Court Martial Lawyer – End the Watada case, discharge him

Court Martial Lawyer – End the Watada case, discharge him

Let the decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to allow the Obama administration to drop a pending appeal of a mistrial at Fort Lewis be the end of the Army case against 1st Lt. Ehren Watada. He refused to join his combat brigade in Iraq. Give him a general discharge and move on. Put the military’s energy into the welfare of others.

ERIKA SCHULTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

The U.S. Justice Department will not pursue a second court martial against 1st. Lt. Ehren Watada.

QUESTIONS for the U.S. Army to ponder about 1st Lt. Ehren Watada have less to do with his loyalties than his judgment. He should not be in uniform.

Now is the time to part company. Use the opportunity created by the U.S. Justice Department’s decision not to pursue a second court-martial for his 2006 refusal to join his Stryker Brigade in Iraq. Most likely, that was for the best.

Watada considered the war to be illegal, and concluded that participation might make him a war criminal. His first court-martial ended in a mistrial over the meaning and content of a pretrial agreement.

A U.S. District Court Judge in Tacoma subsequently ruled that a second trail constituted double jeopardy. The Obama Justice Department later asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to withdraw a pending appeal, and the court agreed on Wednesday.

Watada remains in legal trouble because of media interviews in which he attacked President Bush and said the president’s behavior made him ashamed to wear the uniform.

Here is one of those conundrums of a free society. The finest traditions of the military have protected the rule of law that served Watada so well. His ability to articulate concern for his own prerogatives does not make him a fit leader of men and women willing to venture into harm’s way.

Cut Watada loose. Give him a general discharge for that catchall: unsuitability. Or make it an administrative discharge.

Any discharge with a stronger adjective such as dishonorable or bad requires more legal effort than this case deserves.

Watada got into the wrong line of work. He would leave the military neither disgraced nor celebrated, but a beneficiary of a system that played by the rules.

Wrap it up, move on.

Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States. military-defense-lawyer-recentcases.htm.