thecommonills.blogspot.com: Iraq Snapshot – 8th July 2008

“Starting with war resistance. “It’s seems to be a, you know, it’s sort of an uphill battle still,” Joshua Key (http://www.joshkey.com/) explained of the struggle US war resisters face in Canada attempting to win safe harbor status.”

Joshua Key co-wrote The Deserter’s Tale about his experiences in Iraq, including his witnessing of war crimes and his decision to leave.

Website that supports this cause: Courage to Resist – Support the troops who refuse to fight! (http://www.couragetoresist.org/)

July 9th actions at Canadian Consulates in 14 U.S. cities (http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/605/1/ -> https://couragetoresist.org/july-9th-actions-at-canadian-consulates-in-14-us-cities/)

“July 10, 2008 Update: Corey Glass and Joshua Key granted reprieves, however; Robin Long has been jailed in Nelson BC and currently faces deportation within days.”

On a related topic, draftresistance.org encourages resistances to the registration laws of the U.S. which may lead to the reinstatement of the draft.

… We are specifically encouraging resistance to the registration laws of the United States, seeing registration as the necessary step toward conscription (the draft). We are what the Selective Service calls ‘anti-war intellectuals.’ We see the direct link between registration, the draft, and aggressive war. Remember, non- registration is the strategy to beat the draft. If enough of us refuse, there is nothing they can do!
– Scott A Kohlhaas

My response to a question asked at sasklibertytrain.blogspot.com (http://sasklibertytrain.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-war-deserter-to-be-deported-from.html),

“Should Canada deport war deserters back to the US or let them stay?”:

Libertarian ideology implies that it is wrong to force someone to stay in a job that they want to leave. That is slavery. On top of that, they have “stop-loss”. The propaganda is there and the endorsement by the general public to get young people to join the military because older people know better – that they may end up terribly injured, killed or, killing innocent people. Everyone else – we can leave our jobs. If we couldn’t, it wouldn’t be freedom. Canadians should take them in and protect them out of compassion and out of respect for human life. It also repeats the message that we are questioning an immoral unjustified war of aggression against Iraq, and against whoever’s next…

July 11th, 2008