Last refuge (for US troops in Canada)

[DuctapeFatwa]

The French weekly magazine Le Canard Enchaine reports that 1,700 U.S. soldiers have deserted their posts in Iraq, many of them failing to return to military duty after getting permission to go back to the United States. They simply disappear off the radar, and some of them may well be in Canada.

Rising-Moore believes the numbers of suicides will rise as U.S. soldiers returning to the States choose to take their own lives rather than face another tour of duty in Iraq.

The question is, given strained U.S.-Canada relations and the fact information is shared between the RCMP and their American counterparts, can Canadians offer substantive aid to U.S. deserters? That's what Rising-Moore is here to find out, although he's quick to add that he regards the cross-border escape hatch as the last option for suicidal soldiers. "I'm telling them to go to their clergy, go to their commanding officers, and to claim conscientious objection while in the military, and to fight it out like that. But if they're considering pulling the trigger on themselves, I'm telling them to desert, just as George Bush Jr. did during the Vietnam War."

If a significant number of Americans seek refuge in Canada, Laxer believes it cannot fail to become a political issue. Pressure will have to be brought to bear on the Martin government to open the door, as Pierre Trudeau so famously did in the past, he says....the owner of a Kitsilano restaurant at the round table, who says "there's a job waiting" at her restaurant for a deserter seeking refuge in Canada...."The future isn't between violence and nonviolence," he says, packing up his books and papers. "It's between nonviolence and non-existence."

http://www.vancourier.com/015104/news/015104nn1.html

[Mari333]

1. Good. The soldiers know this is a farce of a war

a fraud...even my stepson knows it, but he is on his way there , even tho we offered to get him out of this goddamn country.
In the meantime, if they call up my other sons, they know they will all leave, if there is a draft. They could get my oldest one anytime they want, but he says he will leave if they try to recall him.
There are no WMDs, never were, never was a reason to go to war with Iraq, never was a reason that over 500 kids are DEAD now, never was a reason for thousands dead and wounded. all for NOTHING.
and these soldiers KNOW it. And young people who are watching the events unfold KNOW it. This is a disaster. Thank god for Canada, and the good people there who protect our kids...a hell of a lot better then WE as a nation are protecting them...
anyone who voted for *bush or this war has the blood of all our kids on their hands. The media who ignores the Truth has the blood on their hands.
Darkest time in this country I have ever witnessed in my 52 years of life.

[JohnyCanuck]

3. Don't count on Canada in the future.

It looks like more and more Canada is being sucked into Uncle Sam ass kissing mode as the Canadian/US economies have become ever more entwined over the last 10 years or so. The business leaders and many politicians in Canada will shit bricks at the thought that Canada might do something to piss of the US and cause problems with cross border trade.

While it would cut both ways if trade was disrupted, Canada is way more dependent on the US market than vice versa. Our new PM, Paul Martin, has been doing his damndest to suck up to the Boy Blunder in the White House and reassure him that Canada is onside in his War on Terra and the fight to rid the world of evil-doers.

A treaty was negotiated with the US (not sure if it is in effect yet) that would disalow refugee claimants to enter Canada from the US. Under this treaty, since the US is considered a "free" country anyone arriving in Canada from the US will not be allowed to claim refugee status in Canada. From previous news reports I have read on this subject, the new law would apply to US draft dodgers as well as to other refugee claimants from third world countries etc attempting to reach Canada via the US. Whereas in the Viet Nam era a draft dodger could come to Canada and claim refugee status, under this new law it would not be permitted and he/she would be deported back to the US. You could always go underground if you got across border, and it is possible that sympathetic Candians might be willing to offer help and assistance, but it will not be like it was in the Viet Nam era when you could get a job and live a normal life in Canada with refugee status after leaving the US.

It is inevitable that Canada's energy and water resources will become even more important to the US over the coming years especially if the Peak Oil pessimist ( www.peakoil.net ) are correct in their assesment of world oil production peaking in the next 5 to 10 years or so. I strongly believe that if the current gang of robber barons and neo-con, empire building fruitcakes remain in charge of US foreign policy Canada by hook or by crook will be dragged in as a sattelite of the US and will loose any independent foreign policy making ability and will likely be forced into some type of continental security policy (immigration/customs controls etc.) which will be run from the US.

It won't matter which party we elect up here either. When push comes to shove, history has proven the US has no compunction about using whatever means are necessay to replace foreign governments it considers detrimental to its own interests with toadys and lackys who will perform as required.

[DuctapeFatwa]

4. I wish that I could anticipate a large influx of crusade refugees

to the point where Canada would notice, but the crusade is popular.

Assuming that the Canard's figures are correct, 1700 out of 150 thousand or so is not a whole lot.

compare it to Israel, with a total population of 6 million, and over 1200 have said "NO."

[bemildred]

2. The more the better.

The government cannot paper this kind of shit over.
Why should they die for this stupidity?
It's like VietNam in fast forward.