..............................

05/31/07

How To Get Your Just "Deserts": Going AWOL or Deserting

Category: General
Posted by: admin
Anyone who wants to go to Canada just has to cross the border and then, once safely inside, present yourself to a Canadian Border services agency and apply for political asylum. Tell the officer you do not want to fight in Iraq because it is a violation of international law. Lawyer Jeffry House, a Vietnam War vet who fled to Canada himself, cautions, “No one declares themselves at the border—wait until you are inside. There may be some problems. We don’t exactly trust every Border Service official to do the right thing. They probably would, but why take chances?”

It takes a year to get a hearing before the Immigration Board, and appeals can take up to several years. But in the meantime, asylum applicants are eligible for a work permit and medical insurance, and their children can attend school. Resisters should be prepared to help pay for at least part of their legal costs. House says appellants finance their cases themselves, with help from private citizens’ generous donations. But he adds, “Sometimes I work for free.”

Brokeback or Baghdad?--The Gay Option

There is another route out for the brave. Ten times as many armed services personnel may have declared themselves to be gay as have fled to Canada. Ever since Clinton and the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” policy, the quickest and fastest way out of the military is to confess to being gay or lesbian. “In many ways it’s a very effective option,” suggests Pablo Paredes. “Almost across the board, if you can create your package in a clean-cut way, it is a very efficient, administrative discharge, other than honorable. So there is no stigma attached. The secret is to offer as little detail [of your purported homosexual activities] as possible, especially if you have critical skills, since they may hold an inquiry.”

Paredes reports that about 7% of the GI Hotline’s 40,000 callers discuss the Brokeback Mountain  option, “but we do not know who follows through.”


Contact Info:
In the U.S., contact the GI Rights Hotline at 800-394-9544; see GIrights.objector.org. In Canada, call the War Resisters Support Campaign at 416-598-1222, or e-mail Resisters@sympatico.ca; also see Resisters.ca. From outside the U.S. or Canada, call 510-465-1472. Antiwar attorney Jeffry House: JeffryHouse@hotmail.com. More useful information: SoldierSayNo.blogspot.com; MFSO.org; IVAW.org.