U.S. Military Deserters in Canada Megathread

[Fishbone Jones]

Almost?  It was painful and difficult to read.

I must have a higher pain threshold ;D

 

[GAP]

I must have ADD.....I kept watching the little moving thingys......

 

[OldSolduer]

Almost?  It was painful and difficult to read.

Very very painful.

 

[kratz]

Apparently these war deserters will even argue sexual orientation to avoid deployment to Afghanistan.

From the Ottawa Citizen.com

Lesbian deserter from U.S. pleads for refugee status in Canada
  By Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News ServiceSeptember 8, 2009 4:01 PM
  OTTAWA — A lesbian soldier who deserted the U.S. military is seeking refugee status in Canada, claiming she was repeatedly harassed and threatened with death, then denied an honorable discharge because her superiors wanted to send her to Afghanistan.


Pte. Bethany Smith, who now goes by the name Skylar James, took her case to Federal Court on Tuesday after being denied asylum by the Immigration and Refugee Board.


Smith's lawyer, Jamie Liew, said she knows of no lesbian or gay American soldiers who has been granted refugee status in Canada based on sexual orientation.


Smith, 21, said she will face a court martial if she returns to the U.S. and she fears her sentence will be stiff because an anti-gay sentiment persists in the military justice system.


Justice Yves de Montigny reserved his decision after a two-hour hearing.

For more at link

 

[Kat Stevens]

Horsedookie.  It's not like the US military's policy is a surprise to anyone who signs the line.  Suck it up...err, lick it up, err....whatever.

 

[PMedMoe]

Nice lip piercing, too.  :

 

[CountDC]

My fav part is:

Smith, who works at an Ottawa call centre, describes herself as a war resister because she fled the army instead of going to Afghanistan with her unit.

Always willing to take the money until it is time to pony up. What has she really done to resist the war other than desertion?

 

[dapaterson]

Nice lip piercing, too.  :

Come on, you know that the day you outclear when you release you'll be first in line to get a visible piercing...

 

[Shec]

who now goes by the name Skylar James,

Couldn't she have at least picked a more conventional name reflective of her personality, like say "MoonUnit" ?

 

[Strike]

My cat's name is Skyler.

 

[PMedMoe]

Come on, you know that the day you outclear when you release you'll be first in line to get a visible piercing...

I already have four.  All in my ears.  ;D  Nope, no more piercings for me.  Now more ink?  That's another story.....    >

 

[The Bread Guy]

From Hansard, 17 Sept 09:

An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

Mr. Gerard Kennedy (Parkdale—High Park, Lib.) 
    moved for leave to introduce Bill C-440, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (war resisters).

    He said: Mr. Speaker, this bill is in response to the refusal of the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism to show Canadian sensibility.

    This is a simple bill with a clear purpose, which would apply Canadian sensibility to the issue of war resisters in Canada. The bill would make sure that people of good conscience who leave a war that is not approved by the United Nations and who would be subject to compulsion and stop loss in their own country would be eligible to become Canadian citizens.

    The bill reflects the work and the wishes of a great deal of Parliament. It basically takes the spirit of two motions that have already been passed by a majority of Parliament and puts them in the form of law that would have to be followed by the minister and the ministry of immigration and citizenship.

    (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

From the Associated Press:

Canadian Parliament will consider a bill introduced Thursday that would allow American and other war resisters to stay in Canada.

The bill, introduced by the Liberal Party's Gerard Kennedy, would allow other countries' military deserters to stay in Canada if their refusal to serve is based on sincere moral, political or religious objections.

Parliament has already voted twice to support war resisters, but those were non-binding motions.

Kennedy's bill would be binding because it would amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Most war resisters in Canada are U.S. military personnel who have refused to participate in the Iraq War on the grounds that it's illegal and immoral.

There are thought to be about 200 American military deserters who have come to Canada to avoid service in Iraq....

 

[Shec]

people of good conscience.

sincere moral, political or religious objections.

OK, let's see if I've got this right.  An individual who voluntarily signs a contract, knowing full well what the implications of doing so are, and refuses  to honour his/her obligations under that contract is a sincere, moral, person of good conscience ?

And that is the heart of the matter - lack of character.  Do we really want to shelter such people?  And by doing so are we not implicitly condoning the violation of contract law? 

Political or religious objections are non sequiturs - politics are not the sphere of a soldier and there are plenty of other venues outside of the military open to an individual to pursue their political convictions.  And if one has a religious objection to soldiering then why did they volunteer to become one in the first place?

This is

Canadian sensibility

???  My shattered nerves.

 

[Neolithium]

OK, let's see if I've got this right.  An individual who voluntarily signs a contract, knowing full well what the implications of doing so are, and refuses  to honour his/her obligations under that contract is a sincere, moral, person of good conscience ?

This is what really ***es me right off.  This isn't a case of someone from the Lord's Resistance Army who had a gun put to their family and were forced to fight. These are individuals who made a conscious decision to join the United States MILITARY (As far as I know, Military down there doesn't mean you play with wiffle bats and sing show tunes for the rest of your life).  The whole lot of them should be arrested and extradited back to the United States so they can face their court-martial and perhaps take some measure of responsibility for the first time in their lives.  To me this is nothing but all of them spitting on the memories of those who have fallen and the uniforms of those currently deployed.

 

[ModlrMike]

Unless parliament falls before this bill comes to a vote, I'm afraid it will pass. Both the Bloc and NDP are sympathetic to this cause and the Liberals are the proponents of the bill. The Conservatives don't have enough votes to defeat this... although they could delay it in committee and have it die on the order paper.

 

[danchapps]

If this passes into law does that mean I can stop paying my student loans because I feel as though I'm not getting any use out of my college education. If they can break a contract without any re-course why can't I?

 

[dapaterson]

Unless parliament falls before this bill comes to a vote, I'm afraid it will pass. Both the Bloc and NDP are sympathetic to this cause and the Liberals are the proponents of the bill. The Conservatives don't have enough votes to defeat this... although they could delay it in committee and have it die on the order paper.

And that will likely be the approach - delay, defer, and let it gracefulyl wither on the vine.

 

[The Bread Guy]

And that will likely be the approach - delay, defer, and let it gracefulyl wither on the vine.

As is the fate of almost all private members' bills.

 

[Petard]

I would agree that private members bills are more for the appearance of doing something, but it does indicate that parties position on a subject.

Their argument could come back to the haunt them when one considers the possibility of the effects domestically (especially considering it was a Liberal government that ordered some of the largest troop deployments for Domestic Ops: Oka, and the FLQ crisis).

If the supporters of this bill are saying a volunteer soldier can object to deployment on moral grounds, what would they say if a Canadian soldier made a similar argument against domestic ops?

I hope the proponents of this bill will hear something to counter them that addresses the possible local effects it might have.

 

[old medic]

Iraq war deserter takes sanctuary in Vancouver church
John Bermingham
The Vancouver Province
19 Oct 2009

http://news.globaltv.com/world/Iraq+deserter+takes+sanctuary+Vancouver+church/2120676/story.html

VANCOUVER — U.S. army deserter Rodney Watson has become the first fugitive from service in Iraq to enter church sanctuary in Canada.

Monday morning, the 31-year-old told reporters he has been living in refuge at the First United Church in Vancouver since Sept. 18.

"I don't believe it will be just for me to be deported," said Watson, flanked by church ministers and supporters. Watson lost his refugee claim on Sept. 11, and was expecting to be deported back to the U.S., where he faces jail for refusing to do a second tour of duty in Iraq.

The main reason Watson wants to stay is to be with his 10-month-old son and fiancee, who live in Vancouver. Watson said his son is currently in foster care, but wouldn't say why. He said he plans to get married and settle in B.C.

Ric Matthews, minister with the First United Church, said Watson has an apartment at the church, and is fed on-site. Watson cannot leave the grounds of the church. Matthews said the church agreed to let Watson take refuge because it doesn't support the Iraq War, or the way the U.S. military treated Watson — who signed up to be a military cook, but was ordered to find explosives.

"We expect the authorities will continue to respect this place as a place of sanctuary," he said.

Sarah Bjorknas of the War Resisters Support Campaign Vancouver said three out of the five military deserters who have been deported from Canada since 2008 have been jailed.

A statement by Vancouver NDP MP Libby Davies said she'll continue to ask the Tory government to honour two non-binding votes in Parliament to allow army deserters to seek asylum in Canada.

"The government has chosen to ignore the will of the majority view of Canadians," said Bjorknas.