The name of U.S. Army Lt. Ehren Watada may be unfamiliar to you. The story of Ehren Watada is not one that has received much media attention. Who is he? And why is his story important? His story affects all of us.

Lt. Ehren Watada is the first commissioned officer to refuse his orders to go to war in Iraq. He is facing a court-martial trial today, and if convicted, faces four years in prison. He believes that the current occupation of Iraq is illegal and immoral, and as an officer believes it would be criminal of him to lead his unit into a war he believes is illegal.

Ehren Watada’s story begins as a student at Hawaii Pacific University in the spring of 2003. Watada was a finance major and graduated magna cum laude that year. We had just begun the war in Iraq, and Watada, like many U.S. citizens, believed Iraq posed a real threat to the U.S., had WMDs and was connected to Sept. 11. He entered the U.S. Army officer candidate program following graduation to pursue a military career. Watada served in Korea in 2003 and 2004, earned the rank of lieutenant, and received excellent reviews of his work by his superior officers. In 2005, Lt. Watada and his unit returned to the U.S., and were stationed in Ft. Lewis, Washington. Lt. Watada knew that his unit would be eventually deployed to Iraq, and he began to study all he could to prepare himself and his unit for their deployment.

During Lt. Watada’s studies, he read that much of the information used to justify U.S. involvement in Iraq was, at best, misrepresented and, at worst, manufactured and manipulated. It is now widely believed that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction at the time of the invasion and had not been involved with the Sept. 11 attacks. Lt. Watada, after a year of research and reflection, decided to resign his commission in early 2006. Prior to receiving his official deployment orders to Iraq, Lt. Watada attempted to resign twice, and his resignation was not accepted. He offered to serve in Afghanistan instead, and was denied. His unit was called for deployment in summer 2006, and he refused to go.

Lt. Watada has said, “Although I have tried to resign out of protest, I am forced to participate in a war that is manifestly illegal. As the order to take part in an illegal act is ultimately unlawful as well, I must as an officer of honor and integrity refuse that order. It is my duty not to follow unlawful orders and not to participate in things that I find morally reprehensible.” The U.S. government is trying to make an example of Lt. Watada. If he is convicted, it will silence the voices of many who will be too scared to speak.

In times like these, it is essential that we remember the freedoms we hold dear as U.S. citizens. Free speech is one freedom I hold dear, and I exercise this right now by writing this. I fear, however, that our freedoms and rights are being stripped away in the name of national security. A frequent slogan of those that support the war in Iraq is “freedom isn’t free” and this is all too true.

The lives of our soldiers, soldiers’ families and loved ones, and Iraqi citizens pay this price every day. Too much human life has been lost. Too much money has been spent. There is no end in sight. Our continued occupation in Iraq is creating more terrorists; our war on terror has backfired. We are now less safe than we were before going in.

There is so much more to Lt. Watada’s story, and I encourage you to visit www.ltwatada.org to find out. Please support his right to refuse to go to war. Our rights to free speech and dissent can no longer be taken for granted. We must fight for these rights, before they vanish.

There will be a candlelight vigil to show support for Lt. Watada at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 5, on the University of Maine campus between the library and the student union.

Diane Kay of Orrington is a graduate student at the University of Maine School of Social Work.