25 Facts About Ehren Watada

Ehren Keoni Watada was born on 1978 and is a former first lieutenant of the United States Army, best known as 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.

Ehren Watada was brought before a court-martial in 2007 which ended in a mistrial; the Army subsequently discharged him under "Other-Than-Honorable-Conditions" in 2009.

Ehren Watada was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Robert Ehren Watada and Carolyn Ho.

Ehren Watada's father served for 10 years as executive director of Hawaii's Campaign Spending Commission and himself refused to serve in the Vietnam War.

Ehren Watada attended Punahou School, then transferred in his sophomore year to Kalani High School, where he played cornerback on the varsity football team.

Ehren Watada served one year in South Korea, and was reassigned to Fort Lewis, Washington.

Ehren Watada stated that, after reading several books and articles about the history of Iraq, international law, and the evidence used to justify the war, and speaking with veterans returning from Iraq, he ceased to believe in its legality and justification.

Ehren Watada came to the conclusion after doing his own personal research, including reading books by Seymour Hersh and James Bamford as well as learning about the Downing Street Memo, a British government document that stated that war in Iraq was "inevitable" and "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy" of war.

Ehren Watada asserted, in discussions with other soldiers, that he and his fellow servicemen were complicit in war crimes.

Ehren Watada played video clips from a Veterans for Peace conference.

In that speech, Ehren Watada called on his fellow soldiers to stop fighting.

However, on January 16,2007, Judge John M Head ruled that Watada would not be allowed to present any defense based on the Nuremberg principles, stating that the legality of a war was a "nonjusticiable political question" and ruling that the order that Watada had refused was lawful.

At a pre-trial press conference Ehren Watada remarked that he believed it his duty to refuse to fight in the war, and that he was prepared to face prison time for his beliefs.

Ehren Watada was court-martialed in February 2007, with the case ending in a mistrial.

On February 5,2007, Ehren Watada's court-martial began with him entering a plea of not guilty to all of the specifications against him.

Ehren Watada faced three specifications: one for missing movement, and two for "conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman" related to his public comments criticizing the Bush administration and the war.

Ehren Watada testified that he learned of Watada's feelings about the war soon after Watada concluded, in early January 2006, that the war was illegal.

Ehren Watada argued that his orders were unlawful, and Military Judge John Head ruled that the question could not be resolved within the military justice system, saying Ehren Watada's argument was reduced to an admission of guilt.

The judge ruled that the court-martial was unable to decide the question of whether the deployment order was unlawful, and decided to strike Ehren Watada's stipulation, calling it an admission of guilt.

Ehren Watada was represented by Ken Kagan and Jim Lobsenz with the Seattle law firm Carney Badley Spellman, who had replaced Eric Seitz.

The Army challenged the injunction, and Judge Settle ruled on October 21,2008, that Ehren Watada cannot be retried on three of the five counts, but abstained from deciding whether the remaining two counts of conduct unbecoming an officer may go forward.

Ehren Watada reported that although he had not received open hostility from fellow soldiers, there was "definitely a tension".

Ehren Watada was on hand to speak, and shared the stage with other prominent critics of the war, including Jane Fonda, Sean Penn, and Tim Robbins, at the January 27,2007 anti-war protest in Washington, DC.

In 2012, Ehren Watada founded and became the part-owner of the Bachi Burger restaurant in Las Vegas.