First Lieutenant Ehren Watada on trial for refusing to fight in an illegal war

From Wikipedia:

Ehren Watada (born 1978) is a First Lieutenant in the United States Army, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Stryker Brigade Combat Team, who in June 2006 publicly refused to deploy to Iraq for the Iraq War, saying that he believed the war to be illegal and that it would make him party to war crimes. The first and only commissioned officer in the U.S. armed forces to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq,^[1] Watada will face a court-martial set to begin February 5, 2007.^[2]

AlJazeera:

Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse specifically to serve in Iraq, has spoken out against US military involvement in Iraq, calling it morally wrong and a breach of American law.

In a video statement in June, Watada said: "As the order to take part in an illegal act is ultimately unlawful as well, I must as an officer of honour and integrity refuse that order."

Despite having already been charged, he spoke out again in August, at a Veterans for Peace rally in Seattle.

Watada said: "Though the American soldier wants to do right, the illegitimacy of the occupation itself, the policies of this administration, and the rules of engagement of desperate field commanders will ultimately force them to be party to war crime."

Democracy Now and the interview with Amy Goodman:

1ST LT. EHREN WATADA: When I learned that I was going to be deployed last year, I thought it was my responsibility as an officer to learn everything I could about war in general -- its effects on people, its effects on the soldiers, and also specifically why we were there, what was occurring at that time, what had occurred in the past -- in order to get a better understanding, as was my job.

And the more I read different articles by international and constitutional law experts, and the reports coming out from government agencies and non-governmental agencies, and the reports and the revelations from independent journalists and the Iraqi people themselves and the soldiers coming home, I came to the conclusion that the war and what we're doing over there is illegal. And so, being so, I felt it was my duty to morally, and also legally, refuse any orders to participate in it.

TruthOut.org and the statement by Debbie Clark:

Military veterans can especially understand how hard a path it is that Lt. Watada has taken, because, whether we served in war or during peacetime, we know what it means to live and serve under military authority.

However hard it may be to stand up, any active duty service members today whose consciences have been moved by what they know in their hearts to be wrong can also take strength in knowing that the very same military authority that requires them to obey all lawful orders, also, if it is true to its own code, imposes upon them the obligation to disobey all unlawful orders.