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Home Front: WoT

Army deserter seeks asylum in Germany over Iraq

2008-11-28

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – A U.S. soldier who deserted his unit to avoid returning to Iraq has applied for asylum in Germany, saying the Iraq war was illegal and that he could not support the "heinous acts" taking place. Andre Shepherd, 31, who served in Iraq between September 2004 and February 2005 as an Apache helicopter mechanic in the 412th Aviation Support Battalion, has been living in Germany since deserting last year. "When I read and heard about people being ripped to shreds from machine guns or being blown to bits by the Hellfire missiles I began to feel ashamed about what I was doing," Shepherd told a Frankfurt news conference Thursday. "I could not in good conscience continue to serve." What did you think a military did? And did you consider that you serve in the one military that makes agonizing efforts to spare innocents? Shepherd, originally from Cleveland, Ohio and ranked as an army specialist, applied for asylum in Germany Wednesday, said Tim Huber from the Military Counseling Network, a non-military group which is assisting him. According to U.S. law, soldiers who desert during a time of war can face the death penalty. Not a chance of that happening under either Bush or Bambi. The soldier said he was particularly hopeful he would be granted asylum in Germany, a staunch opponent of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, due to the legacy of the post-war trials of Nazi officials, notably in Nuremberg in 1945-1949. "Here in Germany it was established that everyone, even a soldier, must take responsibility for his or her actions, no matter how many superiors are giving orders," he said. Shepherd, who enlisted in January 2004, is only the second U.S. soldier to have applied to Germany for asylum "in a similar situation," said Claudia Moebus from the government's department for migration. The earlier application was later withdrawn. The specialist was posted to Germany in 2005 where he undertook desk jobs, but he gradually began questioning the justification for the Iraq war and began worrying he would be sent back to serve there, said Huber. "That's when he went AWOL," he added. Earlier this year, Jeremy Hinzman, an American who applied for refugee status in Canada after deserting the U.S. Army when he received orders to go to Iraq, said he would appeal a deportation order returning him to the United States. Another U.S. deserter, Robin Long, was deported from Canada in July and sent to jail in Colorado.

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Great White North

US army deserter to be deported by Canada

2008-08-13

One of the first U.S. Army deserters from Iraq to seek refugee status in Canada has been ordered deported. Jeremy Hinzman said Wednesday he was ordered out of the country by Sept. 23 by Canada's Border Services Agency. Hinzman deserted the Army from Fort Bragg, N.C., in 2004 after learning his unit was to be deployed to Iraq. He refused to participate in what he calls an immoral and illegal war. Hinzman, 29, fled to Canada with his wife and son after he was ordered to deploy to Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division in December 2003. He likely faces military charges in the U.S. "I'm disappointed, but I think that every soldier that has refused to fight in Iraq has done a good thing and I'm not ashamed," Hinzman said moments after learning of the decision. Hinzman said reasons were given for the decision but he hadn't gone over them yet. "I don't know how political it was. I had a high profile case," Hinzman said. Hasn't reviewed the ruling yet but able nonetheless to complain and whine. How typical ... The Immigration and Refugee Board rejected his claim in 2005 and the Federal Court of Appeal held that he wouldn't face any serious punishment if returned to the United States. Hinzman took his pleas to the Supreme Court of Canada, which also refused to hear the case. Hinzman fled in January 2004. He had served three years in the Army, but had applied for conscientious objector status before his unit was sent to Afghanistan in 2002 where he served in a non-combat position. Last month, Robin Long became the first resister to the U.S war effort in Iraq to be removed by Canadian authorities. There are about 200 American deserters believed to have come to Canada trying to avoid service in Iraq. So far, Canadian immigration officials and the courts have rejected efforts to grant them refugee status.

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Great White North

U.S. deserters lose bid for Canada refugee status

2007-11-16

Two Americans who deserted the U.S. Army to protest against the war in Iraq lost their bid for refugee status in Canada on Thursday, and the Canadian government made it clear they were no longer welcome. The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear appeals from the two men, Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey, over decisions by immigration authorities -- backed in two subsequent court rulings -- that they were not refugees in need of protection. Opposing the war on the belief that it was illegal and immoral, the two deserted when they learned their units would be deployed to Iraq, and came to Canada. If deported to the United States, they say they face a court martial and up to five years in prison.

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Home Front: Politix

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.” And technically, casey's death came *after* his re-enlistment, at a time in which he most certainly knew he might be going to Iraq. Cindy was so mad she threatened to hit him with her car.

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Great White North

Canadian court to review U.S. war dodger's failed claim for asylum

2005-11-11

Thanks, Canada. Glad to know you have jurisdiction over the US military. Bah. A war dodger from the United States has won the chance to convince a Federal Court judge that Canada was wrong to turn down his claim for refugee status in a politically sensitive case that's being watched closely in both countries. Jeremy Hinzman, who maintains that fighting in Iraq would have amounted to an atrocity because he considers the war an illegal one, is "very much encouraged" the Federal Court is willing to hear a judicial review of his case, said his lawyer, Jeffry House. "There's nothing ridiculous about our appeal," House said Friday in an interview. "It has substance to it." Hinzman, 27, deserted his Airborne regiment in January 2004, just days before being deployed to Iraq, and faces a court-martial and possible jail time if he's sent home. He was not immediately available for comment Friday. Lee Zaslofsky of the War Resisters Support Campaign called the decision a "real breakthrough" in the efforts of U.S. resisters to remain in Canada. "This is very good - it will have an impact on all the other cases," Zaslofsky said. "What it shows is that people in authority in Canada are taking very seriously what's going on with these war resisters." The Immigration and Refugee Board ruled in March that Hinzman was not a so-called conscientious objector to the war in Iraq and had not shown that he would face persecution in the U.S. if forced to return. In denying Hinzman's claim, the board's adjudicator ruled that the legal status of the war in Iraq had no bearing on the case. Hinzman hopes to convince the court that the adjudicator's decision not to weigh the legality of the war amounted to an error in law. Justice Sean Harrington is scheduled to hear Hinzman's arguments Feb. 7 in Toronto. During his March asylum hearing, Hinzman argued he should not have to face any jail time for refusing to commit what he considered to be war crimes by taking part in a foreign invasion that had no international sanction. A discredited former U.S. marine who testified on his behalf told the hearing that soldiers in Iraq routinely violated international law by killing unarmed women, children and other Iraqi civilians. If the court sides with Hinzman, it will likely refer the case back to a different refugee board tribunal for further consideration, but with specific instructions on dealing with the contested issues, principally the legality of the war in Iraq, House said. "The best possible outcome is that we get a full hearing in which all our arguments are considered," he said.

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Great White North

Totonto Star: Canada should put out the welcome mat

2005-03-26

This link is huge. That may be why I could not put it in the Source box. EFL Let American war deserters apply for immigrant status By any normal measure, Jeremy Hinzman is no refugee. The 26-year-old American does not face persecution if he returns to the United States. He faces court martial and, probably, jail for deserting his regiment in late 2003 just before it was deployed to Iraq. But that is not quite the same thing. He is not likely to be prosecuted in the U.S. for his political or religious beliefs. He does not face torture. These are the criteria to qualify as a refugee under the United Nations convention that Canada follows. That having been said, there are good reasons why he should be allowed at least the chance to stay. The main one is that he would probably make a good citizen. Canada did well in the 1970s, when the last flood of war resisters - both draft dodgers and deserters - came across the border. Some went home eventually, but a good many - including House - stayed on. Most integrated themselves easily and loyally into their adopted country. Some became quite well-known, and well-respected, figures in Canadian society. Others pursued slightly more disreputable occupations in the media (no, I'm not one). These draft dodgers and deserters did not come as refugees. They did not have to. In those days, foreigners were able to apply for landed immigrant status once they were in Canada. Hinzman would have done the same but for one thing. Since 1976, foreigners wishing to immigrate to Canada have been required to apply from outside the country. So, here's an idea. Let's stop bending the very valuable category of U.N. convention refugee into pretzel shapes in order to accommodate people who realistically do not qualify. Let's create new categories instead for people like Hinzman. During the Cold War, for instance, Canada created a special category for immigrants from Communist countries. We called them defectors and they were almost always allowed in. So let's consider Hinzman and other U.S. deserters to be defectors from George W. Bush's America. Most Canadians don't agree with his war in Iraq and neither does the federal government. Why not follow through? Let's allow these defectors to apply for permanent resident status - not as refugees but as immigrants - after they've crossed the border. And then let's apply the same standards we would for any other immigrant: Do they have useful skills? Do they pass security checks? Are they free of criminal records? If these standards were applied to Hinzman and his wife, social worker Nga Nguyen, they would almost certainly be accepted. So, why don't we let them make their case as potential immigrants? We can only win. Let's fortify our borders and quit NAFTA. Let's see how long the Canadians last without being able to sell us car parts and the Mexicans without picking fruits and veggies. Let's face it, our neighbors are welfare queens.

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Great White North

Deserter loses asylum bid

2005-03-24

TORONTO (CP) - An American war dodger who fled the U.S. military because he believed the invasion of Iraq was criminal has lost his bid for refugee status in Canada in a case closely watched on both sides of the border. In a written ruling released Thursday, the Immigration and Refugee Board said Jeremy Hinzman had not made a convincing argument that he faced persecution or cruel and unusual punishment in the United States. There was no immediate comment from Hinzman but his lawyer Jeffry House said he would ask the Federal Court to review the decision. "Mr. Hinzman is disappointed," said House.

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Home Front: WoT

Military desertion rates down since 2001

2004-12-17

Washington, DC, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- The number of annual military desertions is down to the lowest level since before 2001, according to the Pentagon. The Army said the number of new deserters in 2004 -- 2,376 -- was just half the number of those who deserted prior to Sept. 11, 2001. That number was 4,597. The numbers of deserters has dropped annually since the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington. The fiscal year 2004 total number of Army deserters is the lowest since before 1998, according to Army data. Cumulatively, more than 6,000 service members from all branches have deserted the military since fiscal year 2003, when the war with Iraq began. About 3,500 military service members have deserted their jobs in the last 14 months. "On average the number of soldiers, for example, who are classified as deserters is less than 1 percent, and the vast majority have committed some criminal act," said Pentagon spokesman Army Lt. Col. Joe Richard. "It's (generally) not for political or conscientious objector purposes. Any insinuation that large numbers of military service members have deserted in opposition to the war in Iraq when in fact desertion numbers for the Army are down since 9/11 is incredibly disingenuous." That would be in reference to Brad Knickerbocker's story from yesterday The CBS program "60 Minutes" on Dec. 8 reported on at least three deserters who fled to Canada because they did not want to fight in Iraq: Marine Pfc. Dan Felushko, Army soldiers Brandon Hughey, and Spc. Jeremy Hinzman. They will have to make their case to the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board to be allowed to stay. The Army convicted Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia in May on charges he abandoned his unit in the middle of the war in Iraq. The Marine Corps charged Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun with desertion on Dec. 10. He went missing from his base in Fallujah in June and later turned up an apparent hostage of Iraqi insurgents. He eventually made it to Lebanon and was returned to the Marine Corps. Calculating the number of Marines who have deserted is complicated, because the Marine Corps carries on its books those who have deserted in previous years, according to Richard. The Marines count 1,297 deserters in fiscal year 2004 and 1,236 in fiscal year 2003. Roughly 623 AWOL Marines were returned to Marine control in 2003. The Army counts 2,520 deserters in fiscal year 1998; 2,966 in 1999; 3,949 in 2000; 4,597 in 2001; 4,483 in 2002; and 3,678 in 2003. The Marines count 1,297 deserters in 2004; 1,236 in 2003; 1,136 in 2002; 1,603 in 2001; and 1,574 in 2000. The Air Force had considerably lower numbers of deserters: four so far in fiscal year 2005; 50 in 2004; 56 in 2003; 88 in 2002; 62 in 2001; 46 in 2000 and 45 in 1999. The Navy did not return its data at press time.

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Iraq-Jordan

US Marine claims unit killed Iraqi civilians

2004-12-08

A former US Marine said his unit killed more than 30 innocent Iraqi civilians in just two days, in graphic testimony to a Canadian tribunal probing an asylum claim by a US Army deserter. Former Marine Sergeant Jimmy Massey appeared as a witness to bolster claims by fugitive paratrooper Jeremy Hinzman that he walked out on the 82nd Airborne Division to avoid being ordered to commit war crimes in Iraq. Mr Hinzman, 26, claims he would face persecution if sent home to the United States, in a politically charged case which could set a precedent for at least two other US deserters seeking asylum in Canada. Mr Massey told Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) that men under his command in the 3rd battalion, 7th Marines, killed "30 plus" civilians within 48 hours while on checkpoint duty in Baghdad. "I do know that we killed innocent civilians," Mr Massey told the tribunal, relating the chaotic days after the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Mr Massey said that in some incidents, Iraqi civilians were killed by between 200 and 500 rounds pumped into four separate cars which each failed to respond to a single warning shot and respond to hand signals at a Baghdad checkpoint. At the time, US soldiers feared suicide bombers would try to ram checkpoints, he said. Searches found no weapons in the vehicles or evidence that those killed were anything but innocent civilians, he said. He also said Marines killed four unarmed demonstrators, and more Iraqis the next day during another spell of checkpoint duty in the occupied Iraqi capital. "I was never clear on who was the enemy and who was not," said Mr Massey. "When you don't know who the enemy is, what are you doing there?" asked the former Marine, later honourably discharged from the service with severe depression and post traumatic stress disorder.

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Great White North

US deserter seeks Canada asylum

2004-12-07

An US army deserter has begun making his case for political refugee status so he can stay in Canada. Jeremy Hinzman, 25, is the first of three US deserters to appear before a refugee and immigration board in the city of Toronto, seeking asylum. The paratrooper served in Afghanistan but left the US for Canada after his unit was ordered into Iraq last year. Mr Hinzman, who took his wife and son with him to Toronto, says he believes the US-led war in Iraq is illegal. He said: "If you're given an illegal or immoral order, it's your duty and obligation to refuse it. I felt the order to Iraq went under that." Mr Hinzman's mouthpiece lawyer is presenting what he says is evidence of US war crimes in Iraq at the hearing. And a left-wing lobby group of nutters campaigning on Mr Hinzman's behalf argues that he was merely obeying international law by refusing to fight in Iraq because the United Nations never authorised the use of force there. But immigration experts point out that Mr Hinzman voluntarily signed up to join the US army in January 2001, knowing that it might involve service overseas. Oh yeah, there is that. No American citizen has ever made a successful refugee claim in Canada, although it is thought the prisoner abuse scandals in Iraq may help his case. If Mr Hinzman loses his bid to win asylum in Canada, he faces deportation to the US and up to five years in prison for desertion.

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Great White North

Canaduh Urged to Give Refuge to U.S. Deserters

2004-05-28

Canada should grant refugee status to U.S. soldiers opposed to fighting in Iraq, just as it accepted tens of thousands of draft dodgers and deserters during the Vietnam War, a Canadian anti-war lobby group said on Thursday. But they have to keep them. The War Resisters Support Campaign said Ottawa should provide refuge for two U.S. soldiers who fled to Canada rather than participate in the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 700 U.S. soldiers and thousands of Iraqis since it began in 2003. Members of the group say that Canada, which refused to participate in the Iraqi invasion because it lacked United Nations sanction, has a moral obligation to make provisions for two U.S. soldiers who arrived earlier this year. Private Jeremy Hinzman served in Afghanistan as a cook but fled to Canada from the 82nd Airborne in North Carolina in January when he was called up for a second deployment to Iraq. Couldn’t face the screaming of those bisquits and eggs any more... Private Brandon Hughey, the second known U.S. soldier seeking refugee status, slipped past military police in Texas in March a day before his unit was scheduled to go to Iraq. "The war in Iraq is just as illegal, just as immoral and just as much of an outrage to humanity as was the U.S. war against Vietnam," said Gerry Condon, a member of the campaign and also a resister during the Vietnam war. He added, "North Vietnam had every right to invade and slaughter millions of people, we shouldn’t have tried to interfere." Condon said Hinzman and Hughey were disturbed by the military training they received, before making the decision to flee to Canada. Funny how that training didn’t disturb them as long as their paychecks came without any danger. The group said a decision by Ottawa to grant refugee status to deserting U.S. soldiers would not hurt relations between the two countries -- which have cooled somewhat since the election of President Bush and on Canada’s decision not to participate in the Iraq war. That’s fine, the US will continue to welcome doctors, comedians, engineers and others who desire to work out from under the iron heel of the welfare state’s taxes. "I think that the Americans would respect that decision, recognizing that ... people who don’t come to Canada would also resist by trying to find underground shelter in their own country," said Hassan Yussuf, also a member of the War Resisters Support Campaign. Don’t count on it. During the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s, up to an estimated 125,000 American draft dodgers, deserters and conscientious objectors came to Canada. About half that number stayed after Washington declared a general amnesty. Good, please breed up there and not here.

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Home Front: WoT

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. ....

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