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

Saturday Morning Confusion (Pt 2)

Actually it's Saturday afternoon but the title was too good to pass up!

Cows:
Global warming IS a fact in spite of what the U.S. government says!

Being a City boy when I grew up, (Toronto) I didn't realize the impact farm animals have on the environment.

Listen to this! ALL the pollution caused by cars on Canadian highways, (about 150 mega-tons a year) is only three times as much as the greenhouse gasses caused by COWS!

No shit! (Or should I say fart!) In the overall ecological scheme of things, that means farmyard farting is contributing about as much heating of the planet as 1/3 of all the cars, trucks and buses in the country!

This means that those cows we see out in the fields are responsible for as much as 5% of all the overall greenhouse gas emissions produced domestically from all sources!

We don't need to sign no stinkin' Kyoto Accord!

Just get rid of the COWS!

Iraq:
Now, from the fart-fields of Canada to the real shit-fields of Iraq!

More resisters expected.
Patrick Maloney: The London Free Press

George W. Bush's plan to boost U.S. troop strength in Iraq has ratcheted up interest among American soldiers about defecting to Canada, local sympathizers say.

And one London woman hopes any who do come north will consider settling here.

"If the people are here, they need financial support and emotional and social support," Beth Guthrie said. "We want to create a community of support for people who are resisting the war in Iraq."

This weekend marks a key anniversary in the 1960s-era exodus of young American men to Canada to avoid serving in the Vietnam War.

Now, in a quiet echo of an earlier generation's anti-war sentiment, the War Resisters Support Campaign is noticing growing interest in Canada as a haven for U.S. soldiers otherwise destined for Iraq.

The group that usually gets five inquiries a month has had "several dozen" calls from soldiers since Bush unveiled his plan this month to deploy an extra 20,000 troops to Iraq.

Racism:
An overwhelming majority of Canadians are unwilling to bend laws to make room for cultural beliefs. These figures a Canadian but American attitudes wouldn't be all that different in the long run!

The hard-line attitude is revealed in a Sun Media poll conducted by Leger Marketing, which shows 78% of people from coast-to-coast say everyone must respect Canadian laws -- even if they clash with the cultural values they hold dear.

"The legal system is the legal system, and for a lot of Canadians that's the rule of thumb we live by," said Leger VP Dave Scholz. "If someone is moving to this country, they need to learn the legal system prior to being here."

Only 15% think Canada should adapt our legal system to make room for religious and cultural beliefs.

When it comes to the law's role in curbing racism, only one-third of Canadians believe uttering a racial slur should be a crime. Another 46% believe free speech should reign.

While the poll has shown that an overwhelming majority of Canadians women have a problem with a woman wearing a veil..... lots of men however, insist that people of different ethnic backgrounds enrich their lives -one way or another!

"But if all that means is going out for ethnic food on a Saturday night, that's not really being enriched," Scholz said. "Enriched means embracing all the cultural traditions of the new population coming in.

Everyone's view of enriching is different, but from the results we've seen, I don't think it's entirely embracing all aspects of an ethnic community. It's sort of temporarily embracing it at times."

While just over half of Canadians see racism as a problem in their city, only 32% think a vigorous fight is necessary to combat it. Half of us would be willing to sign a petition or report a racist incident, yet less than a quarter would actually put up cash for the fight to stop racism.

Scholz said that reflects a "head-in-the-sand" approach to a real problem.

"Most people think it's a problem that's going away, and to that end we don't think we feel need to personally finance the problem," Scholz said.

"We can report it to authorities, maybe we'll sign petitions, but we don't actually want to put any real drive behind it ... We're not fighting it. We're trying to hide or avoid it, even though we're seeing and hearing about it."

Like I said, from what I have seen, I don't think the results in the States would be that much different. Of course, if you disagree, just click on the comments section underneath!

Your "pollster type" scribe;
Allan W Janssen