Ehren Watada
Ehren Watada
Born 1978 (age 30–31)
Place of
birth
Honolulu, Hawaii
Allegiance United States of America
Service/
branch
United States Army
Years of
service
2003-
Rank
First Lieutenant (1LT)
Unit
G-37, HHC, I Corps (Ft. Lewis, WA)
Awards
Army Commendation Medal, National
Defense Service Medal, Global War on
Terrorism Service Medal, Overseas
Service Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon
Ehren Watada (born 1978) is a First Lieu-
tenant of the United States Army who in
June, 2006, refused to deploy to Iraq for his
unit’s assigned rotation to Operation Iraqi
Freedom.[1][2] Watada said 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 Of-
ficer. Watada was the first commissioned of-
ficer in the U.S. armed forces to refuse to de-
ploy to Iraq.[3]
Watada’s February 2007 court-martial
ended in a mistrial when he argued that his
orders were unlawful, because Military Judge
John Head ruled that question can not be re-
solved within the military justice system, say-
ing the argument was thus reduced to an ad-
mission of guilt. A second court-martial was
scheduled but was stayed in October 2007 by
U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle, who is-
sued an order stating that Watada’s "double
jeopardy claim is meritorious" and no evid-
ence that it lacks merit was presented.[4] The
Army challenged the injunction, and Judge
Settle ruled on October 21, 2008, that
Watada cannot be retried on three of the five
counts, but abstained from deciding whether
the remaining two charges of conduct unbe-
coming an officer may go forward.[5]
Background
Ehren K. Watada was born in Honolulu,
Hawaii to Robert Watada and Carolyn Ho.
His father served for 10 years as executive
director of Hawaii’s Campaign Spending
Commission and himself refused to serve in
the Vietnam War.[6] Ehren Watada attended
Punahou School,
then tran