A second court-martial is scheduled to begin July 16.
Honolulu-based military defense lawyer Eric Seitz had been representing Watada largely for free. But Seitz said the Seattle law firm Carney Badley Spellman has picked up the case. Watada's new Seattle attorneys are Kenneth Kagan and James Lobsenz.
"We will be taking the position that a second trial is barred by the double-jeopardy clause" of the Constitution, Kagan said. "Some (legal observers) have opined that double jeopardy does not apply to soldiers as it does to civilians. We will take the position that there was no manifest reason for the judge to deal a mistrial, and as a result a subsequent trial is barred," Kagan said.
The above, noted by Portland, is from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's "Army war resister takes on new lawyers for retrial." The war resister is Ehren Watada. Portland notes the visitor (see last night's entry) who had an issue with my mentioning James Lobsenz in the snapshot yesterday when he wasn't mentioned in any of the press reports. Portland suggested the visitor read the above. Doubtful that will happen since the visitor already has e-mailed since last night's entry to state that if I can't "prove that lawyer exists, you shouldn't write about it." Who knew one line could upset someone so? ("Another is the strong lawyers working for the firm such as Jim Lobsenz.") But if the visitor stumbles by, there you are, via Portland, a link you can use that might convince you Lobsenz is at the firm and that he does exist.
Lloyd notes Joshua Partlow's "Putting Faith in the Masses To Forge New Secular Rule" (Washington Post) and highlights this key point about the talk of changes in parliament:
Some politicians say they believe the talk of a new parliamentary alliance is a cover for an attempt by Allawi to take another run at ruling Iraq. Allawi was installed as interim prime minister in mid-2004 by the U.S.-led government in Iraq, but he was swept from office by the groundswell of support for religious parties in January 2005.
Some members of Allawi's current political alliance are worried that rushing to fashion a new structure out of Iraq's fledgling democracy could mire the nation in more brutal violence.
Yes, Allawi wants back in. And you better believe some in the US administration want him back as well.
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ehren watada
the washington post
joshua partlow
