Let them stay - HOME!

Okay, now I am really upset!

It seems that today is

I just heard that on my local news...apparently across Canada today protesters are demanding the Canadian government allow US war resisters to stay here in Canada, and avoid penalties in their home country (yes, the United States..lol) According to what I just heard, big unions (CUPE - Canadian Union of Public Employees) and the Dhukabors are supporting the war resisters who have made it to Canada, and are demanding that the Canadian government aid and abet these fugitives:

The War Resisters Support Campaign has called a pan-Canadian mobilization on Saturday, January 26th, 2008 to ensure : 1) that deportation proceedings against U.S. war resisters currently in Canada cease immediately; and 2) that a provision be enacted by Parliament ensuring that U.S. war resisters refusing to fight in Iraq have a means to gain status in Canada. For listings of local actions, see our Events page. If you are able to organize a rally in your community, contact the Campaign – we will list events as details come in.

Last November the Supreme Court of Canada decided it would not hear an appeal of the war resisters, so now their legal wrangling has gone back to Parliament. On December 6, 2007,:

the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration adopted a motion that is a step forward for U.S. War Resisters seeking asylum in Canada. In a vote of 7 to 4, committee members passed a motion recommending that the government immediately implement a program to allow war resisters and their families to stay in Canada. It also calls for an immediate halt to deportation proceedings in these cases. The motion reads as follows: The Committee recommends that the government immediately implement a program to allow conscientious objectors and their immediate family members (partners and dependents), who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations and do not have a criminal record, to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada; and that the government should immediately cease any removal or deportation actions that may have already commenced against such individuals....

You can find all of that here. Now, I may be stoopid, (with a GT score lower than MG. Remember when I did the online tests? lol) but ummmmmmm, isn't the US military a volunteer military? Did I miss something here? From what I can tell, every single one of this pitiful bunch of "resisters" (choose your own adjective..lol) volunteered to join the military.

Just how ignorant are these folks? From their site:

The War Resisters Support Campaign is a broad-based coalition of community, faith, labour and other organizations and individuals that have come together to support U.S. soldiers seeking asylum in Canada because they refuse to fight in the illegal war in Iraq. The Campaign works on two fronts: we support the material needs of war resisters when they arrive in Canada; and we campaign to persuade the Canadian government to provide sanctuary for U.S. war resisters.

There IS a YouTube video there, if you really must see..Go here. I am not going to bore you with details of the actual names etc of the resisters.

In case you think it is just looney Canadians on this one, let me remind you about the Iraq Veterans Against the War in the US.

Demonstrators gathered outside the Canadian Embassy in Washington Friday to demand protection for U.S. soldiers who seek refuge north of the border to avoid deployment to Iraq. A group of about 50 American veterans of the Iraq war and their supporters said they want the Canadian government to provide sanctuary to men and women trying to escape military commitments in the U.S. Canada's top court decided not to hear the case of Iraq war deserter Jeremy Hinzman last November. (CBC) "We believe that these war resisters should be allowed a safe haven from persecution on the basis of resisting an illegal and immoral war and occupation," said Max Diorio, an organizer for California-based Courage to Resist. In a letter addressed to Ambassador Michael Wilson, the protesters demanded the government bar the deportation of U.S. soldiers who have fled to Canada to avoid serving in Iraq. Geoff Maillard, president of the Washington, D.C., chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War, said the refugee board that hears the soldiers' applications has wrongly refused to consider the question of whether the Iraq war is legal — a question central to the soldiers' request for sanctuary....(here)

Of course, in that same article they have to mention that during the Vietnam war as many as 40,000 Americans came north. (And yes, they only managed to gather 50 demonstrators yesterday... Sheesh, that's a real respresentation isn't it?) I can't validate that 40,000 figure, but again, am I stoopid? I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong, but back in that day, the US military was NOT voluntary, was it? We all know that many folks try and draw parallels between then and now, but on this attempt I am stumped. I am soooooooo confused....when you volunteer to join a military force, since when did you get to choose what war you will fight in? and ummmm: "illegal war"??????? I may be missing something important here, but if you don't LIKE war, you don't want to go to war, DON'T volunteer to join the military. Don't want to go to war? Stay home and let the real defenders of peace get on with the mission you can't. DUH! (So, call me "simple". I can handle it...lol)

One thing I am so NOT confused about? These people voluntarily joined the US military. I say they volunteer to stay home - you know, home, as in the United States of America - and explain themselves to a US military court. I don't want them in Canada.

NEXT!

Brat