[U]nfortunately for deserters like Sgt McDowell of the U.S. Army, Canada just rolled up the welcome mat. Because last week its Supreme Court affirmed the 2005 ruling of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board, which held that American deserters do not qualify as refugees in need of protection and, moreover, that they faced no risk of persecution back home.
Therefore, all of those hiding out in Canada now face deportation and possible court-martial when they return, which, frankly, serves them right.
After all, it is untenable for people who volunteer to serve, invariably for the benefits the military doles out in peacetime, to run away like cowards when called upon to fight – no matter their personal feelings about the legality or morality of this war. And, alas, prosecuting those who make a spectacle of their desertion seems a necessary, even if only marginally effective, deterrent.
[Canada is no longer a safe haven for deserters from U.S. military, The iPINIONS Journal, November 19, 2007]
Admittedly, “no risk of persecution” is a very relative concept. Indeed, I suspect any deserter would consider the prospect of spending years in prison a very serious risk of persecution.
Yet this is a prospect Robin Long now faces. Because yesterday he became the first of some 200 American soldiers – who went AWOL to avoid serving in the Iraq war – that Canada is deporting back to America … and into the custody of the U.S. military.
Of course, the military refuses to say whether these whimsical soldiers will be court-martialed or dishonorably discharged. But I’ll bet my lunch money that all of them will be prosecuted (not persecuted) and thrown in the pokey, which, as I indicated in the quote above, would serve them right.
Because the harsher their punishment the greater the deterrence to the many other soldiers who are no doubt contemplating desertion from this infernal and interminable war in Iraq. After all, given the difficulty the U.S. military is having recruiting and retaining soldiers, the last thing the country can afford is for those serving to think that they can flee to Canada (or anywhere else) with impunity.
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Canada is no longer a haven for deserters…
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