Watada court martial opens with feisty defense [View All]

[Barrett808]

Watada court martial opens with feisty defense
ADAM LYNN; The News Tribune
Published: February 5th, 2007 11:25 AM

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."

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Sean Penn is among the supporters outside the Fort Lewis gate. Local news coverage has been very favorable. Supporters vastly outnumber the anti-Watada protesters. The coverage has shown only one anti-Watada protester with a sign: "Jail Weasel Watada".

Video report:

Watada court-martial begins
11:39 AM PST on Monday, February 5, 2007
KING Staff and Associated Press

FORT LEWIS, Wash. - Twenty-eight-year-old 1st Lt. Ehren Watada is back in a Fort Lewis court.

The Army officer faces four years in prison after he refused an order to deploy to Iraq last June.

Proponents have gathered outside Fort Lewis to show their support for Watada. Actor Sean Penn, an outspoken war critic, is among them.

"In this particular case, the first thing that one would want to see in terms of any kind of reasonable justice, is that the primary question of whether or not there is an illegality involved in the war itself would be addressed in court, but that's been thrown out by the judge," he said.

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