Canada AWOL - When war in not an option


NOVEMBER 2006



When war in not an option

BY JENNIFER McPHEE

Patrick and Jill Hart sit across from each other in a noisy downtown
Toronto coffee shop, recounting the past year of their lives. They
used to be a fervent, flag-waving military couple, the kind of
Americans who simply do not question their President. Patrick was a
loyal sergeant, a nine-and-a-half-year veteran of the United States
Army. But things he was hearing about Iraq “didn’t sit well”
with him, he says. One year ago, roughly one month before he was
scheduled to leave his post in Kansas and deploy to Iraq, he decided
to desert.

Patrick Hart is one of 28 Iraq deserters who have applied for refugee
status in Canada, but at least 150 more are living here illegally.
All told, more than 8,000 members of the U.S. military have deserted
since the Iraq war began. Desertion charges can result in penalties
ranging from a dishonourable discharge to a court martial and jail time.







Patrick Hart (right) risked jail and his marriage when he deserted
the U.S. Army, refusing to fight in Iraq, and fled to Canada. Merle
Robillard photo
Patrick’s story, and others like it, led the United Church to add
its name last June to a growing list of organizations that endorse
the War Resisters Support Campaign. The WRSC is a coalition of
organizations and individuals who provide deserters with basic
material needs when they arrive, raise money for their legal costs
and pressure the government to let them stay.

Patrick’s doubts about going to Iraq began while he was deployed in
Kuwait from April 2003 to March 2004. Several soldiers he knew
returned from Iraq with horrific stories about “less than honourable
things that soldiers were forced to do,” says the 32-year-old.

One longtime friend, who took part in raids of Iraqi homes looking
for weapons of mass destruction, is not the same person anymore,
Patrick says. “He told me, ‘I’m not proud of what I did. My mom
is proud of me, my dad is proud of me. But if they knew exactly what
I did, they wouldn’t be proud of me.’”

When Patrick returned to Kansas, younger soldiers started asking him
questions about why they were going to Iraq when there were no
weapons of mass destruction and no proven link between Iraq and 9/11.
He didn’t have any answers and says he didn’t want to be
responsible for their deaths.

But he didn’t tell his wife about his growing doubts. A civilian
employee working for Patrick’s company commander, Jill was devoted
to the military. Patrick believed that if she knew he was considering
deserting, she would have turned him in. So he planned a weekend trip
to his hometown, Buffalo, N.Y., before going to Iraq. Jill stayed
behind to attend a briefing about how to notify families in a mass
casualty situation.

The day he was supposed to return, Patrick — who had already crossed
the border into Canada — called Jill to tell her he wasn’t coming
home. He tried hard to explain, but Jill “didn’t want to hear
it,” she says. “You signed a contract. This is what you’re going
to do for the rest of your life.”

But then she says she received a call from a senior officer
threatening their health-care benefits. Their young son, Rian, has
epilepsy, and the officer remarked that he hoped “Rian doesn’t
have another seizure.” Then, she says, the officer suggested that
she go along with a plan to pretend she had been assaulted to lure
Patrick home. Jill’s confidence in the military was utterly betrayed
and her husband’s passionate explanations began ringing in her ears.
She and Rian joined him in Canada.

While Patrick loves it here, being a refugee claimant can be
difficult. He hasn’t found a job after a year. So the couple spends
much of their free time volunteering, and they have a strong support
network. Canada has become their home.

“Every day I get to spend with my husband and son is priceless to me
because I could have been a widow,” she says. “I’m much prouder
of my husband for putting down his weapon and walking away than I
would have been seeing six marines carrying him off the plane.”

The United Church has a long history when it comes to supporting U.S.
military deserters. Back in the 1960s, it was instrumental in
convincing Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to let thousands of Vietnam
War deserters and draft dodgers stay in Canada. At the time, Trudeau
denounced the war and famously said, “Canada should be a refuge from
militarism.” No one today expects to hear similar words from Prime
Minister Stephen Harper, and churches don’t have the influence they
once did. Supporters of the war resisters campaign argue that the
majority of Canadians oppose the war in Iraq and support the war
resisters. Whether this sentiment will translate into asylum for
those who resist the war on moral grounds remains to be seen.

At least two cases involving war resisters were turned down by
Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board last year. A federal court
upheld the decision, and the joint case is now under appeal. If the
Canadian government decides to forcibly evict war resisters, the
United Church may take a stronger stand than it has to date, says
Heather Macdonald, who co-ordinates the church’s refugee efforts.
For now, the United Church is simply “encouraging people who are
concerned to write Parliament, to write their local papers,” says
Macdonald.

Sgt. Corey Glass spent five months in Iraq before making the same
decision as Patrick Hart. He was a military intelligence analyst,
scrutinizing video footage, reading maps and documenting everything
that happened in the combat zones. He knew exactly how many soldiers
and civilians were killed each day, as well as where and how. He
found the ever-growing body count and images deeply disturbing. He
saw a country ruined by American bombs, and people on both sides dying.

A particular video proved to be the breaking point. It showed Iraqi
children talking about their dream to become suicide bombers because
of the atrocities committed by American soldiers. “They were saying
we killed their families,” says Glass. “They were saying we’re
stealing their land. That’s kind of what it looks like we’re
doing. I see their side of it.”

Soon afterward, he was granted stress leave. When his leave was up,
he packed to return to Iraq, but couldn’t get on the plane. It
wasn’t a fear of death that stopped him; it was that he could see no
justifiable or legal reason for what was happening. “I thought, am I
going to burn in hell for this?”

It wasn’t the first time that Glass, 24, made his feelings about
serving in the Iraq war known. When he enlisted in the National Guard
four years ago, he believed he was joining a humanitarian branch of
the military that would help out during floods, hurricanes, riots and
other national disasters, and fight only if troops landed on the
shores of North America. When he was put on a roster to go to Iraq,
he tried to remove his name, saying he disagreed with the war.

After deserting, Glass spent seven months camping and couch surfing
in various states before finding out about the war resisters campaign
in Canada and crossing the border. He’s hoping to get a work permit
and says he’s “looking for a job where I don’t have to kill
anyone or help kill anyone.”

Both Glass and the Harts face an uncertain future, but are
optimistic. “The Canadian people will make the right decision,”
says Jill. “They’ll do the right thing. My faith is with
them.” 

Jennifer McPhee is a Toronto writer.




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