Posted on 03/22/2005 7:48:18 AM PST by Crackingham
It is the kind of night that could drive even hearty Canadians indoors - temperatures in the 20s, a biting wind, white flakes falling from a late winter storm that already has added 8 inches to the towering windrows of snow lining Toronto's curbsides from earlier storms.
The nasty weather, however, hasn't kept about 100 enthusiastic people from packing into a University of Toronto classroom for a recent rally in support of American soldiers who have deserted from the U.S. military.
One of those deserters was the night's lead speaker - Army Specialist Darrell Anderson, 22, of Lexington, Ky.
Since arriving here Jan. 6, Anderson has become perhaps the most visible member of the tiny group of U.S. deserters - Canadian supporters prefer to call them "war resisters" - seeking refuge in Canada.
Many Canadians who oppose U.S. policy in Iraq see Anderson as a hero.
But back home in Lexington, some call him a coward, a young man who has run from commitment before. His desertion has caused strains even within his family.
Widely interviewed by the press, Anderson was featured in the Feb. 28 Time magazine, is to appear soon in a major CNN report, and has been interviewed by publications in France and Germany, countries that opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Anderson has become an effective, if unpolished, public speaker, appearing at numerous Canadian peace rallies like the one this bitter March night, sponsored by Students for Peace in Iraq and the War Resisters Support Campaign.
As he always does at such events, Anderson tells how he served in Iraq last year and was wounded. The boyish, black-haired 2001 high school graduate then describes his disillusionment with the war, and his fear of possibly killing innocent people. Finally, he tells how he decided, while on leave in Lexington, to flee to Canada rather than risk another tour in Iraq.
Anderson's comments sometimes turn extreme. He pictures America as a country run by the rich, where average citizens have little say. He suggests that most U.S. troops in Iraq oppose the war, but says they can't say so. And he says the news media feed support for the war by picturing only zealous troops, never the wounded or discouraged.
Uh, sure.
Widely interviewed by the press, Anderson was featured in the Feb. 28 Time magazine, is to appear soon in a major CNN report . . .
Your average citizen has about 1/300,000,000 th of a say which is pretty small. Even the rich don't have much say. Dixie Chicks, Streisand, Soros, etc. don't have much say either. And this is why the US is a wonderful place. Freedom means no one has power.
A gutless little Coward seen as a hero in a gutless little country!
This pathetic puke Anderson was on CTV in Halifax not too long ago, for a live interview segment with the local news anchor (Steve Murphy), who didn't give him the softball treatment, not at all, in fact the anchor actually challenged Anderson's claim that 'Bush is worse than Saddam Hussein', Murphy said "let me get this straight, you're claiming that George W. Bush is WORSE than Saddam Hussein?!?"
And of course Anderson, the empty-headed little boy-man that he is, happily repeated his lie about our Commander in Chief.
We should be telling Canada to ship that deserter back so he can face a court martial and as many years cracking rocks at Leavenworth as can be thrown at him.
We need a bounty hunter to pick up this deserter and return him to justice.
"But back home in Lexington, some call him a coward..."
I've never had the pleasure of visiting Kentucky, but I'm thinking I might like the place.
here's what I don't understand. The military is voluntary (unless i've missed some huge bit of news recently). If the guy volunteered to join the military, didn't he know there a very real chance he was going to see some action. I mean, honestly, what is up with these people. They're not draft dodgers, they didn't have to join up in the first place.
The Wobblies signed up for 4 years of playing make-believe soldier, 4 years of riding around in loud, expensive toys that make big boom boom, and after their enlistment collect $20,000 in tuition aid so they can put off adulthood for another 2 or 3 years.
Maybe it is just me, but I dont mind if draft dodgers, drug users, or gay marriage folks leave the US and go to Canada.
Sure, it is not fair to normal Canadians, but the normal Canadians can move here and we can all watch Canada go down the tubes.
Actually that's kind of why my brother signed up. But he knew full well the Iraqi war was coming. He works with C5 airplanes in California, so he's probably not going to see any action. Still, he knew it was a possibility. Extremely capable, but he doesn't like to think for himself. IE: two and a half years of college and no major selected. Love him anyway.
This traitor and deserter is getting far too much attention.
File under "Examples of poor reporting."
Two things:
1. Most of us support what we're doing here in Iraq. We know it's for a cause greater than ourselves.
2. Goodbye loser! Stay up there until we invade Canada.
Regards,
A Soldier In Iraq
Hearing from those in Iraq makes me miss my troops more than usual.
- a former Combat Engineer Plt Sergeant
This coward is no "war resister".
If this guy were a "war resister, we would remain in the USA and use the freedoms this country and its citizens have to resist the war effort.
But no.
This guy doesn't even have the guts to do that.
Instead, he runs to a foreign land where he falsely denounced the country of his birth.
The heros die but once.
This guy will die a thousand deaths.
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