HONOLULU -- Hawaii-born Army Lt. Ehren Watada now faces four years in jail instead of six for charges stemming from his refusal to deploy to Iraq.

The Army on Monday agreed to drop two charges of conduct unbecoming an officer. Watada still faces a serious charge of failing to deploy with his unit, but his potential prison sentence has now been reduced by two years.

"So it went from eight yrs back in August to six years in November when the case was referred to court martial, and we're now down to a maximum sentence of four years, which we regard as moving in the right direction. We would like to see it move much farther down as the consequence of the procedure we're about to embark upon," Watada's attorney Eric Seitz said.

Watada's court martial is set to begin next Monday Feb. 5, in Ft. Lewis, Wash.