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Sheehan demands Canuck asylum for US Deserters | |
2006-05-08 | |
OTTAWA -- Canadian soldiers have no business being in Afghanistan and their presence there merely enables the United States to carry on its "illegal and immoral" war in Iraq, prominent U.S. anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan said yesterday. "I believe my country shouldn't be in Afghanistan anyway," Ms. Sheehan said at a news conference on Parliament Hill. "It's never about spreading freedom or democracy or making the world safe, it's about lining the war profiteers' pockets." While lambasting President George W. Bush and the U.S. government for the Iraq war, Ms. Sheehan also fired broadsides at the UN-backed international mission in Afghanistan. "My country supported Osama bin Laden in the fight against Russia," she said. "And now they go in and tear down that country. It's back in the hands of the drug lords, it's producing more opium than ever, and it's not safe. There's not any rebuilding going on, because it's being occupied by occupying forces." Pines for the good ole Taliban days does she? Canada's deployment of 2,300 soldiers to Afghanistan simply "frees up more soldiers to be in Iraq," Ms. Sheehan said. Ms. Sheehan and Canadian activists from the Council of Canadians and the War Resisters Support Campaign also called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to "open the border" to U.S. military deserters. "I believe our war resisters are legitimate refugees," Ms. Sheehan said. Ms. Sheehan, whose son, Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed in Iraq in April, 2004, gained prominence last year when she camped for days outside Mr. Bush's Crawford, Tex., ranch, demanding answers for the war. Not exactly, her intention was to throw a public tantrum over answers she was incapable of accepting. But anyhoo... Yesterday, she added her fame to the so-far unsuccessful efforts of Canadian peace activists to persuade the federal government to grant refugee claims by U.S. military deserters who don't want to serve in Iraq. Last month, the Federal Court of Canada ruled against two U.S. Army deserters who had appealed for refugee status in Canada on the grounds that they might be jailed if they return to the United States. The court ruled that prosecution in U.S. courts does not amount to persecution. Immigration and Refugee Board decisions had earlier rejected requests for political asylum from Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Speaking alongside Ms. Sheehan at yesterday's media briefing, War Resisters organizer Michelle Robidoux said about 20 more soldiers have since fled to Canada. "We estimate there may be several hundred more who are living clandestinely in Canada," she said. "This is an echo of what happened during the Vietnam War." The activists conceded that current war resisters are different from those in the Vietnam era because they volunteered to serve, rather than being drafted. Cindy, please tell us why that whole volunteer thingy doesn’t apply. However, Ms. Sheehan said, the soldiers are within their rights to desert because many are "lied to" by U.S. military recruiters who tell them they won't have to fight in Iraq. "My son was an honourable, honest person lied to by his recruiter," she said. “What’s that?…is there a chance you might actually see combat? No certainly not son…you must be thinking about the old military. Things have really changed aroung here now. This is all about you getting that computer training you said you were interested in.”
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Posted by:DepotGuy |
#9 why won't someone shoot that bitch |
Posted by: Greamp Elmavinter1163 2006-05-08 14:31 |
#8 DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK [paraphrased] > PREACHER NEAR THE END OF SUNDAY MASS/WORSHIP >"An announcement from the Captain of the Militia Company - the Company will be form and hold armed drills this weekend, for the defense and protection of the fort, town, and community against the British, Tories, and Indians. All Men and Boys of gun-carrying age are required to attend - those whom do not shall be properly and rightly hanged. That is all. Let us rise from prayer and go yea in the Arms and Grace of the Lord. Amen". |
Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-05-08 21:58 |
#7 I don't know WHERE the luckiest man in the world is, but I certainly damn well know WHO he is. Tip of the hat to Sheehan's X. |
Posted by: Besoeker 2006-05-08 15:30 |
#6 Her ex-husband probably has a better claim to refugee status. He must thank God every night that he is free of her but wishes she would use her maiden name. |
Posted by: RWV 2006-05-08 15:28 |
#5 Gee, if I remember her son went to Iraq TWICE!!! Did they lie to him the second time too? How in the name of all that's holy did an honorable young man like her son, come from this despicable creature? |
Posted by: AlanC 2006-05-08 15:24 |
#4 go the link...the photograph on the right might be Cindy....or Barbosa...can't tell |
Posted by: Frank G 2006-05-08 15:24 |
#3 because it's being occupied by occupying forces Indeedy. |
Posted by: 6 2006-05-08 15:10 |
#2
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Posted by: Greamp Elmavinter1163 2006-05-08 14:31 |
#1 The Douchebag World Tour 2006 rolls on... Who's bankrolling this leg, Cindy? |
Posted by: tu3031 2006-05-08 14:21 |