Posted on 08/22/2005 9:00:12 PM PDT by F14 Pilot
Jeremy Hinzman
Jeremy Hinzman was a U.S. soldier in the elite infantry division, the 82nd Airborne. He served in Afghanistan in a non-combat position after having applied for conscientious objector status. After being refused CO status and returning to America, he learned that they would be deployed to Iraq. Hinzman did not believe the stated reasons for the Iraq war. In January 2004 he drove to Canada to seek asylum. He is currently living in Toronto with his wife Nga Nguyen and son Liam. His refugee claim was turned down in March 2005 by the Immigration and Refugee Board. That decision is currently being appealed to a Federal Court.
Brandon Hughey
Brandon Hughey arrived in Canada in March 2004. Hughey, a San Angelo, Texas native left his Army unit before it shipped out to Iraq. It was, he says, his obligation to leave. "I feel that if a soldier is given an order that he knows to not only be illegal, but immoral as well, then it his responsibility to refuse that order," he wrote in response to e-mailed questions from the San Angelo Standard-Times. "It is also my belief that if a soldier is refusing an order he knows to be wrong, it is not right for him to face persecution for it." Brandon had his hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board in June 2005. He is awaiting their decision.
Darrell Anderson
Darrell Anderson arrived in Toronto from Lexington, Kentucky in January 2005. He served 7 months in Iraq and was awarded a Purple Heart after being wounded by a roadside bomb. When faced with a second deployment to Iraq, he chose instead to come to Canada. His experience in Iraq convinced Darrell that the war was unjustified. Innocent civilians are being killed, and young soldiers are dying for an illegal war. "Coming to Canada doesn't ruin your life," said Darrell, "it saves lives."
Clifford Cornell
Cliff Cornell, from Arkansas, was stationed at Fort Stewart, Georgia. He joined the Army with the promise from a military recruiter that he would receive a $9,000 sign up bonus and job training. “Ninety per cent of what the recruiters tell you is a pack of lies,” said Cliff. Army recruitment techniques amount to entrapment, targeting young men from poor families, said Cornell. His unit was to be deployed to Iraq just after Christmas. On January 8th, Cliff arrived in Toronto seeking asylum. His case is scheduled to be heard at the Immigration and Refugee Board on Sept. 8, 2005.
Joshua Key
When Private First Class Joshua Key was shipped to Iraq, the US army combat engineer believed he was doing the right thing. "I left for Iraq with a purpose, thinking this was another Hitler deal," he said in a recent interview. "But there were no weapons of mass destruction. They had no military whatsoever. And I started to wonder." He served eight months in Iraq before going AWOL. Key arrived in Toronto in March of 2005, with his wife Brandi and their four young children. Asked what led him to desert, he says: "The atrocities that were happening to the innocent people of Iraq. I didn't want to be part of it no more. I came home and I deserted."
Ivan Brobeck
Ivan Brobeck served 7 months in Iraq with the U.S. marines before deserting and coming to Canada in April 2005. As Ivan told Now Magazine in Toronto, somewhere between the three-hour firefights in Fallujah and the missions to hand out candies to Iraqi children, the native of Arlington, Virginia realized he had to get out. "A lot of marines feel that way,'' he said. "A majority know this war is pointless. But orders are orders.'' Coming to Canada was a difficult decision. "Going AWOL is always a hard decision because it means leaving everything and everyone you know. But having an option means that I can get on with planning what I want to do with my life without worrying about life and death."
Ryan Johnson
Ryan Johnson crossed the border into Canada with his wife Jenna in June 2005. They spent a month crossing the U.S. from California to the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. Ryan went AWOL in January 2005 because of personal and political beliefs. He and Jenna spent time with the San Diego Military Counseling Project and attended the court martial for Pablo Paredes, who refused deployment to Iraq. The day after he arrived in Canada, Ryan told Democracy Now!. "We found Jeremy Hinzman's site before I went AWOL. And one of our first thoughts was to go to Canada, and we found the G.I. Rights hotline, and we were looking at that. Then we found stuff on Camilo Mejia, Aidan Delgado, and it kind of inspired me that people were doing this. It let me know that there were other people like me that were't wanting to go to war, and that there's people trying to get it out there to soldiers and civilians alike, letting them know that they're not the only ones that don't believe in it."
Even so, evidence of a systematic pattern of U.S. war crimes in Iraq, including attacks on civilian population centers, and the torture and murder of prisoners, will be presented at the Dec. 6-8 hearing. This will include eyewitness testimony of the killing of Iraqi civilians from former Marine Sgt. Jimmy Massey.
Jeremy Hinzman and Jimmy Massey will be featured in a public meeting on the evening of December 4, the Saturday just prior to the IRB hearing. This meeting is being sponsored by the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War and the War Resister Support Campaign.
A vigil outside the IRB offices in downtown Toronto will begin at 7:30 am Monday morning, Dec. 6, along with vigils in cities across Canada. A planning meeting of the War Resister Support Campaign will take place this coming Wednesday evening, Nov. 24, and a volunteer meeting will take place on the following Wednesday, Dec. 1.
" "Coming to Canada doesn't ruin your life," said Darrell, "it saves lives." "
No, boy, it just saves yours - not that it seems to be worth saving...
Is that you, Kerry?
"Is that you, Kerry?"
Nay. Big Hanoi John slamed his PT boat into the beach, after the guy on the 50cal mowed down the few goons, Big John jump out ran ashore and shot the kid in the back who was running. He is a hero.
What were they doing, riding bicycles?
Sorry Rodney but I don't think it's up to YOU to DETERMINE whether an order moving you to a new duty station is "ILLEGAL" or not. You're toast pal.
I caught an entry two days or so ago in the local paper. It stated that former PFC Key was to speak today at Algoma College University here in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. I refrained from going because it was to be held in a sort of bar/lounge there. I believe it was to talk to young people.
I understand that he is with his wife and four children, travelling across Canada by van. It mentioned his low wage as a welder, that impelled him to enlist for a better deal. Though not a rust belt, the old adopted home town saw 8,000 jobs go down in a few years. The major steel maker downsized. Young men leave town for decent pay - by the dozen.
No brief for him here on that score.
I would like to mention that his sojourn here will take him in full view of our sister city- Sault Ste Marie, Michigan. The prettiest tranquil view that one could wish for, across the St Mary's River.
He dare not go there now. Sorry I am for him. There could have been another way. I suppose he hopes for a Kerry or a Carter to become President. That good man, GWB, will not forget too easily.
A handfull of gutless clowns, a far cry from the Nam era, time to move on and stop providing the publicity they desperately need if this issue is to develop some sort of "cause celebre'" up here. So far all smoke...no fire...
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