Dodgers and Deserters Deserted by Canada!!

Matt Lowell is a young guy from Michigan with a problem!

He is one of thirteen men who have deserted from the Army in protest of the Iraq war and applied for refugee protection in Canada, Ottawa says. So far, all the claims have been rejected!

Lowell, a quiet Michigan native who arrived in London by accident, just received the Immigration and Refugee Board's decision on his case.

Eight pages long, it can be summed up in one word: NO!


Things have changed in Canada with the election of a Conservative government and draft dodgers and deserters are not as welcome as they were under the old Liberals. (F.Y.I. - The Liberals are the Canadian Democrats and Conservatives are the Republicans. The big difference is that both Canadian Parties are ideologically more centrist than their U.S. counterparts.)

"I told my mom they said no and I don't know what to do now," said Lowell, 22, standing in the kitchen of a modest east-end home where he rents a room with money from welfare.

"I'm so sick of running."

During the first of three times he went AWOL from his duty station in Fort Lewis, Wash., Lowell stumbled upon the Forest City.

He'd driven home to Michigan before crossing into Canada, Toronto-bound. He stopped in London that night in September 2003 and rented a motel room.

In the morning, Lowell realized he liked what he saw. "I woke up and thought, this is pretty nice. Not too big, not too small."

He stayed about six months, doing odd jobs, before his mom convinced him to return to Fort Lewis, about 320 kilometres south of Vancouver.

Lowell would leave twice more -- facing the prospect of military prison time for desertion -- and returned to London 15 months ago.

That's when he applied for refugee protection, like high-profile Iraq war resister Jeremy Hinzman.

Also like Hinzman, his application would be denied.

In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the gung-ho 17-year-old had signed up for the U.S. army with one goal.

"I wanted to go to Afghanistan and take down Osama bin Laden," Lowell said. "I was so proud . . . when I signed up."

He arrived in Fort Lewis in July 2002, showing natural acumen with weapons, earning praise from his squad leaders and awaiting his call to Afghanistan.

Then, things changed.

In March 2003, the U.S. government turned its sights on Saddam Hussein. The young soldier was now bound for a war not in Afghanistan, but Iraq.

Though his enthusiasm didn't waver at first, a short visit home changed that.

"Everybody was watching the news and that's when I started hearing they still haven't found the weapons of mass destruction and they're bombing the hell out of Iraq," Lowell said.

"I felt it was the wrong war."

When showing up drunk to drills wasn't enough to get kicked out, Lowell simply left three times -- the second time just two days before he was to leave for Iraq.

He twice returned to Fort Lewis, once voluntarily and once under military order. He was facing jail time for desertion when he left for good in November 2005. He's been in London since.

The recent immigration board decision likely means Lowell could be shipped back to the U.S. within the next year.

His punishment for desertion, the board's decision reads, wouldn't amount to persecution or . . . cruel and unusual punishment -- factors that can lead to successful refugee claims in Canada.

Times change and one of the best indicators of that is that the numbers have changed from the Vietnam era till now. Back then it was in the tens of thousands, while today is just the "Unlucky 13!"

Let's hope that doesn't change!

Your "at the front" scribe;
Allan W Janssen