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Refusing to Serve in Iraq
By:
Special K
Ehren K. Watada (born 1978) was a First Lieutenant of the United States Army. He was the first commissioned officer in the US armed forces to refuse to deploy to Iraq, in June, 2006. Watada refused to deploy for his unit's assigned rotation to Operation Iraqi Freedom, saying he believed the war to be illegal and that, under the doctrine of command responsibility, it would make him party to war crimes. At the time, he was assigned to duty with the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, as a Fire Support Officer. He was brought before a court-martial in 2007 which ended in a mistrial, and was discharged in 2009. Lt. Ehren Watada speaking at the Veterans for Peace 2006 National Convention August 12, 2006 in Seattle about refusing to serve in Iraq: Charges and proposed court-martial In response to Watada's refusal to deploy, the Army initially preferred seven specifications of various offenses under the UCMJ. Since the initial preferral, all but three specifications were dropped; the remaining ones sent to the court-martial follow: 2 specifications Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and a Gentleman (for statements made in speeches and interviews) (Article 133) 1 specification Missing Movement (for refusing to deploy to Iraq on June 22) (Article 87) When the initial charges were preferred, Watada faced the possibility of a General court-martial and up to seven years in prison, as well as dismissal from the service. ("Dismissal" is the only class of punitive discharge for U.S. commissioned officers; it is the equivalent of a dishonorable discharge, to which enlisted personnel may be sentenced.) Even faced with these consequences, Watada has said that he does not regret his decision, stating that he believes it to have been his moral responsibility: 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 consequence. Information courtesy of YouTube and Wikipedia
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