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First Lt. Ehren Watada will be granted a discharge Oct. 2, ‘under other than honorable conditions.’
By P.C. Staff and Associated Press
Published October 2, 2009
The Army is allowing the first commissioned officer to be court-martialed for refusing to go to Iraq to resign from the service.
First Lt. Ehren Watada will be granted a discharge Oct. 2, “under other than honorable conditions,” attorney Kenneth Kagan said.
Watada told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin he was happy the matter has finally been closed.
“The actual outcome is different from the outcome that I envisioned in the first place, but I am grateful of the outcome,” he said.
Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek wouldn't confirm Watada's type of discharge, citing privacy rules. But he said that Watada's manner of resignation is described in Army regulations as “resignation for the good of the service in lieu of general court martial.”
Watada, 31, refused to deploy to Iraq with his Fort Lewis, Wash.-based unit in 2006, arguing the war is illegal and that he would be a party to war crimes if he served in Iraq.
The Honolulu-born soldier was charged with missing his unit's deployment and with conduct unbecoming an officer for denouncing President Bush and the war — statements he made while explaining his actions.
His court-martial ended in mistrial in February 2007.
The Army wanted to try him in a second court-martial, but a federal judge ruled such a trial would violate the soldier's constitutional protection against double jeopardy. The judge said a second court-martial on key charges, including missing troop movement, would violate his constitutional right to be free from double jeopardy.
Watada's attorney said the soldier had handed in his resignation before, but the Army refused to accept it.
If convicted, he could have been sentenced to six years in prison and be dishonorably discharged. In an e-mail to the Pacific Citizen, Kagan said he sees no other legal challenges on the horizon for Watada.
Watada's father, Bob Watada, welcomed the news.
“I'm happy, very happy for Ehren. I'm happy for our family,” he said.
Kagan said he felt history would treat Watada “more favorably” than the U.S. Army.
Some argued that his refusal to deploy was a stain on the legacy of the heroic World War II Japanese American veterans and that he broke an oath to serve his country. Others have argued that Watada's stance against the Iraq War was honorable.
Through his trial, JACL said this was a military matter and took no stand other than to ask that his civil rights be maintained, said Larry Oda, JACL national president.
“An ‘other than honorable discharge’ is the best he could hope for out of this ordeal since his court martial was declared a mistrial,” he said.
In interviews with the P.C., Watada has said that he was willing to serve in other areas of the world, including Afghanistan.
“I may not know much, but one thing is certain. Japanese American men and women did not sacrifice their lives and freedoms throughout history, so that today’s leaders could invade and occupy another country, then strip the people of their democratic rights when it didn’t suit their interests,” said Watada in a Feb. 1-14, 2008 commentary in the P.C. “To believe otherwise, is to bring dishonor upon their memory.”
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