Dissent and War: Judge Blocks Second Trial for Watada; High-School Protesters Face Expulsion

US Judge Blocks Second Court Martial for Iraq War Objector

AFP

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked a second court martial for a US military officer who openly refused to go to war in Iraq.

Judge Benjamin Settle issued a preliminary injunction saying a second court martial for First Lieutenant Ehren Watada might violate his constitutional rights to avoid legal double jeopardy, or being tried for the same crime twice.

Watada's first court martial ended in a mistrial in February.

The officer's attorney Ken Kagan called the decision an "enormous victory, but it is not yet over."

The burden now appeared to be on government prosecutors to persuade the judge to lift the injunction and go ahead with the court martial, Kagan said in an e-mail.

The ruling from a federal court in Tacoma, Washington made it less likely Watada would face a second court martial, he said.

Watanda, who has accused President George W. Bush of betraying the public trust, refused to deploy with his unit to Iraq because he argued the war was illegal and immoral. He said taking part would make him a "party to war crimes."

Although the US military says a soldier must respect the chain of command and cannot choose which war to fight in, Watada has said that under the US constitution he has the right to refuse an illegal order.

Watada requested he be transferred to another unit and proposed that he be deployed to Afghanistan. But he was turned down.

He is the first US military officer to openly refuse to deploy to Iraq.

Just days before his second court martial was to begin, Watada's lawyers filed a motion for an emergency stay in civilian court.

Watada is stationed at Fort Lewis, in the northwestern state of Washington. He has been on administrative duty since refusing to deploy.

Watada's service period ended in December 2006, but the pending trial has prevented him from being discharged.

Students Call Protest Punishment Too Harsh

Crystal Yednak

New York Times

A school superintendent’s decision to suspend, and perhaps expel, about two dozen students who took part in a protest against the Iraq war at a suburban high school drew criticism Tuesday from the students and their parents, who demanded that their children be allowed to return to classes.

In a statement issued after the protest on Thursday at Morton West High School in Berwyn, a working-class suburb just west of Chicago, the district superintendent, Ben Nowakowski, said the school’s reaction had to do only with the interruption of the school day, not with the students expressing themselves.

The administration “did not say that the students could not protest,” Dr. Nowakowski’s statement said. “Rather, we asked that the students simply move their protest to an area of the school that would not disrupt the ability of the other 3,400-plus students at Morton West to proceed with their normal school day.”

Dr. Nowakowski did not return repeated calls seeking comment Tuesday.

But several students said the protesters, whose numbers had dwindled to about 25, obeyed the administration’s request to move from a high-traffic area in the cafeteria to a less-crowded hall near the principal’s office. There, they intertwined arms, sang along to an acoustic guitar and talked about how the war was affecting the world, said Matt Heffernan, a junior who took part.

“We agreed to move to another side of the building,” Matt said. “We also made a deal that if we moved there, there would be no disciplinary action taken upon us.”

Matt said the group had been told that the most severe punishment would be a Saturday detention for cutting class that day.

Police officers were on the scene, and Berwyn’s police chief, William Kushner, said no arrests were made. “It was all very peaceful and orderly,” he said.