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| Two US Soldiers Seek Asylum in Canada |
| 2004-04-17 |
| From Jihad Unspun, originally from The Guardian Brandon Hughey is a teenager living among strangers, thousands of miles from his friends, family and home in San Angelo, Texas. The 18-year-old is one of two American servicemen who recently deserted their units and fled to Canada to claim asylum as refugees. "We plan to argue that the war in Iraq is illegal under international law and that I have a right not to choose to participate," he says. ... Hughey signed up for the army when he was 17, during his final year in high school. "I joined because it was the only way I was going to get a college education," he says. ... He says he became increasingly uncomfortable about the mission, then so disturbed that he considered killing himself. He brought his questions to a commanding officer, who told him to stop thinking so much. Then, through the internet, he met a stranger who offered help getting to Canada. He decided to leave and drove away from his base on March 2, the night before his unit was due to ship out for the Middle East. Now he was a deserter .... Through the Quaker church he met his lawyer, Jeffry House, who came to Canada from the US in 1970 after he was drafted to fight in Vietnam. He had graduated from college by then, and went on to earn a reputation in Toronto as a lawyer with a strong sense of social justice. Representing Hughey, who he says is "really just a sweet kid", and Jeremy Hinzman, 25, a private who fled to Canada with his wife and child in January, has brought back memories for him. But it will take more than youthful appeal to win over the Canadian immigration and refugee board. Last year, a record 317 Americans applied for refugee status in Canada. Some were marijuana smokers claiming persecution. Others were Muslims who said they faced human rights abuses in the US. None was accepted as a legitimate refugee. In fact, only one American has ever been accepted as having a well-founded fear of persecution, and the courts overturned that decision. House, however, believes the soldiers have a fair chance. He plans to make his case by producing at least one high-profile expert - possibly one of the British international law specialists who have condemned the Iraq war as illegal - to argue that the campaign there violates international law and cannot be justified. He says his clients are using the same legitimate legal grounds to refuse as soldiers throughout history have used when their superior officers order them to do something illegal - such as shooting civilian children. House knows of only been one similar case argued before the refugee board. An Iranian soldier who deserted claimed refugee status because he didn’t want to use poison gas on the Kurds during his country’s war with Iraq. The board was unsympathetic, but the Canadian courts eventually ruled in his favour, and he was permitted to stay. He also plans to cite a ruling of the English court of appeal two months ago in the case of a Russian conscript, Andrey Krotov, who deserted from the Russian army after he was sent to Grozny to fight in the Chechen war. The court ruled that refugee status could be available to a conscript who refused to serve when the service would require him to violate basic rules of human conduct as defined by international law. Jeremy Hinzman, the other soldier claiming refugee status in Canada ... enlisted on January 17 2001, four months after the September 11 terrorist attacks, but before it became clear that President Bush would go to war in Iraq. He joined the army shortly after he got married, hoping, like Hughey, to earn money for college. He had dabbled in Zen, and in January 2002 he and his wife Nga Nguyen began attending church at the Quaker House. He felt at home with the Quaker philosophy of non-violence, and was uncomfortable with the idea that his basic army training seemed to be about breaking down the natural human inhibition against killing. He began preparing his application for conscientious objector status. Then his unit was deployed to Afghanistan, where he worked in the kitchen. Last April, his commanding officer suddenly pulled him aside at Kandahar airport and told him it was time for his hearing. Hinzman was not allowed to have a lawyer or witnesses present. The hearing took 20 minutes and his application was rejected. Hinzman’s unit returned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, last April, but in December he received his orders to go to Iraq. In January he, his wife and their 21-month-old son Liam fled to Toronto. .... |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #9 That was Ford, not Carter. |
| Posted by: Kathy K 2004-04-18 7:31:58 AM |
| #8 Hopefully no future president will do a Carter and pardon these pieces of pond scum. The only way they should ever be allowed back across the border is in mannacles on the way to a general court martial and a death sentence. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-04-17 10:06:56 PM |
| #7 'Time to go dig up a copy of Danny Deever ..... said Files-on-Parade .... |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2004-04-17 10:03:40 PM |
| #6 ...one of the British international law specialists who have condemned the Iraq war as illegal... This one always cracks me up. Illegal according to whom? Are the "World Cops" going to arrest the entire U.S. for breaking some "World Law"? In other words, "You and what army, bub?" BTW, I'll gladly volunteer to be a member of the firing squad. Although I doubt the army will have a hard time finding real soldiers to man it. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2004-04-17 7:20:51 PM |
| #5 hang 'em high |
| Posted by: spiffo 2004-04-17 5:38:36 PM |
| #4 Desertion in the Face of the Enemy |
| Posted by: raptor 2004-04-17 4:56:42 PM |
| #3 Ah, yes, the infamous "I joined up to get college money!" Especially the one who joined after 9/11, they should have known they'd be going overseas to take "justice" to the jihadis! And I love the lawyer working for "social justice!" How 'bout not taking tax dollars for college if you're not going to actually do combat for social justice, eh? That way there's a lil' more money for welfare recipients moron. |
| Posted by: BA 2004-04-17 3:05:02 PM |
| #2 Then, through the internet, he met a stranger who offered help getting to Canada. He decided to leave and drove away from his base on March 2, the night before his unit was due to ship out for the Middle East. He would have ended up dead real quick anyway. |
| Posted by: Charles 2004-04-17 2:36:10 PM |
| #1 Good riddance, don't come back!!! |
| Posted by: TS 2004-04-17 2:16:46 PM |