compel them to testify or face up to six months in prison under contempt charges

The agreement removed those two counts from the charges, so the Army will no longer seek to compel journalists to testify, according to Piek.

One of those journalists, Sarah Olson, said Monday afternoon that she had yet to hear from the Army about that decision.

"I certainly would be greatly relieved that would be fantastic," said Olson, an independent journalist who published a Watada interview on Truthout.org.

Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it