Nice to see how the legality of the war is about to be tested like this in court,

But ........ then .........

The judge declares a mistrial.

Which is

1. The pussy way out for the judge who doesn't wants to be put in a place where the whole of america and the rest of the world would look over his shoulders in a very sticky situation. A situation where he would have to supervise a possible negative outcoming for all american warmongers.

2. The pussy way out for america as a whole. No more trial, no more ability to question the legality of the war in Iraq. (WAR, rcg, not a wimpy 'occupation' because you like to fiddle with words^^)(I understand why you like to call it an occupation, because the use of the word opens up all kinds of legal possibilities towards the president).

3. Obstruction of justice. From what I read in the article the judge is clearly motivated to condemn Watada, and not in giving him a fair trial as an unbiased observer and judge. Then the trial goes into the wrong direction, and instead of fighting this question of legality to the bone, it just gets declared a mistrial, so it is basically thrown out of court. This declaration of mistrial basically means that Watada doesn't get the chance to officially justify his stance on the matter.

BECAUSE THE JUDGE AND THOSE BEHIND HIM ARE AFRAID OF TESTING WATADA'S JUSTIFICATION BY THEIR OWN COUNTRY'S LAWS.

The moment justice might be done the case simply gets thrown out of court. What better way to avoid justice?

This means there IS NO JUSTICE except for what the elite decides. If there was any justice this case wouldn't be declared a mistrial.

Of course its a Military Occupation, the US is just extending it Empire. America went to war without a UN mandate with Blair, under faulty intelligence even I was duped. It was for Oil, greater control in the Middle East and a foothold to Attack Iran, Syria. The US are spending Billions of Dollars Building Military bases in Iraq. Currently, the United States has upwards of 700 military bases at home and abroad. But chances are that the number of bases/places will exceed 1,000 by this decade's end, and most of the new ones will be established abroad. Thats Empire building in the modern age. Iraq is just one part of a much larger history of US military action under the banner of freedom for its own Political ends.

thanks immac, moses, and capt!

btw, my 15 year old son and I were talking about this today and he remarked that if America were attacked he wouldn't hesitate to grab a gun and fight; he also said that he would like to join the military because he thinks fighting in a war would be fun (which made me itching to smack him upside his head), but he added that after all the lies about Iraq he would never go to another country and fight - because he has lost all confidence that it would be a just war...yada...yada...yada

Sigh... bush has really deeply hurt our country and in so many immeasurable ways.

As interesting as the trial would have been and potentially may still be, the court doesn't have the capacity to rule on the legality of a war.

I think the Judge declared a mistrial knowing by law he had no choice but to rule against Watada as the case was being presented. Believing that the defendant hadn't grasped that fact he declared the mistrial.

I'm sure part of it was the unpleasantness that the trial would create, and for now it's gone away.

If humans have been successful at proving anything, it's that no "one king" can ever be worthy at holding them. With human beings, concentration of power of any kind - and that includes modern "governments" - only leads to corruption and evil.