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US Army Deserter is Being Deported from Canada!

Gemstar [no longer around] said Aug 14, 2008, 8:20 AM:
 

I am cross-posting this to my blog as well, so possibly more of our US friends will see it.

Here is the head-line URL link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080813/ap_on_re_ca/canada_war_deserter_1

”Jeremy Hinzman, 29, is likely to be court-martialed when he returns to the United States and could face up to five years in prison. Hinzman said Canada's Border Services Agency ordered him to leave the country by Sept. 23 and he would be handed over to U.S. authorities.

Before he fled Fort Bragg, N.C., in January 2004, Hinzman had already served a tour of duty with the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan. He served in a non-combat position because before his unit left in 2002, he applied for conscientious objector status.”


As a Canadian who has never supported the idiot notion of the Iraq War, I am incensed that our Canadian government is doing this to this man, and potentially other ”conscientious objectors” as well.  Who the hell does Prime Minister Harper think he is (God maybe?) that he can decide on this man's fate?  During the Vietnam war thousands of “objectors” fled to Canada to avoid the draft.  But that was when the Liberals were in power, and we didn't have people like Harper kiss-assing up to the Idiot Prince Bush.

Well, the US doesn't even have a “draft” now, and this man has already served one tour of duty away from family (In Afphanistan), so given the population of the United States, you'd think there'd be plenty of other men eligible (and probably quite willing) to go in his place!!!

Yeah, I know - our guys and gals are doing two and three tours in Afghanistan (if they live that long!), which is a whole other thorn in my side, given I have two grandsons that are nearing the age of being drafted, if that ever comes about.  One of them probably wouldn't qualify medically because of poor vision, but the other would probably volunteer - want's to be a police officer (which in these greater Toronto neck of the woods is probably almost as dangerous!). A good friend of mine lost his brother to a suicide bombers efforts 10 days before he was to return to Canada and retire!  He had served Canada for twenty years - and was getting ready to come home, get married and perhaps start a family.

My heart goes out to all of the families, loved ones and friends of ALL of the brave men and women who are serving in Canada's armed forces, and/or who have lost someone because of the leaders who fight the wars from their office HIGH chairs.  I completely support our men and women who are out there trying to make a difference, as hard as that is.  BUT I also support the right of ANYONE - Canadian or American, who decides they object to this insane squabbling, and doesn't want to participate in it.

I'd like to hear some Canadian voices raised in major objection to this man's deportation.  Contact your MP's and MPP's - and definitely write to Prime Minister Harper (he who was so scared of his ass that he wouldn't even go to Bejing!) and let him know that once the White House has been cleaned of the vermin now occupying it, perhaps Canadians will do a similar house-cleaning on Parliament Hill!  It won't be too soon, for my liking.

In absolute and utter disgust with the politicians of our two countries!!!

Gem
  elizabethanne : authentic woman

Re: US Army Deserter is Being Deported from Canada!

elizabethanne said Aug 14, 2008, 11:13 AM:
 

I admire your passion Gem.

Just over a year ago a woman whom I work with informed us that her cousin's sons had been killed in Afghanistan.  A while later she approached me and said “He died for nothing”.  The only comforting gesture that I could offer her was to ask whether he had believed that he was doing the right thing.  She told me that he had, and I encouraged her to take comfort in that. 

Later that day I thought to myself “This is the first time in my entire life that I have known a Canadian who is grieving the loss of a young family member killed in a senseless war”.  And I wept as I tried to make sense of things…weeping for my workmate, weeping for her family, weeping for a loss of innocence, weeping for our country.  We are Canadians, known internationally as peacekeepers not war mongerors.


My MP, MPP and Stephen Harper have already received e-mails from me denouncing Canada's involvement in a senseless situation.  I will let them know how I feel about the deportation of this young man.

Liz
  Nicole : wakingdreamer

Re: US Army Deserter is Being Deported from Canada!

Nicole said Aug 14, 2008, 11:44 AM:
 

This is really disturbing. Do you want me to crosspost it to the God Pod too, Gem, to see if we get more traffic on it?

Concerned,

Nicole
 

Re: US Army Deserter is Being Deported from Canada!

Gemstar [no longer around] said Aug 14, 2008, 2:28 PM:
 

Hi Nicole:

I am not familiar with the workings of the God Pod, but I know you are the Cultivator there, so if you see a resonance, please do feel free to cross-post it there.  The more hands on deck protesting this kind of inhumane treatment at the hands of what is supposed to be a more evolved democratic government (we can wish, can't we!), the better.

Blessings,
Gem
 

Re: US Army Deserter is Being Deported from Canada!

Gemstar [no longer around] said Aug 14, 2008, 2:49 PM:
 

Hi Liz:

Yes, it sometimes surprises us, even knowing we are sensitive people, the amount of shock we get to see in our own emotions, when stuff like this happens.  When my friends brother was killed, even though I didn't know him personally, I still felt a great loss.  Here we had a forty-four year old man who had devoted his life to his country, and when he could have had a decent pension and probably a really good life ahead of him, it was gone in a flash.


So thank you for being supportive to our guys and gals, but also recognizing that our governments should NOT have the right to force those that don't share their war-mongering ideas to fight in their stupid, senseless wars (especially when we're supposed to be a “peacekeeping” country). The cruel thing of this is, they know for almost a certainty that he will be thrown in jail, and the culture in most US prisons tends to either kill young men like this one, or turn them into hardened criminals themselves, by the time they get out.  That's the further crime in all of this!

In the meantime, his kids grow up without a father, and probably with a lot less care from the Mom, who would be forced to work to support them.  All because our Canadian PM doesn't have the gonads to stand up to the pea-brained military-training drop-out sitting currently in the White House, where his appropriate throne would be somewhere in the back-forty in a wooden shed with two holes and a lot of horse-flies. (Sorry about the toilet humour - it tends to come out when I'm ranting ;) ).

Gem
  Nicole : wakingdreamer

Re: US Army Deserter is Being Deported from Canada!

Nicole said Aug 14, 2008, 3:09 PM:
 

I hear you Gem, it's hard to stay calm in the face of such limp-kneedness… I have crossposted to the God Pod, thanks again for the headsup!

Sorrow,

Nicole
  elizabethanne : authentic woman

Re: US Army Deserter is Being Deported from Canada!

elizabethanne said Aug 14, 2008, 3:36 PM:
 

No need to apologize, Gem.  I agree completely :) 
 

Re: US Army Deserter is Being Deported from Canada!

Gemstar [no longer around] said Sep 24, 2008, 9:37 AM:
 

UPDATE - September 24, 2008:
Today it was reported by the Associated Press that:  “(Canadian) Federal Court Judge Richard Mosley ruled Jeremy Hinzman can stay in Canada while the court decides whether he can appeal his deportation order. …… 

In his three-page ruling, Mosley wrote, “Based on the evidence and submissions before me, I am satisfied that the applicants would suffer irreparable harm if a stay were not granted.” ”

It's a good first step….  let's hope it sets a precedence!
  Nicole : wakingdreamer

Re: US Army Deserter is Being Deported from Canada!

Nicole said Sep 24, 2008, 10:15 AM:
 

Yes! Oh, thanks so much for this good news!

Love,

Nicole
 

Re: US Army Deserter is Being Deported from Canada!

Gemstar [no longer around] said Sep 24, 2008, 2:28 PM:
 

As an additional comment as to why I am so fierce on this, and to see the workings of my sometimes twisted mind ;) on this, you might want to hop over to my blog (comments) where I've ranted at length on the current US economic fiasco, and how this story ties in to it (at least in my mind).

:)
  Nicole : wakingdreamer

Re: US Army Deserter is Being Deported from Canada!

Nicole said Sep 24, 2008, 5:22 PM:
 

Excellent blog and well-thought through comments. Gem, I think this proposed bailout is totally outrageous, I hope it's a wake-up call.

Love,

Nicole