Update from Lt. Watada's attorney

author : Eric Seitz topic : Iraq occupation

On June 22nd, when 1st Lt. Ehren Watada refused to board a bus to accompany his Army unit to Iraq, he courageously became the first active duty US officer to disobey an order to serve in a war which he and many other active duty, retired, and reserve military personnel have characterized as illegal and immoral.

Reportedly some eight thousand American soldiers have taken refuge in Canada, and a growing number of conscientious objectors and resistors are in military confinement facilities or facing charges for their refusals to serve in Iraq. In Britain lst Lt. Malcolm Kendall-Smith was sentenced to serve eight months after his position of conscientious was rejected by the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair. The tide is rising as more and more of the people who are expected and relied upon to fight this horrendous war are simply refusing to do so.

It is my privilege and honor to represent Lt. Watada. If and when the Army brings charges against him we will vigorously defend him and demonstrate that the action he has taken is not only the correct legal and moral position but that it is one that is supported by a great majority of people in the United States and around the world who understand that the U.S. invasion of Iraq is not and never could be justified.

Eric Seitz

Attorney at Law

June 24, 2006