Posted on 07/02/2008 7:08:13 PM PDT by antiunion person
Since deserting his unit in Iraq and fleeing to Canada two years ago, Corey Glass has become the poster boy of the war resisters movement. Thursday in Toronto, supporters are planning to protest his scheduled deportation back to the United States. Corey Glass, 25, who deserted the U.S. Army while his unit was in Iraq and fled to Canada has become a cause celebre there. The American's impending deportation has led to protests and a parliamentary resolution. (ABC News Photo Illustration)But it turns out Glass has had little reason to be on the lam, ABC News has learned. Unknown to him and his legion of supporters, Glass, 25, was actually discharged from the U.S. Army shortly after he went AWOL in 2006. Glass and about 40 other American deserters who, like him, sought refugee status have prompted a national debate in Canada that last month reached the floor of parliament on where to draw the line between cowardice and conscience. "I had absolutely no idea that I had been discharged," said Glass when ABC News informed him of his status. "This is insane. This is so weird. There are no warrants? No one is looking for me?" Related According to U.S. Army documents and officials, Glass was discharged from the California National Guard Dec. 1, 2006, four months after he arrived in Canada. "He is not considered absent without leave. He is not considered a deserter," said Maj. Nathan Banks, an Army spokesman. "He is running for no reason. He is fully welcome in the United States. I cannot believe this is a big deal in Canada." But it is a big deal in Canada, where lawmakers last month overwhelmingly passed a nonbinding resolution, 137 to 110, to freeze the deportation of American deserters, starting with Glass.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
ABC is not a Canadian wire service. It has a weak grasp of the parliamentary system. It also has a tendency to list to port.
Not that the resolution was non-binding, I doubt very much that it would have passed had it been binding. That is because the government opposed it and would have had to make it a confidence vote. That would have brought down the government. No way would the opposition parties want to have an election on this issue.
This is just a bit of fun and games by the opposition. They can take a poke at the Tories without risking any consequences.
Note that the Crown had been actively opposing the deserter's applications even when the government was a majority Liberal one so the Grits don't wnd them either.
That sure doesn't sound like the Army I served in.
LOL! You're being way too kind to ABC!
“...disgusted by what the people of Canada say ...”
*Anti-war hippies do not speak for all Canadians—just as they do not speak for all Americans
*We have soldiers fighting in Afghanistan... we are sending you back your cowards.
“We are DEPORTING them.”
Ha ha ha ha.... you don’t want ‘em either, eh? Can’t blame you. Maybe Europe will take them...
I hope the discharge was dishonorable.
Oh saw that it is not. Why should those cowards be entitled to any benefits? It makes me sick.
Ha ha, maybe Afghanistan or Iraq will take them!
If as reported he is running from nothing then I expect him to pay back every last cent that the Canadian tax payer has spent on deporting this slimy piece of work.
LOL.
Don’t hold your breath.
Irrelevence.
Probably not, that would require a court martial. He probably received some sort of administrative discharge, and I doubt he qualifies for benefits.
Federal Court orders refugee claim of U.S. deserter be reconsidered
Jonathan Kay on Joshua Key: Canada just became a utopia for U.S. military deserters
Thanks for the links. Just heard a one minute report on WJR, didn’t give much information.
I am very disappointed in this decision, no doubt it will be appealled, and hopefully reversed.
*We have our Canadian soldiers fighting in Afghanistan, and we are accepting U.S. desserters?
*These guys werent drafted, they volunteered for service, just like ours do.
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