FORT LEWIS, Wash. -- A military judge on Wednesday declared a mistrial in the court-martial of Hawaii-born Army Lt. Ahren Watada who refused to deploy to Iraq.

"We're very upbeat about this we think this is a major mess-up by the court and the government that they are not going to be able to recover from it," Watada's attorney Eric Seitz said.

As part of a deal to reduce the counts against him, Watada did not dispute that he refused the deployment order and that he made anti-war statements. However, on Wednesday because Watada still wanted to argue he was entitled to disobey, the military judge ruled the prior deal invalid. The judge offered the Army a mistrial and they took it.

"The judge made a series of rulings that were absolutely insane," Seitz said.

"Everything that was in the charge sheet when this trial began on Monday is back in play, and it's up to the parties again if they want to reach an agreement or anything, but what happened this week in now annullity," Army spokesman Lt. Col. Robert Resnick said.

However, Seitz said that by accepting the mistrial the Army made a mistake because it cannot legally retry Watada.

Watada's mother said she hopes this is the end.

"I continue to remain very hopeful that my son will be exonerated. He has committed no crime and i believe he should not be punished," Carolyn Ho said.

Experts in military law said the Army cannot allow a soldier to question the legality of war.

"If the troops in the field see a precedent, legally that would permit them to question any war. i suspect some of them would question the war, and then you have a serious problem with good order and discipline and the ability of the country's military forces to execute a war," former military judge Jay Fidell said.

Another military law expert KITV spoke with agreed that Wednesday's ruling was a major fiasco, which may protect Watada from further prosecution. However, it is also possible that the Army could bring other charges not part of the court-martial, possibly the same ones dropped before the trial began.