Posted on 02/05/2007 12:20:02 PM PST by jazusamo
Unable to put the Iraq war on trial, the lawyer for Lt. Ehren Watada launched an attack on the military legal proceedings against his client during the opening of Watada's court martial at Fort Lewis this morning.
Honolulu attorney Eric Seitz said rulings that have gone against the Stryker Brigade officer in pre-trial motions, including the exclusion of many defense witnesses, rendered the proceedings "almost comical" and at one point called the case "an atrocity."
"There's really nothing for us to say in this courtroom," Seitz said during pre-trial motions in a wood-paneled courtroom.
The military judge hearing the case, Lt. Col. John Head, told Seitz he could "leave the dramatics at the courtroom door."
Watada is accused of three violations of military law for refusing to deploy with his unit to Iraq and criticizing the Bush Administration for leading the country into war.
(Excerpt) Read more at thenewstribune.com ...
Bad news for Watada, dramatics is all his attorney has for his defense.
Hang 'em.
Sounds like he's trying to make this trial as "entertaining" as Saddam's trial.
I got news for you, chuckles. That courtroom is all you've got. If you don't want to take advantage of it then your client can start packing for Leavenworth now.
Watada needs kicked out of the Army with a dismissal from the service.
Being a local-to-Seattle issue, this has been getting alot of press here.
And I saw his smarmy uppity holier-than-thou attitude, and hope they throw the book at him.
He's whining on about free speech, etc. If he wants free speech, go work for a newspaper somewhere.
It really angers me when he has that kind of attitude and the press give him all this credit like he's some great hero or something, when real men are spilling their blood over there. Whether you agree with the war or not, this guy ain't a hero, he's a coward.
This 'smart' college grad signed up in Feb or March of 2003. We had already placed troops in Kuwait by Nov 2002. He knew exactly where he was headed, he just didn't like how it has turned out.
This 'officer' needs to fry.
While I cannot applaud him for what he has done I must nevertheless respect him for doing it, knowing what the consequences would be. Two-hundred and thirty years ago a bunch of other guys did something similar and now we consider them heros. Perhaps in another two-hundred years he will be similarly idolized. I just can't do it now.
Exactly...I've been following this closely also. The antiwar crowd and media have been getting a lot of mileage out of him, especially the last couple weeks.
Most every article tries to portray him as a hero, nothing could be further from the truth. He has broken the oath he took to defend our country and should do a lot more hard time than he'll get for this.
Simple textbook case of Article 85 desertion under clause 2.
(2) quits his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to avoid hazardous duty or to shirk important service; or
Fry 'im as he purposely lessened the morale of his troops in a time of war.
The fact that he's talking about Iraq the way he is having never been over there proves that he doesn't care about what is actually going on, he doesn't care about US intelligence regarding issues that led to the war, he's just out to make a martyr of himself and grow up to be the left's new anti-war poster child.
Here's to hoping they take away his microphone now, place a gag order on his lawyer, and then throw him in the deepest, darkest cell they can find for a long, long time. He is a disgrace to our military, and our country.
His father, Bob Watada, was on Fox's The Big Story with John Gibson. He is a big politician in Hawaii. It is clear where the son got his screwball values. The problem is his son will
pick up the tab for this.
My son who was infantry in the first Gulf War is here at my place and we just saw Gibson interview him also. I won't repeat what we had to say about he and his father.
Perhaps you'll respect him less if his true motivation is to ride this notoriety to a Senate seat. Okay, so he hasn't said as much, but when you consider that his Dad(a 'Rat) held elected office in HI, I think this punk figures he would ride his new antiwar creds to the Senate, a la Jon Carry.
Which American heroes do you believe deserted while on active duty?
"I must nevertheless respect him for doing it, knowing what the consequences would be..."
I see your point, to a degree.
Other articles have compared him to Thoreau. However, Thoreau gladly went to jail and was upset when his buddy Emerson bailed him out. (Probably as he didn't get as much free press sitting in the cabin compared to sitting in jail).
It is one thing to say "I will not serve but will accept the consequences" to "I won't serve and you can't make me and this war is illegal and I'll hire a lawyer my daddy knows and ....".
Back when I was a JAG, we had a lot of fun watching the 'colorful' antics of the local civilian defense bar. Usually the play-acting was done solely for the perp & his friends in the audience (perhaps they might be future clients...), but in virtually every case it only guaranteed that the kid would face an disgruntled military judge and an annoyed panel at sentencing. In fact, the consensus was that whatever legal fees the accused had paid--remember, a military defense lawyer is free, but the accused has to pay a civilian lawyer out of his own pocket--was simply a pre-trial installment on the fine the fool was about to receive, and well-deserved most of the time.
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