Write up for IP #355
Lt. Ehren Watada, the Ft. Lewis officer who refused to ship to Iraq, and then was also charged with “Conduct Unbecoming An Officer” for giving a speech at the national convention of Veterans For Peace, won a major victory recently
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when the US Army had to drop its challenge against him in federal appeals court. That means Lt. Watada can not be tried again on the three counts that ended in a mistrial back in 2007.
The PepperSpray Collective followed the Watada case closely from the beginning. We conducted an exclusive interview with Lt. Watada before he was ever charged with any crime, we captured a number of his speeches, including the speech he gave at the VFP convention, we had a ringside seat at his court-martial, we got the court artist sketches, and our teams captured the street protests in support of the plucky Lt. Although pieces of our footage were broadcast on everything from Japanese TV to various documentary pieces, we were uniquely positioned to bring the best and most complete and accurate accounting of this remarkable piece of GI resistance.
This week, Indymedia presents “He Stood UP,” our accounting of the Watada trial. We made this piece immediately after his court-martial. The appellate rulings in Lt. Watada’s favor only serve to emphasize just how “right” we got it with this 28 minute court room drama-style documentary.
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