Two charges dropped against Army lieutenant who refused to deploy

HONOLULU – The government Monday agreed to drop two allegations of conduct unbecoming an officer from its case against an Army lieutenant who called the Iraq war illegal and refused to deploy.

First Lt. Ehren Watada, whose court-martial is scheduled Feb. 5 at Fort Lewis, Wash., still faces a maximum of four years imprisonment if he is convicted for missing movement – for his refusal to deploy last June – and for two remaining allegations of conduct unbecoming an officer for comments made about the case.

The “conduct unbecoming” charge originally carried four “specifications,” or counts, Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek said. The two dropped counts each carried a maximum penalty of a year in prison. They stem from comments Watada made to reporters, explaining why he refused to go to Iraq and why he was challenging the Bush administration’s reasons for going to war.

In exchange, Watada’s attorney Eric Seitz agreed that two subpoenaed reporters will not have to testify. They are the Honolulu Star-Bulletin’s Gregg Kakesako and freelance reporter Sarah Olson. “We will stipulate and agree to the testimony that the reporters would have otherwise provided and the accuracy to the statements that are attributed to my client,” said Seitz, of Honolulu. Seitz said Watada’s action shields the journalists from the “heavy-handedness of the government.”

“While we don’t think any charges should have been filed at all for simply exercising free speech, we are pleased with the government’s willingness to reduce Lt. Watada’s potential sentence by two years,” he said.