US District Judge Benjamin Settle says a second court-martial would violate Watada's right against double-jeopardy.
His first court-martial ended in a mistrial. He had faced up to six years in prison.
So lied Amy Goodman Thursday during "Headlines" for Pravda On The Hudson. The Thursday snapshot called her out and -- no surprise -- Friday's show didn't find Goody Liar issuing a correction.
Catching Goody's 'news' was catching misinformation. Justice Benjamin Settle did not bar a second court-martial nor did he declare that Ehren Watada couldn't be retried. Hearing Goody's Back Channels Update, you'd think Ehren was finally free.
That's not reality.
June 22, 2006 Lt Watada became the first officer to refuse to deploy to the Iraq War. August 2006 was when the Article 32 hearing was held to decide whether or not to move forward with a court-martial. Six months later, February 2007, a court-martial began but Judget Toilet (John Head), ignoring objections from the defense team, ruled a mistrial.
Though Head was announcing that a second court-martial would take place in March 2007, that never happened. Double-jeopardy is forbidden by the Constitution. Meaning if the prosecution can't get their act together in the first place, they're not allowed multiple chances. November 2007 was when federal Judge Benjamin Settle ruled in Watada's favor stating that the double-jeopardy issues needed to be resolved.
That's your backstory. Here's news -- real news as opposed to Amy Goodman's 'news.'
Goody Liar says Ehren's in the clear. Journalist Hal Bernton, reporting for The Seattle Times on Wednesday, revealed that Settle ruled, "Watada cannot face a second court-martial on three of five counts" which "leaves open the possibility of a second prosecution on two other counts involving conduct unbecoming an officer."
Ruh-ro, Shaggy! Zoinks, Velma! It would appear Goody Liar has been caught spreading propaganda again. But let's not single source.
The Honolulu Advertiser added, "Settle barred the military from retrying Watada on charges of missing his deployment to Iraq, taking part in a news conference and participating in a Veterans for Peace national convention." William Cole (Honolulu Advertiser) spoke with one of Ehren's civilian attorneys, Jim Lobsenz, who explained, "I'm pretty confident that some day, we will prevail in getting all of these charges thrown out. We've got three different arguments now on these two remaining charges. Which one of those arguments the court is ultimately going to latch on to as the one that says, 'You are right,' I don't know. But we have three, and I think they are all strong arguments." KGMB9 News reported that "[u]ntil the final two charges are cleared up, Watada is on desk duty at Ft. Lewis in Washington."
So we've got one of the civilian attorneys on record and, guess what, Goody is WRONG. Both linked to articles at The Honolulu Advertiser contain a quote from Ehren's parents Bob Wataada (first link) and Carolyn Ho (second link) and, like the reports, the parents are aware that Settle ruled on only three of the five charges.
Those are the facts and Amy Goodman's LYING is as offensive as The Honolulu Star Bulletin's editorial (which doesn't appear to grasp what Settle ruled on but is determined to sneer at Watada).
Thursday morning Amy Goodman got it wrong. Wednesday's "Iraq snapshot" already covered the basics including that two charges remained so there's no reason self-anointed 'journalist' Goodman didn't get it right.
It matters. Her audience may be shrinking but she still has some sort of an audience and if they counted on her for the news, they're under the impression that Ehren's no longer a concern for them, that he's free and it's case closed. That is not reality and Bob Watada has especially noted how much money the Pentagon has and how they may continue the fight in an attempt to crush dissent.
Jesse Hagopian (Socialist Worker) ended his own update (which got the facts correct) with this statement, "Antiwar activists are committed to making sure that Watada not only doesn't see a day behind bars, but is celebrated as a hero for his courage to resist the war on Iraq." But it's difficult for that goal to be achieved when an allegedly trusted 'voice' is bound and determined to wrongly broadcast that a judge has declared Watada can't be court-martialed again. That is not what Settle said and Goody's fact-free approach doesn't just misinform, it hurts.
Thank You, Lt. Watada currently displays the following at the top of the home page:
Judge Rules 3 Charges Unconstitutional, and Legal Limbo Continues
No New Court Martial!
Dismiss All Charges!
Release Lt. Watada with an Honorable Discharge!
Those goals become all the harder to mobilize on when Amy Goodman's announcing (wrongly) to the world, "End of story, nothing to see here, move along." It is journalistic malpractice for Goody to offer a disinformation campaign that wrongly tells people Ehren's case is resolved.
