Judge says mistrial possible in war objector trial

FORT LEWIS, Wash, Feb 7 (Reuters) The court-martial of a US Army officer, who publicly refused to fight in Iraq and criticised the war, could end in a mistrial, the presiding military judge said today.

First Lt Ehren Watada faces up to four years in prison and a dishonorable discharge if convicted on a charge of missing movements for not deploying to Iraq and two charges of conduct unbecoming an officer for his criticism of the war.

Lt Col John Head, the military judge, said the case could end in a mistrial if Watada's lawyers refuse to let the defendant answer the judge's questions about potential inconsistencies with a ''stipulation of fact'' that Watada agreed to before the trial began.

If a mistrial is declared, an Army official said it could be ''months'' before a new trial.

At the centre of the dispute between the judge and the defense is Watada's intent when he did not deploy with his unit to Iraq. The defense has consistently tried to call into question the legality of the war, because Watada says the war is illegal and a command to fight in Iraq is also illegal.

The judge has said the argument over the legality of the war is not a matter that can be settled in military court.

Defence lawyers told the judge that Watada would refuse to answer any questions unless Seitz knew in advance the nature of the questions. The judge granted Seitz a recess to discuss the matter with Watada, whose supporters say is the first Army commissioned officer to publicly refuse to fight in Iraq.

The issue was raised when the defence wanted the judge to deliver an additional instruction on top of standard instructions given to military panel members -- equivalent to a jury in a civilian trial -- before they would convene to return a verdict.

The judge said something in those instructions could raise inconsistencies in the stipulation of fact about Watada's intentions behind not deploying with his unit to Iraq. The judge did not specify what the additional instruction was.

If the stipulation of fact is rejected by the judge, then a pretrial agreement to drop two additional charges of conduct unbecoming an officer against Watada becomes void and the case would end in a mistrial, Head said.

Before the trial began, the government removed two additional charges and a possible two additional years of prison time, because Watada did not dispute that he made statements criticizing the war.

The military panel will decide whether Watada's criticism amounted to misconduct posing a danger to the loyalty, discipline, mission and morale of the troops.

REUTERS SRS BST0150