<Begin Segment 27>

TI: So we just have a few minutes left on this tape, so you're literally just weeks away from your court-martial.

EW: Uh-huh.

TI: And I just wanted to ask you, during this time, what are your hopes for the trial? I mean, what are your, what would be the, the most positive thing that could happen from this whole process that you're going through?

EW: Well, my dream would of course be an acquittal, because the military views that as dangerous, because then every soldier in any war could say, "This is immoral and illegal, and I can't take part in it." There does have to be some accommodation, though, for soldiers who really believe that what we are doing in this particular war is so morally wrong that they do have a duty to disobey and refuse, and they should not be punished for that, or made to be viewed as cowards and traitors. Has to be some accommodation there.

TI: So one hope is that this, this trial will be a discussion of this, and that, and that accommodations will come from that? That would be one hope?

EW: Right, but I know it's not gonna happen. I mean, an acquittal won't happen because an acquittal will end the war tomorrow. You would just have so many soldiers who will use this as legal precedence, an acquittal is legal precedence to refuse to go to Iraq, and no soldier nowadays wants to go to Iraq, for whatever reason. Either because it's too hot, or because it's dangerous, and they don't want to go, they don't want to be separated from their families. But they will use this as legal precedence to refuse orders then, and probably be protected by it. So the military would never, even if I, even if the war was illegal, or is illegal, and it could be proven, the President himself would come out and say it's illegal, the military would never allow this to be used as legal precedence, this case. So therefore they would never allow me to be acquitted.

TI: Well, so you're facing at least three charges.

EW: No, two charges, a total of five counts.

TI: Okay, two charges, five counts. One has to do with your decision not to deploy. The other one really focuses on your speaking out publicly about this. You just talked more about that first charge of refusing to deploy based on the grounds that this is an immoral, illegal war, which you said that you don't believe the military will allow that acquittal to happen. How about the other side, the fact that you spoke out? Do you have hopes of being acquitted of those charges?

EW: Sure, and I think we, the motion to dismiss those, or our chances of defending against them are a lot more stronger than the missing movement charge, the refusal to go, which is basically because of the nature of the article which they used to charge me with, is virtually almost impossible to defend against, or even appeal if we lose. But certainly the "conduct unbecoming," because it deals primarily with free speech rights, because of the vagueness of the article itself is unconstitutional, we have a lot more chance to defend this court-martial and to appeal probably all the way up to the Supreme Court. And so I think the chances are for winning this in any number of ways, the "conduct unbecoming" charges are a lot better. I mean, certainly the chances are very low for both, winning both, or either one of them. And I think in a larger sense, beyond the scope of the legal, the legal proceedings, I think for me, what would give me a sense of satisfaction is to once again see accountability in our government, to see the investigations into the prewar intelligence, and to really determine and say to the American people that there has been a wrong committed, and that those responsible are now going to be held accountable. Because the important thing for me is that this, this tragedy, the war in Iraq has already happened, and it's unfortunate, but it should not happen again, ever. I thought, a lot of people thought we had learned that lesson after Vietnam, obviously we didn't. Another war that was started on false pretenses and carried out for how many years, the conduct of it violating the Geneva Conventions again and again. When John McCain and a lot of people talk about how they were tortured by the North Vietnamese, and certainly American GIs and pilots were tortured by the North Vietnamese, but nothing is ever spoken about how the North Vietnamese or the Viet Cong were tortured by the American and South Vietnamese military.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.