Watada's Court Martial Ends in a Mistrial

Via seattlepi.com:

The case's just, Lt. Col. John Head, declared the trial over after a day of wrangling over a stipulation of facts that Watada had signed before the trial and that would have been part of the instructions to the jury. The judge decided that Watada never intended when he signed the stipulation to mean that he had a duty to go to Iraq with his unit.

Again the issue was Watada's views on the Iraq war -- opinions that kept him from going with his unit to the conflict and that the judge didn't want brought up at the court-martial.

Watada, a Stryker Brigade soldier, is the first commissioned officer to refuse to be deployed to Iraq. Watada's unit left this sprawling base for Iraq in June, but Watada remained behind. He said he believes the war is illegal and that his duty is to not abide by illegal orders.

But Head tried to keep the court-martial from becoming a tribunal on the war and its legality and has ruled that Watada's attorney cannot present witnesses to question the war's legality. Outside the base, that has been the issue as peace activists from across the country have rallied to Watada's side.
[...]
With the jury of officers out of the courtroom Wednesday morning, Head wanted to question Watada about the stipulation to make sure that it was accurate and to protect the lieutenant against any mistakes in it. The stipulation would be used in instructions to the jury.

But Eric Seitz, Watada's attorney, objected to the questioning. He said the stipulation should include Watada's reasons for not going to Iraq: His views that the war is illegal.

"It has always been his position that not only would he miss movement but he would not participate in a war he considered illegal" and not participate in war crimes, Seitz said.

"His specific intent was of a different character all together" than simply missing his unit's deployment to Iraq, Seitz said.

But Head said he wanted to inquire about the stipulation to make sure there wasn't a "material misunderstanding" in it.

If Head can't question Watada and make sure the stipulation is accurate, he would have to throw the document out. That would mean the two charges that had been dropped would be returned against Watada.

Hopefully one of those peace activists, my friend Janet, will pop in here to tell us what this means. CNN reported that Watada's court martial will now likely be delayed for a few months.

Updates as I find them...