Ehren Watada challenges Iraq War PolicyEhren Watada (born 1978) is a first lieutenant in the United States Army who in June 2006 publicly refused to deploy to Iraq for his unit's assigned rotation to the war . 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 refused to deploy, he was assigned to duty with the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, as a Fire Support Officer. Watada is the first commissioned officer in the U.S. armed forces to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq;[1] his court-martial ended in a mistrial on February 7, 2007.
