Jeremy Hinzman is the most recent military deserter losing his legal battle to stay in Canada.\u00a0 I read his story while visiting our son and daughter-in-law at Ft. Bragg in Fayetteville, NC; home of the Army Special Forces, the Green Beret.\u00a0 There I met men and women who have clarity of thought, a code of honor, and a love of country; values so clear I immensely admire and genuinely envy them.\u00a0 If you want to meet a real hero, just visit a military base.\u00a0 Their moral fiber is unwavering, giving me little tolerance for those who abandon their oath.\u00a0 With this admitted bias, I would like to discuss those who desert our country.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Most end up in Canada, where roughly 200 American deserters are hiding.\u00a0 Jeremy Hinzman, who deserted in 2004, served a tour in Afghanistan; but refused orders to deploy to Iraq because he decided it was an “illegal order.”\u00a0 Did he stay in the United States, challenging this “illegal” order, willing to face possible consequences for his actions?\u00a0 Or did he decide the best way to honor his “moral conscience” was to hide in Canada?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another deserter, Corey Glass, who joined the Indiana National Guard in 2002, claims the recruiter promised him the only way he would be in combat was if there were “foreign troops on American soil.”\u00a0 He was “tricked” into joining the National Guard and therefore has a right to refuse an order to deploy.\u00a0 He also claims he “had a duty to refuse to take part in a war that is illegal and morally wrong.”\u00a0 He makes this claim, even though at the time of his orders for deployment the United Nations had sanctioned the United States presence in Iraq, negating his claim we were there illegally.\u00a0 All the deserters put forth some variation of the same assertion.\u00a0 They claim they have the right to refuse to take part in this war, to refuse a lawful order.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, the Canadian government does not support American deserters for the common sense reason that these men and women voluntarily joined the military.\u00a0 No one forced them to sign the papers. \u00a0No one forced them to take the oath they are dishonoring. \u00a0Despite the government’s position, the Canadian House of Commons is urging their government to allow American deserters and their families to stay in Canada as permanent residents, erroneously referring to them as Iraqi War Resisters, a blatant misnomer.\u00a0 They are not resisters.\u00a0 They are deserters.\u00a0 They violated their oath to their fellow soldiers and to their country.\u00a0 The House of Commons refuses to acknowledge that these deserters do not meet the criteria for refugee status which is reserved for those who have a “well-founded fear of persecution and if removed (from Canada), a real danger of torture or death.”\u00a0 These deserters are criminals in need of prosecution, not refugees in need of sanctuary.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jim Stolz, a resident of Fayetteville, made the egregious statement that “just because they sign a paper doesn’t mean they should give up their right to choose.”\u00a0 Sir, that is precisely what it means.\u00a0 Voluntarily enlisting in the military does not include the option of leaving whenever you choose.\u00a0 Voluntarily enlisting in the military does not include the option to pick and choose which orders you will follow.\u00a0 Equally absurd, Chuck Fager, another Fayetteville resident, refers to Hinzman as a “soldier of conscience.”\u00a0 How can he be?\u00a0 He voluntarily joined the military, he refused a lawful order, and he fled his country.\u00a0 He is a criminal and most assuredly not a soldier.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What is the “persecution” they claim will occur if they are returned to the United States?\u00a0 How harshly does the military treat deserters?\u00a0 A lawyer for the Canadian government says the deserters are treated leniently, often serving a year or less in a military prison and getting a maximum of a dishonorable discharge from the military.\u00a0 Is that unfair considering the crime they committed?\u00a0 Is that harsh compared to the sacrifice of the soldiers who had to replace them in Iraq, accepting the risk to life the deserters abandoned?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perhaps the United States should be even more lenient with these criminals, removing any threat of serving time in prison.\u00a0 Instead, the military should support their decision to leave the United States.\u00a0 They should give the deserters a dishonorable discharge along with revoking their United States citizenship; the citizenship they have already voluntarily renounced by their actions.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Kay, managing editor at Canada’s National Post newspaper, summed it up well:\u00a0 “America’s fair-weather soldiers shouldn’t be permitted to make a mockery of the Canadian refugee system.”\u00a0 These criminals deserted their comrades, their military, and their country. \u00a0They dishonored themselves, their military, and their country. \u00a0The “real” soldiers did their duty, honored their commitment to their country, and paid the price of that commitment.\u00a0 It’s time deserters are held accountable for their decisions.<\/p>\n
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