Canada Urged to Give Refuge to U.S. Deserters

[cato2]

By Franco Pingue

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada should grant refugee status to U.S. soldiers opposed to fighting in Iraq, just as it accepted tens of thousands of draft dodgers and deserters during the Vietnam War, a Canadian anti-war lobby group said on Thursday.

The War Resisters Support Campaign said Ottawa should provide refuge for two U.S. soldiers who fled to Canada rather than participate in the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 700 U.S. soldiers and thousands of Iraqis since it began in 2003.

Members of the group say that Canada, which refused to participate in the Iraqi invasion because it lacked United Nations' sanction, has a moral obligation to make provisions for two U.S. soldiers who arrived earlier this year.

Private Jeremy Hinzman served in Afghanistan as a cook but fled to Canada from the 82nd Airborne Regiment in North Carolina in January when he was called up for a second deployment to Iraq.

Private Brandon Hughey, the second known U.S. soldier seeking refugee status, slipped past military police in Texas in March a day before his unit was scheduled to go to Iraq.

"The war in Iraq is just as illegal, just as immoral and just as much of an outrage to humanity as was the U.S. war against Vietnam," said Gerry Condon, a member of the campaign and also a resister during the Vietnam war.

Condon said Hinzman and Hughey were disturbed by the military training they received, before making the decision to flee to Canada.

The group said a decision by Ottawa to grant refugee status to deserting U.S. soldiers would not hurt relations between the two countries -- which have cooled somewhat since the election of President Bush and on Canada's decision not to participate in the Iraq war.

"I think that the Americans would respect that decision, recognizing that ... people who don't come to Canada would also resist by trying to find underground shelter in their own country," said Hassan Yussuf, also a member of the War Resisters Support Campaign.

During the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s, up to an estimated 125,000 American draft dodgers, deserters and conscientious objectors came to Canada. About half that number stayed after Washington declared a general amnesty.

[JohnRN]

About half that number stayed after Washington declared a general amnesty.

That's interesting...

[Woodmonkey]

Originally Posted by cato2

The group said a decision by Ottawa to grant refugee status to deserting U.S. soldiers would not hurt relations between the two countries -- which have cooled somewhat since the election of President Bush and on Canada's decision not to participate in the Iraq war.

"I think that the Americans would respect that decision ...

Wouldn't hurt relations? Americans respect that decision?

Fox News, which was pivotal in bringing people together to boycott French goods has already done the polls for boycotting Canadian goods...lots of support out there.

Free people excercising their rights to buy or not buy -- it's a good thing