The first U.S. Army officer to refuse deployment to Iraq urged the public in a statement yesterday to "stop the war so that the death and sacrifices of American soldiers will not be in vain" following a major legal setback in his court-martial proceedings.

Ehren Watada, a first lieutenant based at Fort Lewis, Wash., near Seattle, faces six years in prison for failing to deploy to Iraq last year with his Stryker brigade and for criticizing President Bush and the war in statements to the media and at a peace convention.

The 28-year-old Honolulu native has argued that the war is illegal because Bush did not obtain proper authorization for it, and that Army rules and the Nuremberg principles adopted after World War II required him to refuse orders to participate.

On Tuesday, military Judge John M. Head rejected Watada's request to debate the legality of the war at his court-martial next month. Although Watada's attorney, Eric Seitz, had sought to open the question so that the soldier could explain why he refused his deployment orders, Head ruled that the war's legality was a political question irrelevant to the charges at hand.

Head also rejected motions to dismiss charges of "conduct unbecoming an officer" related to Watada's criticism of Bush and the war. Seitz had argued that the First Amendment protected Watada's remarks. Head disagreed in his written decision, saying courts have ruled that soldiers do not enjoy the same degree of free-speech protections as civilians.

In an interview, Seitz said he was "appalled" by the rulings. "They are extraordinarily broad and subjective, which I find reprehensible. They are essentially saying there is no right to criticize, which we all know is not true," he said, vowing to appeal any conviction to the federal courts.

"We have been stripped of every defense," he said. "This is a disciplinary system, not a justice system. Otherwise, we would have been entitled to defend ourselves."

Watada's court-martial trial is scheduled for Feb. 5 at Fort Lewis.

Despite the setback, Watada urged Americans to "fulfill their civic obligations" by protesting the war. "I firmly stand by my belief that this war is illegal and immoral," he said in his statement yesterday.

Watada is charged with missing a troop movement last year. He is also accused of conduct unbecoming an officer for statements he made to journalists and at a veterans convention.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.