Activist seeks Canadian haven for U.S. deserters

[Quiet Riot]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050421.wdese0421/BNStory/National/

Ottawa â ” Tom Hayden, a U.S. activist of the 1960s, is asking Canada to provide a haven for deserters from the U.S. army.
Mr. Hayden, once a defendant in the notorious trial of the Chicago Seven and later a California state legislator, went to Parliament Hill on Thursday to ask the federal government to give special consideration to Americans who flee military service in Iraq on grounds of conscience.
He said soldiers and reservists of today are in the same boat as Vietnam-era draftees and deserters who came to Canada to avoid service in southeast Asia.
He said the soldiers are coerced to volunteer for the army by lavish offers of cash and educational benefits.
Mr. Hayden, a Vietnam-era draft resister who was once married to fellow activist and actress Jane Fonda, said Canada should create a special class of refugees that would allow conscientious objectors and others who do not want to serve in Iraq to seek asylum in Canada.
A Toronto immigration hearing has already turned down a bid by one deserter to win political asylum. The tribunal pointed out the man volunteered for military service and said he would not face unduly harsh treatment if he went home to the U.S. justice system.

Is this a joke... "He said the soldiers are coerced to volunteer for the army by lavish offers of cash and educational benefits"   When they sign on the line you'd think they'd realise what they are in for.   Too many people seem to expect a free ride from the army and when the crap hits the fan, they all of a sudden become conscience objectors.   I think someone with those types of view wouldn't join the army to begin with, no matter what type benefits there are.  Also, the DRAFTEES were told to join the army these people VOLUNTEERED, completely different in my view.

 

[Observer23]

1. Volunteers are not in the same boat as draftees form the Vietnam era.  They are no different than any other employee.  Unless some how we were able to conceal the fact that the military may be used as a tool of aggressive foreign policy, the individual has no ground to turn down the contractual obligation.  (You don't have to sign up!)

This is no different than me going to a retailer who offers cash incentives related to performance, etc.  If I refuse to selling anything because I don't like talking to people, I have no grounds to complain when that company doesn't pay me.

2. I thinking titling them as â Å“desertersâ ? maybe part of the problem.  People who run away from dangerous situations that are beyond their control, I will go the length to help them.  I think these folks should have a new title that better reflects what they are.  Something more like, â Å“Contract Breakersâ ?.  Many companies have a term of service contract that stipules that if you break your contract, you must pay back in cash the money that was paid to you in the form of wages.

If a person from one country goes into a legally binding agreement with a bank for a loan of money (value doesn't matter but let's say 5 million USD for argument sakes) and then reneges on his obligation to pay it back, should we accept them as a refugee?  No.  They do not qualify for political asylum so why should anybody that breaks an employment contract be granted the same thing?

3. They have the option of saying they refuse to go.  They serve a period in jail and then they can get on with their life outside the military.  (Mohammed Ali for example)

 

[paracowboy]

they're deserters. They volunteered, then developed a case of cowardice when push came to shove. THey have other, legal, options they can follow, but chose instead to leave their comrades in the lurch.

Flog them, and then send them back to face military justice.

 

[patt]

Yes we should let them in and give them this as a prize..

 

[2 Cdo]

To compare them to draft dodgers is like comparing apples and oranges. People left the states to avoid being forced into the military. This latest batch of clueless, gutless wonders VOLUNTERRED for the military at a time when they were already involved in Afghanistan and priming for the invasion of Iraq. On that note alone we should fire them back across the border to face the music!
By the way do we really need more stupid people in Canada, because these idiots are well beyond stupid!

 

[atticus]

Yes we should let them in and give them this as a prize.

A giant rooster?