I Don’t Work For You No More

'I Don't Work For You No More'

http://washingtonindependent.com/1971/i-dont-work-for-you-no-more

By Spencer Ackerman
3/14/08

Jon Michael Turner's tattoos cover his arms almost entirely. They
peeked out under the rolled up sleeves of his crisp blue shirt, on
which were the medals and ribbons he earned as an automatic machine
gunner with the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines in Anbar Province in 2006.
One of them is more like a scar. On his right wrist is the black
Arabic lettering for FUCK YOU. It's on what he called his choking
hand, and it was what he looked at to let the anger wash over him
when he choked Iraqis.

On April 18, 2006 he had his first confirmed kill. "I don't know his
name. I call him the Fat Man," he said. He's innocent. The Fat Man
walked to his house and Turner shot him in front of his friend and
his father. "Afterward he started screaming and he looked into my
eyes," Turner testified at Winter Soldier. Turner, a handsome young
man with a blond beard, turned to his friend and said, "I can't let
that happen." So he shot and killed him. At the conference center in
Silver Spring nearly two years later, six giant screens displayed a
photograph of the Fat Man with much of his skull missing and his
brain exposed. "My company commander personally congratulated me,"
Turner continued. "That same individual said, 'Whoever gets his first
kill by stabbing them to death will get a four day pass when we get
back from Iraq."

Turner reminded the audience of the Marine credo: Once A Marine,
Always A Marine. But he invoked another expression. "Eat the apple at
its core." With that, Turner stripped his medals and ribbons off his
chest and threw them into the audience. "I don't work for you no more."

He showed videos of a Marine bragging "I think I just killed half the
population of northern Ramadi." He showed numerous photographs of
dead and mutilated Iraqi corpses. He showed a photograph of half of a
face propped up on a kevlar helmet. And he showed a video of unseen
Marines firing ­ he said unprovoked ­ extensively on a minaret in
Anbar Province, which is illegal if unprovoked.

Fighting back tears, he showed images of memorials to five of Kilo
Company's fallen Marines. "With that being said, that is my
testimony," Turner said. "I wanted to say I am sorry for the hate and
destruction I have inflicted on innocent people and others have
inflicted on innocent people. At one point it was ok, but the reality
is, it is not. … I am sorry for the things I did. I am no longer the
monster that I once was."

.

Why I Went AWOL

"Why I Went AWOL"

http://www.marieclaire.com/world/news/soldier-awol-war

By Tamara Jones
[December 2008]

Kimberly Rivera spotted the little girl outside the U.S. military
base in Baghdad. Just a tiny face in an agitated crowd. Saturday was
"claim day," Kim explains, when Iraqi civilians would come to request
compensation for things they'd lost in the bombings: Their furniture.
Their jewelry. Sometimes their children. The Iraqis had to be checked
by American soldiers. "We'd scan them, pat them down. Nobody ever had
anything," says Kim, a former Army private.

Kim's soft Texas drawl snags in her throat as she remembers catching
sight of the 2-year-old child of war with her family. The girl's dark
eyes had locked on Kim. "She was just petrified," Kim says. "She was
crying, but there was no sound, just tears flowing out of her eyes.
She was shaking. I have no idea what had happened in her little life.
All I know is I wasn't seeing her; I was seeing my own little girl. I
could imagine my daughter being one of those kids throwing rocks at
soldiers, because maybe someone she loved had been killed. That Iraqi
girl haunts my soul."

And she changed Kim's life. The nameless child suddenly represented
everything that felt wrong about being in uniform, about being in
Iraq, for the 26-year-old former Wal-Mart clerk who had joined the
military out of economic hardship, hoping to build a better future.
Kim had two children and a husband waiting for her back home in Mesquite, TX.

Not long after that day at the Baghdad claims line in late 2006, Kim
was on a two-week home leave. But even in the welcoming embrace of
her small family, she couldn't let go of the pent-up tensions of the
war zone. "I was so crazy, like a roller-coaster car that goes off
its tracks and crashes," she says. "Sometimes I'd be pacing or
paranoid or a little panicked. Other times, it would be just extreme
depression." Kim's thoughts constantly turned to her kids. "It was
incredibly emotional. I kept thinking, What if something happened to
them? What if there was some emergency and they were hurt? I wouldn't
be there for them," she says. "I'd be over in Iraq, just waiting to die."

The possibility of running away didn't occur to Kim at that point.
But it did to her husband, Mario. He retreated to his computer, his
usual hideout in times of stress. This wasn't the shy, sweet Kim he
had known as a teenager; they couldn't go on like this. So Mario
began researching antiwar groups and stumbled across the War
Resisters Support Campaign in Canada. He sent an e-mail asking if
anyone there could help. A former Vietnam War deserter named Lee
Zaslofsky responded: Yes.

"The first time Mario told me, I dismissed it," Kim says. "What were
we going to do in Canada?"

She remembers Mario pleading with her, "What options do we have?"

"We don't have any options," Kim snapped.

"Well, this is an option," he pressed. "It's better than none."

Kim was due to report to her base in a few days to travel back to
Baghdad. With the deadline approaching, she and Mario piled the kids
and everything else they could fit into the family's blue Geo Prizm,
uncertain when they pulled out of the driveway whether they were
heading for the base ­ or for the border.

Kim was a wreck. They drove in a huge multistate circle for days,
zigzagging west to east, north to south, debating and crying. "I
could not make up my mind," Kim says. "And I was getting paranoid. We
only used cash. Some hotels wouldn't take cash, so we'd have to find
ones that did. I kept thinking that the police were going to break
down our door in the middle of the night and find me." Kim thought
about her life in the Army before Iraq, when she worked a simple
9-to-5 day, driving supplies from one place to another, packing up
trucks, and unloading equipment from train boxcars. Now every time
she heard a car door slam, she says, "it sounded like a faraway mortar."

She and Mario finally pointed the car north. On February 18, 2007,
they crossed the border.

America disappeared fast in the mist of the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara
Falls. Kim was too numb, too angry, to look back. One minute she was
Private Kimberly Rivera, a soldier, an Iraq War veteran, and an
avowed patriot. But when she left the country that winter day,
unnoticeable in the crush of honeymooners and sightseers, Kim became
something else: a deserter.

One of more than 16,000 American soldiers who have gone into hiding
rather than fight since the U.S. invasion of Iraq five years ago, Kim
belongs to a small but growing movement of deserters seeking refuge
in Canada, hoping to be granted citizenship the way American draft
dodgers were during the Vietnam era. But this war is different.
Soldiers aren't drafted like they were for Vietnam, and Canada no
longer has the open-door policy it had for that generation's protesters.

Kim and an estimated 200 fellow deserters who fled north now live in
uncertain exile, unable to return to their old lives or to begin
anew; they're wanted on a fugitive warrant from the U.S. military and
not openly welcomed by the Canadian government. They have been able
to stay in Canada while they work their way through the court system
­ seeking political asylum or permission to immigrate ­ but so far,
the courts have ruled against them. At press time, one soldier, Robin
Long, had been deported to the U.S. and sentenced to 15 months in
jail. Others are expected to follow.

As for Kim, she has been denied refugee status and is now appealing.
Separately, she is also asking to stay in Canada on humanitarian
grounds. Final rulings are expected by year's end.

When we meet in her subsidized apartment in a working-class Toronto
neighborhood, Kim shyly opens the door to reveal a bare living room
with a used dining-room set. She and Mario share the only bedroom
with their kids, 6-year-old Christian and 4-year-old Rebecca. "It's
cozy to be able to reach out and touch them and feel safe," Kim says.

Kim used to speak to her family daily from the war zone. Soldiers
were allowed free phone calls in 15-minute turns, but Kim would go
back when everyone else was sleeping to talk to Mario. One night, she
returned from such a call to find an inch-long piece of shrapnel on
her bunk. That could have hit me in the head and killed me, she thought.

Kim doesn't mind her spartan life in Toronto; poverty is something
she has always known. "I never had any money growing up," she says of
her childhood in Mesquite. Kim met Mario as a teen at the Wal-Mart,
where they both worked. They'd dreamed of a future with educations
and real careers, but Kim became pregnant at 20, and another baby
quickly followed. She and Mario lived with Kim's parents, whose
dislike of Mario made the situation unbearable.

Kim and Mario got married, and she saw the military as her only
option. Becoming a soldier would mean a steady income, benefits, a
roof over their heads. "Mario wanted to go instead of me," she says,
but both were overweight, and Kim thought she would be able to shed
the necessary pounds more quickly.

In January 2006, Kim joined the Army, and the family was posted to
Colorado, where Kim was trained as a truck driver. The $8,000 signing
bonus seemed like a fortune. Kim bought a tan sofa and chair
("microfiber suede," she says proudly), plus a TV and toys for the
kids. Then her orders came for Iraq. "When they told me I'd be
carrying a 20-pound semiautomatic weapon, it hit home," she says. "I
felt like they were telling me I wasn't coming back."

Kim shipped out October 3, 2006, to a base in Baghdad. Meanwhile, her
husband and kids moved back to Mesquite. In Iraq, Kim's main job was
to guard the front gate of her base, inspecting vehicles and military
convoys. There was an old supermarket across the street. "I was
always afraid of that building," she says, "because there were these
narrow windows throughout, and it would be completely easy for a
sniper to hide there."

By the time Kim had deployed, the fruitless search for weapons of
mass destruction was long over, and her purpose, she believed, was to
help the Iraqis rebuild and to deliver America's promise of freedom
and democracy. Once there, however, Kim could see nothing but lies.
"I felt like my government had betrayed me," she says.

After the Riveras crossed the border, Kim turned on her cell phone to
find her voice mail filled with stern warnings from her commanding
officers. However, Army spokesmen say the military doesn't actively
pursue deserters; only 897 deserters have been prosecuted since the
Iraq War began, and about half have pleaded guilty to AWOL rather
than face trial. While desertion carries a five-year prison term,
punishment for going AWOL is a maximum of 18 months. Both charges can
include less-than-honorable discharges, or "rehabilitation" back at the unit.

Today in Toronto, Kim, who is due to give birth this month to her
third child, works a night shift in a bakery, thanks to a temporary
work permit. Mario works at a McDonald's during the day. Kim misses
Mesquite, as well as her parents, who don't support her decision.

During my visit, Kim kisses Mario, a lumbering teddy bear of a guy,
three times before leaving the apartment for an hour. Then she smiles
and tells me, "He's my euphoria." Later, she hurries down the street
on her way to a favorite doughnut shop that reminds her of one back
home in Texas. A homeless woman approaches and asks for change.

"Sorry, dear," Kim apologizes, offering directions to a
government-run food pantry instead. It's been a while since Kim has
had to get groceries at the pantry herself, but when she heard the
local government was about to close it down, she joined the campaign
to save it. Becoming a war resister has awakened the activist in her.
She still keeps her fatigues, which she wears sometimes for antiwar
rallies, and dreams of doing "something humanitarian" someday.

That evening over a take-out dinner, Kim's kindergartner, Christian,
suddenly puts down his pizza to announce, "My mommy was a soldier.
She had to make a choice: Go home or die." Kim freezes midbite, her
eyes widening. Christian prattles on. "She chose to come home to her
family. She didn't want to die. Her job was guarding the gate. Now
someone else does it."

Kim is still sitting at the dinner table a half-hour later, wondering
how her son had absorbed so much, when there's a sharp knock at the
door. A man's voice rings out: "Kimberly Rivera!" Kim and Mario
exchange frantic looks. Is this it? Is she going to be led away in
handcuffs? Mario tentatively opens the door. The stranger hands him a
boxful of donated toys for the kids ­ gifts from a local charity.
Flooded with relief, Kim simply says, "Thank you. Thank you so much."
--

Tamara Jones is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The
Washington Post.

.

How three Iraq tours changed one marine

How three Iraq tours changed one marine

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/dec/28/how-three-iraq-tours-changed-one-marine/

As country began questioning war, so did a man who was fighting it

Christopher Gallagher joined the Marine Corps in May 2001 when he was
a senior in high school. He says his mom, Catherine Jackson, was
worried, even though it was a time of peace. After the Sept. 11
attacks, he and those he was training with sensed war was coming.

By Charlotte Hsu
Sun, Dec 28, 2008

The new year will bring a presidential administration that has vowed
to wind down the war in Iraq. Christopher Gallagher of Las Vegas
fought in the invasion and did two additional combat tours. He shared
his experience in letters home during the war, and in recent interviews.

This is what he would remember when he got back: the cramped foxhole,
the stench of his unwashed body, MRE menu item No. 2, Jamaican pork chop.

He would remember the way the sand of the Kuwaiti desert would drift
into his eyes, his ears, everything, giving him reason to clean his
weapon twice a day as he waited to cross the border.

He would remember calling his mom, nervous but proud, after finding
out in January 2003, at the end of holiday leave, that he would be
going to Iraq.

Iraq.

What would he remember about Iraq?

Friends he lost. Survivor's guilt. He would remember how Iraqis lined
the streets to cheer his arrival in Baghdad, and how, later, the
people of Fallujah just wanted him to leave. He would remember how
different he was when it all began. At the start of this journey, he
was in favor of the war.

This is Christopher Gallagher's story.

Christopher Gallagher, U.S. Marine Corps corporal, 3rd Battalion, 4th
Marines. Service in Iraq: 2003, the invasion; 2004, Haditha Dam;
2005, Fallujah.
• • •

Apr. 2, 2003 ­ "I am writing this letter from a fighting hole, behind
my machine gun. I am fine for now. How is everyone back home?

"The first couple of days the Iraqi soldiers were surrendering by the
hundreds. I have heard reports of American POWs being murdered. What
have you heard? The first hundred hours of this war I was awake. It
is hard finding time to sleep out here."

This letter is from Gallagher's first deployment. It was the first
time he had ever traveled overseas. He wrote his family ("Dear
Family, Mom, Dad, Matt, Joel, etc.") in Farmingdale, N.Y., where he
grew up before moving to Las Vegas in 2006.

The note was on military stationery ­ a single sheet of paper
carrying the Marine Corps emblem: eagle, globe and anchor.
• • •

In the invasion of Iraq, Gallagher's battalion fought from the town
of Safwan on the Kuwaiti border through Basra and onto Baghdad. He
didn't shower for two months.

Fellow Marines secured oil fields and airports. Gallagher's job was
to establish radio communications and conduct security operations, "a
machine gun post set up on top of a hill, or something like that,
guarding a small area around yourself," he recalls.

Gallagher's battalion was the first Marine unit to enter Baghdad, and
he remembers it well: "The people invaded the streets and were lining
the streets of Baghdad, saying, 'Saddam bad, Bush good.' At the time
we were considered liberators."

He saw people everywhere, watching, cheering. But Gallagher couldn't
talk to them. That was off limits.

The day after his battalion took Baghdad, he sat down for breakfast
at the Palestine Hotel with reporters, including an Iraqi woman about
his age, a graduate of Baghdad University.

He remembers the meal ­ pita bread with tea and honey. But he can't
quite recall the specifics of what they discussed.

Gallagher was 20.

That was back when the Palestine housed journalists who came to cover
the war, 2 1/2 years before a truck bomb shook the building.

Who knows what happened to those people Gallagher met at the hotel?
That Iraqi journalist, where is she now? Maybe she is still covering
the war. Maybe she fled her country. Maybe she's dead.
• • •

Part of what Gallagher remembers about Iraq comes from photographs.
Snapshots like the one taken in 2003 of Gallagher and eight members
of his platoon, posing on the concrete roof of a building in Baghdad.

Behind them rise thick columns of smoke, black and tilted, drifting
across the smoldering city.

Five years later, sitting in his Las Vegas living room, Gallagher
points out that he is the only one in the picture wearing a helmet.

In Iraq, he was always careful, always on the lookout. He became, in
his words, "less trusting of humanity." In that way, the war stayed
with him even after he returned home.

Back in Vegas, he says he is still "hypervigilant, always more
cautious. Kind of like ­ in a way, almost like a minor paranoia. I'm
less trusting of people, because the people over there, they smile at
you one minute, and the next day they'll be shooting at you."

Even so, despite the nerves and fear, in 2003 Gallagher was
optimistic about the war.

Writing home in on April 2, he told his family the weather had been
comfortable. He wished his mom a happy birthday, said he was thinking
that the two of them and his grandma could visit Atlantic City when
he got back.

He finished his letter: "Tell everyone I will see them soon after the
Marines have killed Saddam and the war is over."
• • •

At home, Americans watched the siege of Baghdad on CNN, marveling at
the fireworks display ­ the buildings exploding, the red and yellow
tracer rounds flying across the sky like shooting stars.

Magazines and newspapers carried pictures of the carnage, bodies
floating in water, refugees fleeing.

Gallagher's mother, Catherine Jackson, worried, unable to watch the
news while he was abroad.

"I became very depressed," she remembers. "I checked the mailbox
every day, religiously. I cried every day, religiously. I was just
worried about him and his health. Would I get him home? Would he come
home? And when he did come home, would he come home in one piece? I
didn't know what to expect."

To her, Gallagher's letters meant a lot. They meant that somewhere
thousands of miles away, her son was still alive.
• • •

Meals, Ready-to-Eat.

Gallagher describes Thai chicken: "A bowl of snot with some water
chestnuts, little pieces of chicken."

Of MREs in general: "I remember them all, all very unfondly ... It
comes in a sealed package. And imagine a piece of chicken in there.
It looks like a piece of chicken, I don't know if it is. They had a
variety of food, but none of it was good for you. It had so many
preservatives in it."

He concluded that the only good thing that came in those rations was
the candy ­ Skittles, Charms or M&Ms. Marines would trade with one
another, Skittles for M&Ms and vice versa. Charms, considered bad
luck, ended up in the garbage.
• • •

MREs aside, living conditions at Haditha Dam were good in 2004.

Gallagher slept in a bunk bed, lifted weights, showered twice a week,
sometimes even with hot water. His family sent Snickers, cigarettes
and powdered Country Time pink lemonade.

In March, he wrote to his mother, saying he'd received her package.
The postscript reminded her that he smoked Parliament Lights.

The message was scrawled in black ink on the back of a postcard
bearing the image of the front page of the military newspaper Stars
and Stripes from April 11, 2003. The headline, "Baghdad falls to U.S.
forces," ran large down the right-hand side, set against the iconic
photograph of the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down.

"Do you remember this day almost a year ago when Marines from task
force 3/4 took the statue down," Gallagher wrote.

At Haditha Dam, he was a radio operator, part of a skeleton crew of
Marines guarding the dam. Most of the men in his battalion had been
called to fight in the siege of Fallujah. Some never made it back. He
lost a couple of friends.

"One minute they're there. One minute they're gone."
• • •

Some of the letters Gallagher wrote were never mailed. But he held on
to them. These were his "final letters" ­ the ones his family would
have received had he died.

"To Shannon," one such note to his older sister begins. "Hi I am
sorry for this tragic event you are going through, you helped raise
me when mom and dad were not around ... All you have to do is close
your eyes and pray, I will be there. I wanted to be a good uncle for
James and Alyssa. I would have liked to see them grow up and live a good life."

And to Gallagher's younger brother: "I wish I could be there for you
Matt. I love you so much and you will never know how much the time
that we have spent together hanging out since I enlisted meant to me.
If you have noticed all the extra gifts I have gotten for you, it was
to try to make up for my absence."

In what would have been his final letter to his mother and father,
Gallagher wrote that he loved them, that he'd watch over them in
heaven alongside Grandpa Rich, Grandma, Grandpa Jackson and Uncle Joe.

"Let everyone know I died with honor, keeping all Americans free from
foreign dictatorships," he wrote.

"I was not always the best kid to have, I joined the Corps to
straighten my life out and find direction. Mom you were my best
friend and were a great emotional support. Dad you were always there,
from the time you taught me to bowl until I got on the bus for Parris Island.

"As I write this letter and look back on my life I only remember how
much i enjoyed living it. They say 'Everyone dies but not everyone
lives.' I just hope I turned out to be a respectable and upstanding
person like you raised me to be."

Gallagher showed the letter to his mother. She read it once and
couldn't read it again.
• • •

By the end of his third deployment, Gallagher says, "I was wondering
what we were doing there. Because we were essentially driving around
just waiting to be blown up. Nobody wanted to be there anymore,
everybody just wanted to come home."

The Iraqis, Gallagher says, didn't want the troops there either. He
remembers the disgust, the anger in their eyes.

"There was no point to any of the patrols," he says. "We were told
that al-Qaida was causing all the trouble, but yet it was mostly the
people living in these towns. It was Iraqis."

In Fallujah, Gallagher was a radio operator for an 81 mm mortar
platoon. He worked at a checkpoint outside the city, a job he likened
to herding cattle.

Everyone coming through had to have his retinas scanned. Everyone had
to get an ID card. Everyone had to be searched.

Gallagher spent eight hours on duty, eight hours off. When he wasn't
manning the checkpoint, he patrolled in vehicles and on foot,
sweating under a scorching Iraqi sun.

He searched homes, feeling no guilt, no remorse. He grew angry when
he gave information on a firefight to his higher ups only to find out
later that "the report that they filed was not what I said."

He wondered why he didn't have proper armor. During his first
deployment, he remembers, he didn't have plates in his vest to
protect him from bullets and shrapnel. Through his last deployment,
he said, his Humvees had what the troops called "hillbilly armor," a
piece of metal in the shape of a door hanging off the side of the vehicle.

"I was pissed off. I was in Iraq," Gallagher remembers. "I supported
the war and supported the troops. I thought they were one and the
same." But, he said, "I didn't want to be there anymore."

He slept on a cot in a wooden hut housing 20. Fellow soldiers on
patrol found propane tanks and 30- or 40-gallon drums and used them
to fashion a makeshift shower.

Once a week, he got hot food ­ maybe prime rib, maybe beef stew. It
didn't make him sick like the other meals or the dirty water he said
the military gave him.
• • •

Gallagher is 26 now, no longer on active duty. He has been home, on
U.S. soil, for three years.

He has no regrets. In May 2001, as a senior in high school in
Farmingdale, N.Y., he signed up to join the Marines to see the world,
to "become someone."

His mother worried, afraid of what might happen even though it was a
time of peace. On Sept. 11, Gallagher was at boot camp at Parris
Island, S.C. He and his fellow recruits, training together in the
humid southern summer, knew war was coming.

Looking back, Gallagher says the Marine Corps made him a better person.

He is more focused, more disciplined. One of the worst students in
his high school class, he pulled a 3.5 grade-point average while
studying at the College of Southern Nevada on the G.I. Bill. He left
school to learn to be an electrician. He makes good money, helps
support his mom.

He can take direction but also has leadership skills. Along the way,
in Iraq, he made lifelong friends, some people he normally wouldn't
hang out or talk to. What brought them together?

"We were willing to die for each other."
• • •

Gallagher was once in favor of the war. He remembers that well.

How much things have changed.

After returning to America, he read about the war, watched movies
about the war, talked to friends about the war that left him with so
many memories.

No weapons of mass destruction were found. Gallagher felt the
country's leaders had lied to him.

He learned as many U.S.-paid civilian contractors were stationed in
Iraq as troops. He read about how war brings profit, raining fortune
upon security companies, food companies ... the list goes on.

He believes the government was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks,
a view many people consider radical. But Gallagher believes it's the
truth. People like to believe in what's easiest to believe, he says.
He has read more about the terrorist attacks than many fellow Americans.

And the soldiers, the Marines, the airmen, the young people like
Gallagher who fought abroad?

Gallagher felt the country and the Veterans Affairs Department
abandoned them when they came back.

A friend of his who was shot in the leg saw disability benefits
reduced. Other servicemen and servicewomen struggled to get care for
post-traumatic stress disorder.

"These are people, that their friends blew up in front of them,"
Gallagher says. "They still have a lot of death and destruction (on
their minds), and they're just messed up."

He is disgusted.

"The Defense Department recently came out with a memo saying all
troops must remain apolitical ... saying that you're a soldier, you
have no opinions, you don't count. I think soldiers should have more
of a voice, be able to speak out."

So in September, Gallagher co-founded a Las Vegas chapter of Iraq
Veterans Against the War.
• • •

Some of Gallagher's memories of Iraq are hazy, as if obscured by
bleached sheets of hot desert sand. Others are clear. Some of what he
remembers he won't talk about.

For him, the war is over, now. He won't be going back.

But Iraq will stay with him, always ­ in his photographs, in his
letters, in this story, his story.
--

Charlotte Hsu can be reached at 259-8813 or at charlotte.hsu@lasvegassun.com.

.

U.S. Iraq war vet seeks asylum in Germany

[4 articles]

U.S. Iraq war vet Andre Shepherd seeks asylum in Germany

http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2008/12/12/02905.html

by Military Counseling Network, Courage to Resist, et al
12/12/08

FRANKFURT, Germany - U.S. Army Specialist Andre' Shepherd applied for
asylum in Germany Nov. 26, becoming the first Iraq War veteran to
pursue refugee status in Europe.

After attending college and failing to find meaningful employment,
Shepherd enlisted in the military early in 2004. The promises of
financial security and international adventure easily trumped working
at a fast food chain. He became an Apache airframe mechanic, hoping
to someday qualify up to the role of helicopter pilot.

His first unit was already deployed to Iraq when he completed his
training, so he joined them immediately, with only one day at his
unit's home in Germany. Shepherd spent six months on a forward
operating base near Tikrit, working 12-hour days to keep the heavily
armed Apaches (and their signature Hellfire missiles) in the air.

Though he enlisted in order to bring freedom, prosperity and peace,
Shepherd found none of these traits in the locals with whom he interacted.

"Some had the look of fear, while others looked outright angry and
resentful," he said of locals contracted for jobs around the base. "I
began to feel like a cruel oppressor who had destroyed the lives of
these proud people.

"Our unit did a lot of good things, giving schools books and bringing
clothes to children," he said. "These actions helped my conscience a
bit, but I kept thinking to myself, 'Had we not invaded, would these
people need this aid now?' "

Shepherd began researching for himself not just the causes of the
Iraq War, but the wider War on Terror. As inconsistencies in the
official story emerged, the reasons for which he joined the military
lost credence. As the myth of Weapons of Mass Destruction evaporated,
so too did his faith in the mission.

"Saddam Hussein was admittedly a dictator," Shepherd said. "However,
he was not leading his country to produce any sort of weapon that
could be used against the United States government and its citizens.

"When I asked my sergeant about this, he told me that many in the
Army also had questions, but it was their duty to serve," he said.
"That may be true, but signing up voluntarily does not mean I should
stop thinking or having a conscience."

Upon his return to Germany at the end of the deployment, Shepherd
began to investigate the options available to an American soldier who
questions the morality of war. He spoke with a superior about
conscientious objection, but was told the process was lengthy and his
application would probably be denied.

U.S. military regulations also state a conscientious objector must
have an objection to all war in all form. Since Shepherd's objection
was not in opposition to all war, his application would have required
lying, which would have compromised the moral composition of his argument.

After months of deliberations, finding no suitable avenue in the
Pentagon's serpentine regulations, he packed his things on April 11,
2007, and went Absent Without Leave from his Katterbach base in the
middle of the night.

He has lived underground in Germany for nearly two years, waiting for
his unit to return from yet another Iraq deployment, but such a
vaporous life can only be lived for so long.

Roughly 200 American service members are currently living in Canada,
many of whom are pursuing asylum. Shepherd's decision to pursue a
similar status is the first of its kind by an American Iraq War
veteran in Europe.

Seeking asylum in Germany is partially a matter of geographic
convenience, but political matters also strengthen the case. A
majority of Germans are against the war in Iraq, and German soldiers
have never been deployed to Iraq in support of the conflict.

This disposition came to a head in 2005, when the German Federal
Administrative Court officially declared the Iraq War violated
international law, citing the assault launched by the United States
as an act of aggression.

A German army officer had refused an order to develop a computer he
feared would be utilized by the United States against Iraq. He was
demoted and a criminal complaint was filed against him for
insubordination. The federal court reversed the demotion because the
charges contravened a paragraph in the German Constitution
guaranteeing the right to freedom of conscience.

Shepherd's application also cites a European Union regulation
providing refugee status to a soldier who is in danger of being
prosecuted if military service "would include crimes or acts" which
violate international law. The application refers to the Nuremberg
Trials, stating "It is established that a person cannot defend his or
her actions by explaining that they had simply been following orders."

In effect, Shepherd's asylum application calls on Germany to clarify
the nature of its opposition to the war in Iraq. The United States
utilizes German airspace on a daily basis to carry out operations
vital to the war, and U.S. bases within the country are home to
roughly 60,000 American service members.

"We should not be forced to fight an illegal war, nor should we be
persecuted for refusing to do so," Shepherd said. "During the past
five years we have waged a preemptive, internationally condemned war
that was shown to be founded on a series of lies. After learning the
truth about the nature of my military's endeavours, I refuse to
continue to be a part of this."

"We are honoured to help support this courageous war veteran turned
resister in whatever ways possible," declared Jeff Paterson, Project
Director of Courage to Resist-a U.S.-based organization dedicated to
supporting U.S. troops who refuse to fight.

--------

Deserter faces first formal meeting in asylum bid soon

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59547

Iraq veteran left unit in 2007 over opposition to wars

By Kevin Dougherty, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, December 21, 2008

A week before Spc. André Shepherd applied for political asylum in
Germany, the American soldier sat in a farmhouse kitchen in southern
Bavaria recounting the events that led him to desert the U.S. Army in
spring 2007.

Any application for asylum is a political statement, and on this
night Shepherd was opinionated. He called the war on terrorism,
particularly with respect to Iraq, a fraud. He said the Bush
administration lied to the military. And he asserted that continued
combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq would only serve to further
alienate the local population.

He also touched upon another aim of his campaign to win political
asylum in Germany. That objective is to avoid jail time and a federal
conviction.

"I don't want to be punished for making the right decision," Shepherd said.

The 30-year-old Apache helicopter mechanic will soon get his first test.

Reinhard Marx, the Frankfurt-based asylum lawyer representing
Shepherd, said he expects his client to have his first formal meeting
next month. It actually will be more of an interview, involving
Shepherd, Marx, a government interpreter and at least one migration
official with the German Interior Ministry.

"Legally, we are waiting for the invitation to the personal
interview," Marx said. "I think [the interview] will happen after New Year's.

Meetings of this type usually take no more than a day, though Marx,
an asylum attorney for over 30 years, said sometimes a second day is
needed. "Every detail of his story will be touched," Marx said.

Aside from a few brief comments from the soldier's company commander,
the Army has had little to say about the Shepherd case. He is the
first U.S. servicemember to apply for political asylum in Germany
over the war on terrorism.

"It would be inappropriate for us to comment on an ongoing case,"
Hilde Patton, a U.S. Army Europe spokeswoman, said Friday.

In response to a query earlier this month, USAREUR said the NATO
Status of Forces Agreement and a supplementary agreement between the
United States and Germany apply to all American servicemembers in Germany.

That includes individuals "dropped from the rolls as a deserter."
That administrative action in no way ends their status as member of
the U.S. military, USAREUR said.

"The SOFA and SA apply in the same manner to Shepherd, as with any
other member of our armed forces stationed in Germany," the statement read.

The supplementary agreement is a thick document covering a range of
issues, from taxes and requisitioning procedures to air maneuvers and
marriage certificates. Sections of the agreement seem to apply to
Shepherd, but U.S. officials have yet to tip their hand as to how
they plan to argue their case.

What is certain is that, at least for now, Shepherd enjoys the
protection of the German government.

"German asylum law is applicable in this case for Mr. Shepherd," said
Christoph Hübner, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Berlin.

The spokesman added that each application for asylum is different,
and thus handled individually, based on its merits.

"He asked for asylum," Hübner said, "and now this has to be reviewed
under our asylum laws."

German attorneys and government officials familiar with the asylum
laws have described them as liberal but vague in areas. For years,
Germany had among the most liberal asylum laws in Europe, though
lawmakers have recently tightened the rules. Still, Article 16a of
the Basic Law, as it is known in Germany, provides that "persons
persecuted on political grounds shall have the right of asylum."

Shepherd maintains he would be prosecuted as a deserter by the Army ­
or effectively the U.S. government ­ if he were to turn himself in.
Prosecution and persecution mean different things, but Shepherd and
Marx view them as the same side of the same coin.

While at the Bavarian farmhouse last month, Shepherd responded to a
question about those who would call him a coward, particularly his
brothers in arms.

When he first began to express doubts about the mission during his
first tour to Iraq in 2004-05, Shepherd said some noncommissioned
officers told him he wasn't alone, but that "we signed up for this."

Shepherd said when he enlisted he "still had faith in the U.S.
government. If I didn't have faith, I wouldn't have signed up."

Servicemembers, he added, expect the government officials "to tell us
the truth, especially when they are asking us to kill someone."

Legal experts who have commented on Shepherd's quest for political
asylum have said that U.S. and German politics will most certainly be
a factor in any resolution.

"This is a highly political question," said Hanns-Christian Salger, a
law professor at Goethe University in Frankfurt.

Even though the German government didn't join the U.S. and the U.K.
in the invasion of Iraq, it still helped, probably more than people
realize, Salger said. Such assistance clashes with anti-war comments
by a host of German politicians, most notably former German
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who said there was no justification for
a war against Iraq.

Politicians in Germany and the United States, Salger said, "may try
to find a way around it without calling the Iraq war 'illegal.' "

--------

AWOL US Soldier Seeks Asylum in Germany Over Returning to "Illegal" War in Iraq

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/12/exclusiveawol_us_soldier_seeks_asylum_in

A US soldier who went absent without leave a year and a half ago to
avoid returning to Iraq has applied for asylum in Germany. Specialist
Andre Shepherd served in Iraq between September 2004 and February
2005 as an Apache helicopter mechanic. When his unit was called up to
return to Iraq in early 2007, he went AWOL to avoid redeployment,
calling the war "illegal." He lived underground in Germany for a year
and a half before applying for asylum two weeks ago. We speak with
Shepherd in his first international broadcast interview.

Guest:

Andre Shepherd, served in Iraq between September 2004 and February
2005 as an Apache helicopter mechanic. He went AWOL a year and a half
ago to avoid redeployment to Iraq. He is seeking asylum in Germany.
--

AMY GOODMAN: We're on the road in Berlin, East Berlin, to be exact,
East Berlin, Germany. Soldier underground. Today, a Democracy Now!
international broadcast exclusive. A US soldier who went absent
without leave a year and a half ago to avoid returning to Iraq has
applied for asylum in Germany.

Specialist Andre Shepherd served in Iraq between September 2004 and
February 2005 as an Apache helicopter mechanic. After his tour of
duty, he returned to Germany, where he's based. When his unit was
called up to return to Iraq in early 2007, he went AWOL to avoid
redeployment, calling the war "illegal." He lived underground in
Germany for a year and a half before applying for asylum two weeks
ago. Andre Shepherd may become the first American soldier to test
German laws that could grant asylum to war resisters.

Andre Shepherd joins us now on the phone now from southern Germany in
his first national broadcast interview.

Andre Shepherd, we welcome you to Democracy Now! Can you tell us why
you're applying for asylum in Germany?

ANDRE SHEPHERD: Hi, Amy. It's great to be here.

It's for several reasons, actually, as to why. First of all, since I
went AWOL, you know, in early 2007, there was no other recourse, you
know, in order to return back to the United States or travel to
another country. So, I was here in Germany and everything, so this
would be the most logical place to be.

The second reason is because of the stand of, you know, the German
government and the German people against the war. There is
overwhelming support for the antiwar movement that has been going on
since the beginning of the Iraq war. So it would also be, you know, a
logical reason for that.

And third of all, because of the­you know, the Nuremberg trials were
based here in Germany in 1948, about sixty years ago, where they say
that everybody, including soldiers, would­you know, must take
responsibility for all of their actions. So, that would mean that if
you're in an illegal war, that means the soldier also is doing
something illegal. So I think that it would be best for me to apply
for asylum in Germany, as well, because of the actual stance and the
historical precedents that have been set, you know, in this land.

AMY GOODMAN: Andre, talk about why you joined the military, where you
were born, where you grew up.

ANDRE SHEPHERD: OK. I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. I lived
in that [inaudible] my entire life. I went to­graduated from Lakewood
High School in 1995, and then I attended Kent State University, about
twenty, twenty-five miles south of Cleveland, until about spring of 2000.

After I left college, I ended up working several jobs to try to make
ends meet, because I couldn't get, you know, a job in the field of
study that I was in, which was computer science, because at that time
the dotcom bubble had burst. So I was­end up working the line of
low-paying jobs, you know, like being a courier, vacuum cleaner
salesman, even working for, you know, work-today-pay-today kind of
jobs. And it was not really an easy existence. I ended up being
homeless twice, and things like that.

And what happened was, was that in the summer of 2003, you know,
right after the invasion and everything, I was walking past the
recruiter's office, and he spoke to me about, you know, wanting to
help people and everything, so I went in. You know, we had a cup of
coffee and everything, and he was explaining to me about, you know,
what the military­what the military's role in the world, you know, as
of this time was, you know, speaking about basically all the
dictators in the world, like Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong-il, you know,
the usual suspects from the Axis of Evil. And he was mentioning about
September 11th and about the war on terror and everything and talking
about how America stands for freedom and democracy and how we
should­you know, they needed people like me to be part of the
frontline in this war against, you know, tyranny and oppression and
everything. So that sounded pretty good to me. I was a little taken
aback by it, because it's not every day someone, you know, asks you
to help save the world or anything like that. But at the same time, I
wasn't sure if I wanted to join the military right away because of,
you know, being in a military structure and giving your life over for
a number of years and everything, because I'm a very
independent-minded person.

But then he started talking about the benefits, you know, about the
steady pay, the free housing, the free medical care, the paid tuition
for school, you know, everything like that. And for me, being down on
my luck and everything and being homeless twice and everything, that
actually sounded like a really good idea, because I, you know, wanted
to put my life on the right path, where I could actually get my life
straight, you know, finish my degree and, you know, going about my
life, reaching the goals in my life.

But I still wasn't really convinced, because I didn't want to sign my
life away for eight years, you know, like as I have said before. But
that's when they told me about, you didn't have to sign up for eight
years, because they had a new program at that time about signing up
for the Army for a few months­in my case, it was fifteen months­where
you could try out the Army and then you could leave. At that time, I
didn't know about, you know, the stop-loss or about the Individual
Ready Reserve, where even after you leave the military service for up
to eight years, you are subject to be called back from the military
for additional deployments or whatever they need you for.

So­and then he also mentioned about the $5,000 bonus. And that really
caught my eye, because I thought, you know, having at least a little
nest egg to begin with, I can actually build my life up, you know,
from there. So after a few months of thinking about it and
everything, I decided to join the military in January of 2004.

AMY GOODMAN: So, you joined, and you trained to be an Apache
helicopter mechanic?

ANDRE SHEPHERD: That's correct.

AMY GOODMAN: And where, then, did you originally go in Iraq? How did
you end up joining your unit?

ANDRE SHEPHERD: What happened was, was after I graduated from the
Advanced Individual Training in Fort Eustis, I was sent to
Katterbach, Germany to join the 601st Aviation Support Battalion. At
the time, when I joined basic training in February, that was when the
unit had deployed to Iraq, so they were already six months in
theater. So when I arrived there, I was sent on to join the unit in
Camp Speicher, which is outside of Tikrit in Iraq.

AMY GOODMAN: So, talk about your days in Iraq, what exactly you did.
Did you meet Iraqis? Did you kill Iraqis?

ANDRE SHEPHERD: OK, I have to explain this, because my experiences
weren't like it was with the infantry, where the infantry was out
every single day going on patrols, you know, kicking down doors and
everything like that, because as an Apache mechanic, our primary job
was to make sure that the helicopters stay in the air. All the time,
we were always mission-ready. So we work twelve-hour days, six days a
week, you know, every single week, because we had to keep the Apaches
in the air. We had to do, you know, phases, where we would do like
complete maintenance on the helicopters and everything like that.

Sometimes there would be duties where you would go for guard duty,
you know, to watch a group of Iraqis who were coming onto the base so
they could, you know, build the fences, like, sand the fences or, you
know, painting or different things like that. So we would actually
give them money, where they could, you know, actually feed their
families or take care of themselves and things like that. So the
extent of my interactions with the Iraqis were very minimal. It was
either by, you know, passing by them while they're working or, you
know, when they're waiting for the trucks and everything, saying
hello and things like that, but not out on the streets or anything
like that. It was a completely different experience than what it
would have been had I been working for the infantry or any of the,
you know, the tank commanders or the cavalry or anything like that.

AMY GOODMAN: You talk about fixing the Apache helicopters. What about
the air war in Iraq?

ANDRE SHEPHERD: Now, this one is a serious point of contention,
because in the research that I have done over several years, the
extent of damage that has happened in Iraq­you know, with the
infrastructure being totally destroyed, you know, their not having
enough power, there's no water, some photos of bullet holes from 30mm
chain guns going through buildings and everything­all of this cannot
have been done by the infantry. This is true.

To get concrete evidence on the air war, it's very, very, very
difficult. There are several articles that I have read, where
journalists are very­you know, even journalists are frustrated as to
trying to get accurate numbers, you know, how much munitions that
were done, how many sorties were flown, what kind of ammunition was
used. So, you know, they keep getting stonewalled by the military. I
asked the pilots about their missions and everything, and I was told
that their missions are­you know, for operational security, they're
not allowed to talk about them. So what I would have to rely on was
basically what was being reported, you know, with what little
information the journalists can dig up.

But I'm sure it was quite extensive, because many units are flying
like, you know, several thousand missions a year, you know, doing
patrols in Iraq, used in support for the infantry, just doing patrols
throughout the cities and everything. And, you know, with the
constant refueling and rearming, you know they're using the
ammunition for something. They're just not just using them only for
test fire. So we know that they're being done. But like I was saying
in the beginning, the extent of the damage, you know, with what is
going on is the masses of civilians that have been killed as a result
of, you know, of the air war, which is too big to just pin onto the
infantry. I know that, you know, especially the Apache has played a
significant part in the Iraq war, especially in the last five years.

AMY GOODMAN: And, Andre Shepherd, how did you do this research? You
say you got more and more information as you were researching while
you were in Iraq, what led you to believe you couldn't be a part of
this any longer. How did you do research in Iraq?

ANDRE SHEPHERD: OK, now, in Iraq, there was actually a limited
opportunity to do so. It was more so once I redeployed back to
Germany. What we had for our breaks and everything, they had a little
place where you could go and use the internet, you know, mainly to
chat with families or check email and things like that. So that's
where I would spend one hour a day, starting to look up the causes
for the Iraq war, as to, you know, what exactly are we doing there,
and what kind of impact that I had being an Apache mechanic, you
know, and keeping the Apaches in the air, figuring out how my
contribution to the war affects the daily life of the Iraqi people.

What I had been finding out from there, you know, looking at several
sources and everything, is that­you know, about the lies that the
Bush administration has told, that they have continued to perpetuate,
especially in the last ABC interview that Mr. Bush has given, talking
about the­none of the WMDs have been found in Iraq or anything, about
the widespread damage that has been going on, about the sentiments of
the Iraqi people, the sentiments of different soldiers, depending on
which site you would go to, and things like this. And I've pretty
much been building a massive database on things that I have been
collecting over the years, including the laws, you know, of the
United States, international law, things like that referring to the
legality of the war, and especially with the public opposition that's
been going on, you know, particularly in Germany. You know, there's
huge sections of the United States that were opposing it. Pretty much
all over the world.

So, this began in Iraq, you know, like I said, for one hour a day,
but once I came back to Germany, when I bought a computer and
actually had a constant internet connection, I could actually do
intensive research, you know, for like two, maybe three, four hours a
day, you know, after work, just seeing what was going on.

AMY GOODMAN: Andre, we're going to break, and then we're going to
come back to this conversation. And we'll also be joined by Elsa
Rassbach, and we're going to talk about US military bases in Germany.
There are more bases here than anywhere in the world. Finally, we're
going to be joined by a German lawyer who has sued Donald Rumsfeld,
and we're going to talk about the Senate report that just came out on
the former Secretary of Defense.

This is Democracy Now! We're broadcasting from Berlin. Stay with us.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: We're broadcasting from Berlin, actually from East
Berlin, here in Germany, as Democracy Now! goes on the road and wraps
up our European trip. We're joined on the telephone from another part
of Germany by Andre Shepherd. He could be the first US soldier to
apply for political asylum here in Germany, refusing to return to
Iraq. He's gone underground. He's gone AWOL.

We're also joined here in Berlin by Elsa Rassbach. She is a US
citizen and activist who's lived in Germany for the past eighteen
years. She's a member of American Voices Abroad Military Project and
of the German affiliate of the War Resisters' International.

Before we go to Elsa, I wanted to go back to Andre and ask­so, you
came back here to Germany. Where were you? And what does it mean to
go AWOL? What did you do? You left the base?

ANDRE SHEPHERD: Yes, that is correct. I left the military base in
Katterbach in April 2007 and never returned. This is AWOL. It's
slightly different than desertions, because with AWOL you always have
the intent to return, you know, back to your post after a certain
amount of time, and with desertion, that means you permanently quit
the military. And as of right now, I'm still currently considered as
AWOL, but, you know, given the circumstances [inaudible], I'm quite
sure that that status has changed to desertion.

AMY GOODMAN: And so, how did you actually apply? Have you applied in
any way to the US government?

ANDRE SHEPHERD: For AWOL or for…?

AMY GOODMAN: No, to apply for asylum in Germany.

ANDRE SHEPHERD: Oh, OK, OK. Now I understand. OK, well, basically
what you had to do was go through the reception center, which I went
to in Giessen a few weeks ago, and formally declare myself as an
asylum seeker. And then, you know, they take care of the paperwork
and everything. And then you are designated as an asylum seeker, upon
which you are enjoyed limited rights, you know, for living in Germany
until such time as the hearing comes and they make a decision on
whether or not they will grant you full rights to asylum.

AMY GOODMAN: Why didn't you apply, Andre Shepherd, for conscientious
objector status?

ANDRE SHEPHERD: It's for several reasons, but the main overall reason
is because in the US, conscientious objector only pertains to
individuals that are against every single war of every form. It
doesn't matter if it's offensive, defensive, limited action. It
doesn't matter. The problem is, for me to actually go and apply for
conscientious objection, I would actually have had to lie, because my
belief is that the armed forces are there for defense of the nation,
like let's say an example like someone decides to invade California,
you know, and the military is called up to go and repel whatever
forces invaded the land. Of course I would take up arms and go and
defend my land, because they breached our borders. This is OK. But as
soon as I would use that as an argument in my conscientious objector
application, it would be automatically rejected, because it goes
against the first tenet of the rules of objection.

The second thing on there is that you have to, you know, live the
lifestyle. From what I'm reading, you know, in AR600-43, you have to
live the lifestyle that supports your beliefs. I'm still trying to
figure out exactly how that would work, because the way it's written,
I'm assuming that even if you, like, do things like, you know, play
videogames or watch war movies, you know, anything that advocates
war, that wouldn't support your lifestyle, you know, of your beliefs.
And it's up to the soldier to prove that these beliefs are sincere.
So it's like next to impossible.

The other and most compelling reason is the case of Augustin Aguayo.
At the same time that my unit was scheduled for the second
deployment, Augustin Aguayo's case was big in the media, particularly
in the Stars and Stripes magazine. This guy was the most pacifist
soldier I have ever seen, you know, and he applied for conscientious
objector status. I mean, the guy had never even loaded his weapon in
a war zone. And the way the military treated him and, you know,
summarily rejected his application and saying that he wasn't sincere
about his beliefs and everything, and they wanted to put him in
handcuffs to send him back to Iraq. And he ended up, you know,
serving time, because he finally went AWOL, because normal channels
of conscientious objection were closed to him, and there's like no
other alternative to not going to combat duty. So this told me right
away that this was not the way to go in terms of solving this
problem, because I knew that, one, the CO would be rejected, and two,
that it would cause too many problems, not for myself, but also for
the unit, as well, especially if word got out that this was going on.

AMY GOODMAN: We will link on our website, democracynow.org, to our
interviews with Augustin Aguayo, who joined us right before he turned
himself in in the US military in Los Angeles and then went back to
Germany­well, had been back in Germany, where he had gone AWOL and
ultimately was freed, after being imprisoned. And we've talked to him
extensively about his reasons for applying for CO status.

I wanted to turn from Andre Shepherd, who­I hope you'll stay on the
line with us­to Elsa Rassbach, who has been here in Germany for some
eighteen years, moved from the United States. Elsa, can you give us
the lay of the land? You've been a longtime antiwar activist here in
Germany, Germany having more US military bases outside the United
States than any place in the world.

ELSA RASSBACH: Yes. Actually, I've been here in two stints. One was
during the Vietnam War, and one has been since 1996. And in the
Vietnam War, when there were a lot of GI newspapers in Europe and
Germany and many soldiers deserting to Sweden and so forth, the
German peace movement was critical in that effort reaching soldiers.

And now what has happened is that, you know, Germany is still
occupied, really, more than sixty years. Germans are very grateful
for the liberation of Germany by the US, but on the whole, the
majority do not approve of how the US are using the bases here for
these wars. And there are more bases here than any other country
outside the US. There's 68,000 soldiers stationed here. The US is
consolidating in Europe to sort of six mega-bases. Five of them are
to be in Germany, and one is in Vicenza. Ansbach area, where Andre
was stationed, is supposed to be one of them, is supposed to be the
big fighter-helicopter base. In addition to that, there are two
Central Commands in Germany. Germany is the only country with the
Central Commands, you know, reporting directly to the Pentagon, like
we know CENTCOM is in the US, and so forth, but the EUCOM, which
covers all of Europe, Soviet Union, Turkey, that's in Stuttgart, used
to include Africa, but now they've created AFRICOM. That's also in Stuttgart.

AMY GOODMAN: Because no African country would accept them.

ELSA RASSBACH: Exactly. But why­and the Germans­you know, it's a
difficult situation for them. They do not want to be ungrateful. They
also are­but they have­for years now, there has been a strong
opposition building also to the use of the bases here. You haven't
seen demonstrations like you have in Vicenza, where they were trying
to enlarge that base in a middle-class area. You do see in Ansbach,
where Andre was, one of the liveliest movements also against the base
there, because US wanted to expand that base, and they had a petition
in which they said­it was sent throughout Germany­that German soil
should not be used for aggressive war. And many Germans feel that
that should apply to the US also.

AMY GOODMAN: We went to Ireland and to Britain and learned­met the
Shannon antiwar activists, because most soldiers went through Shannon
airport before going to Iraq. But that's changed?

ELSA RASSBACH: Well, yes. I understand there's still some going
there, but I believe, partly as a result of protest in Ireland, they
shifted that. That's mainly going through a commercial airport in
Germany, in Leipzig, in the former East Germany. And that also is
becoming the focus, the Leipzig airport, of activity here in Germany.
And there are activists who go and watch how many soldiers go off
through there.

But in addition to the soldiers routed through Germany to Iraq and
Afghanistan via Ramstein Air Base or Leipzig or also the commercial
airport Hahn near Frankfurt, there are soldiers, you know, as you
know, permanently based here. It's considered their home, within US
military law. In Schweinfurt, for example, where Augustin was, that
was considered his permanent base. They have had the­Schweinfurt had
the largest death rate of any soldiers. They have­also, they're
creating­all of these bases create environmental damage in the German
community. The Germans are paying also for a portion of the costs of
the bases. And the citizens' action against the expansion of the
Ansbach base, where Andre was­

AMY GOODMAN: Explain where that is in Germany for viewers and
listeners who don't know.

ELSA RASSBACH: OK. That is in Bavaria. It's about­it's a bit north of
Nuremberg. And one of the things they've done, actually, is they've
made these huge bases in very outlying areas. I don't know if it's
deliberate. It's harder for activists to get to them. Grafenwohr is
the biggest training base. It's about an hour and a half from Ansbach
also, and it has, you know, less­you know, just about a thousand
Germans in the area.

AMY GOODMAN: Speaking of Nuremberg, the German constitution says
Germany cannot engage in any offensive war.

ELSA RASSBACH: It doesn't just say Germany. It says there shall be no
preparation of aggressive war from German soil. And there have been
several citizen petitions also with related to Ramstein Air Base,
that it doesn't say that only the Germans may not do it. It says
there shall be no preparation of aggressive war from German soil.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you travel to US bases?

ELSA RASSBACH: Oh, yes. I go to US bases often, and we have a
whole­both the American Voices Military Project and also the War
Resisters' International, and in Germany we have the networks of
people near all the bases, and there's also other anti-base networks.
We're all working together on this.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you do there?

ELSA RASSBACH: Well, among other things, we are organizing­and we've
had for some time­that information be distributed to soldiers. We
have these GI Rights Hotline cards. They're just the same, really, as
they are in the States. They have a hotline phone number on here,
where soldiers can get information. This is the number here. I don't
know if you can see it. But this is­anyway, but many people in the
States will have seen­oh, excuse me. Many people in the States will
have seen these cards. Here we have also links to different
organizations, like Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families
Speak Out. But basically, most people, if they would call the US,
they would also be routed to Military Counseling Network in Germany,
which is the Mennonite counseling organization that is part of the GI
Rights Hotline Network. And so, that's one thing we do, among other things.

We do demonstrations in front. We've invited Iraq veterans right to
Ansbach in May. There were four US Iraq Veterans Against the War who
did a week-long campaign there, as well.

AMY GOODMAN: Coming up is the sixtieth anniversary of NATO, and I
know there are major antiwar plans. Barack Obama will then be the
official president. I expect that he would be going there. Where is
all this taking place?

ELSA RASSBACH: Yes, this is taking place on the border between France
and Germany, in Strasbourg on the French side and Kehl on the German
side, and the whole province of Baden-Baden. And Strasbourg is where
the European Parliament is. In fact, Strasbourg is where we even had
a resolution for asylum in 2006 heard by­the Green and the left
parties helped organize that. We were involved, and all of the
organizations we've mentioned here were involved in that.

And there is a plan­this is the whole focus, really, of the German
peace movement, to a large extent, as far as they know, to the
European peace movement this spring, which is to say that no­the
slogan is "no war, no NATO." There is no reason for NATO to continue.
NATO was an alliance against the Soviet bloc and the Warsaw Pact.
It's in the NATO statutes that they are­NATO is only defensive. It's
not supposed to be going elsewhere. And since the end of the Cold
War, it has been used now to justify the Afghanistan war, the
aggressive stance, the missile defense shield in East Europe and the
kind of aggressiveness developing to the Soviet Union­or the former
Soviet Union, to Russia and so forth. And it's also used to
justify­it's the only justification why Germany allows these bases to
be used for the Iraq war. Germany didn't agree with the Iraq war.
It's because of the NATO alliance. So this is being challenged now.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to end with Andre Shepherd.

ELSA RASSBACH: OK.

AMY GOODMAN: Andre, how much contact did you have with the antiwar
movement, both German and US? Is this a support to you now? Were you
able to get access to their information? Or, as you said, did most of
your information come from your own research on US military bases in Germany?

ANDRE SHEPHERD: Well, I got into extensive contact with the antiwar
movement through the Military Counseling Network, who I've been in
contact with for the last year and half, actually the entire time
I've been AWOL. As of right now, I am a proud member of Iraq Veterans
Against the War for the last month or so. I have connections with­you
know, connections with Connection e.V. I've spoken with Courage to
Resist. And there's a whole myriad of other peace organizations, like
the Tübingen Progressive Americans for Peace and, you know, many
others such as that. So there's a really huge support network that
we're working together with to try to­

AMY GOODMAN: Are you afraid of being picked up, as Augustin Aguayo
was? Now, of course, he was on a US military base in Germany, but
ultimately, well, you know, picked up by US military when he was
first taken. Then he went AWOL. Are you concerned about this?

ANDRE SHEPHERD: As of right now, there's a little bit of concern, but
I am hoping that the Americans will respect the Geneva Conventions
and will not, you know, create a possible international incident by
trying to pick me up and bring them under their jurisdiction while
this process is ongoing.

AMY GOODMAN: And the next step in your application process for asylum
here in Germany?

ANDRE SHEPHERD: Currently, I am waiting for a hearing so I can argue
my case with my lawyer, Dr. Reinhard Marx. And we will present our
case in the most comprehensive fashion that we can. And then we will
see what the initial decision will be.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you both for being with us. Andre
Shepherd, speaking out for the first time internationally about his
application for political asylum here in Germany. And thank you to
Elsa Rassbach. Your website, if people want to get in touch with it.

ELSA RASSBACH: We don't actually have a website, but you could go to
the Munich American Peace Committee, that's part of the American
Voices Abroad Military website. Sorry.

AMY GOODMAN: Thank you both for being with us. The US Senate has come
out with a report on the former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Next segment, we'll be joined by a German attorney who's sued Donald
Rumsfeld for torture.

--------

US soldier's German asylum plea imperils ties

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e12efa12-bf35-11dd-ae63-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1

By Bertrand Benoit in Berlin
Published: December 1 2008

An expected thaw in relations between the US and Germany following
the election of Barack Obama faces an unexpected obstacle after an
Iraq war deserter asked for asylum in Germany.

André Shepherd, a US Army specialist who had been living underground
in southern Germany since going absent without leave 1½ years ago,
filed his application last week, he told the Financial Times in a
telephone interview from an undisclosed location. "I've done enough
research to come to the conclusion that what is happening in Iraq is
not the equivalent of World War II but outright massacre," Mr
Shepherd said. "We are not the freedom fighters we think we are."

His application was the first such move by an Iraq war deserter in Europe.

Under a 2004 European directive, now part of German law, the country
must grant asylum to deserters if the conflicts they are fleeing from
are being conducted in an unlawful manner. Mr Shepherd, 31 has been
staying with German friends, often changing locations and working
illegally on construction sites. He said he was reconciled to the
idea that a successful asylum application would make it impossible
for him ever to return to the US. "I miss my family a lot, but
Germany has also become a second home" he said.

Mr Shepherd's lawyer, Reinhard Marx, said: "Legally, his prospects
are looking very good." The German Federal Administrative Court ruled
in 2005 that the Iraq War violated international law and labelled the
invasion an act of aggression.

But Mr Marx added: "Politically, things do not look so good. You can
have doubts as to whether the government would grant asylum to a US deserter ."

If successful, Mr Shepherd's application could create a problematic
precedent for the US military in Germany, home to 66,000 active-duty
personnel, the largest US military overseas presence outside Iraq.

Mr Shepherd's application makes him a deserter under the US military
justice code.

Yet as an asylum seeker, he now enjoys the protection of the German
federal government.

"If the Americans grab him, there will be very little we can do but I
assume they will respect German law," Mr Marx said.

Desertion in time of war carries a possible death sentence in the US,
although in practice Iraq war deserters have faced prison sentences
ranging from nine months to 1½ years.

While several US servicemen have filed for asylum in Canada, home to
most deserting Iraq war veterans, the government there has turned
down applications.

Mr Shepherd, from Cleveland, Ohio, joined the army after college in
2004 and served on a forward operating base near Tikrit in Iraq from
September 2004 to February 2005, servicing Apache helicopters, before
being transferred to Germany.

.

U.S. war deserter is ordered home

[6 articles]

US Deserter Faces Deportation Christmas Eve

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/12/17-2

Published on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 by The Canadian Press

TORONTO - The War Resisters Support Campaign says Citizenship and
Immigration Canada has told a U.S. deserter living in Nanaimo, B.C.,
that he must leave Canada by Dec. 24 or face removal by force.

Cliff Cornell, originally from Arkansas, arrived in Canada in
January, 2005. He currently works as an assistant manager of a retail
store near Nanaimo.

Mr. Cornell's deportation order comes after similar orders for war
resisters Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman and his family, Patrick Hart
and his family, Matt Lowell and Dean Walcott.

The group says in a release that another, Kim Rivera, will receive a
decision on Jan. 7.

Ms. Rivera served with the U.S. Army in Iraq and came to Canada with
her husband, Mario, and their two children in early 2007.

The War Resisters Support Campaign said it is calling on the federal
government to implement a motion adopted by Parliament on June 3, 2008.

The motion recommended that "conscientious objectors to wars not
sanctioned by the Security Council of the United Nations" be allowed
to remain in Canada and apply for permanent resident status.

It was adopted by a vote of 137-110 and also directed the government
to stop deportation proceedings against war resisters and deserters
living in Canada.

The Federal Court is to hear an appeal by Jeremy Hinzman against his
deportation order on Feb. 10, 2009.

"Minister Jason Kenney should stop all deportations, at least until
the Federal Court has completed the Hinzman appeal," said Lee
Zaslofsky, co-ordinator of the War Resisters Support Campaign. "It
would be a travesty if war resisters were deported, especially over
the holidays, only to have the court find that they should be given
another chance to apply to stay in Canada."

--------

U.S. war deserter is ordered home

http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=e3ad8267-8786-4149-a723-88356ceee2af

Gabriola neighbours rally to support grocery store clerk

Published: Thursday, December 18, 2008
Walter Cordery Daily News

To his friends, colleagues and customers on Gabriola Island, Clifford
Cornell is a friendly, conscientious grocery store clerk.

To the American government, he is an army deserter, and a wanted man.

Now, after being ordered by the Canadian government to leave the
country by Christmas Eve or face forcible deportation, Cornell has
become a symbol for a group of Canadians who believe the Conservative
government has little regard for Parliament.

Now Cornell, originally from Arkansas, has been told by Citizenship
and Immigration Canada that he has to leave Canada before Christmas.

The Gabriola Island resident is not sure exactly what day he is
supposed to be out of the country.

"The people at Immigration Canada I talked with said I had two weeks,
which would have made it Christmas Eve, but the papers that the
government mailed to me said I had to be out of Canada by Dec. 19 or
face deportation," said Cornell, 28.

The American government considers him "a deserter" because he fled
that country rather than fight in a war he didn't sign up for, he
said. There is a U.S. federal warrant out for his arrest.

Cornell enlisted in the U.S. army in 2002, three years after
graduating from high school in Mountain Home, Ark. and months before
the war in Iraq began.

"I tried to make a go of things right out of high school but it was
difficult," he recalled Wednesday. "I thought there was plenty of
opportunity in the army."

Cornell said the Army enticed him to enlist with a signing bonus.

"I think it was between $4,000 and $6,000. I signed up to make
something of myself," he said. "When I talked to the recruiter he
promised me I would not have to go to war."

Cornell has heard similar stories from other war resisters.

"When you talk to a recruiter, it's like talking to a crooked car
salesman. I think they would sell their mother's soul in order to get
you to sign up," he said.

Cornell has lived in Canada for four years, the past three on
Gabriola Island,where he works at the Village Food Market.

"He's a reliable guy and a great worker," said Jennifer Yuhasz, a
fellow food market employee. "I don't think he's ever missed a day of work."

Gabriola resident Jean McLaren also has nothing but praise for
Cornell. "You know he worked in that store for two years and they had
to force him to take a holiday," McLaren said.

She's urging all of Cornell's supporters to write to Jason Kenney,
Citizenship and Immigration minister and demand the government stop
deporting all war resisters, she said.

Last September, the Nanaimo chapter of the War Resisters Support
Campaign demonstrated outside of Nanaimo-Alberni MP James Lunney's
office, demanding that the federal government stop deporting enlisted
Americans because they refuse to "fight in an unjust war," Marjorie
Stewart, of the local campaign, said at that time.

Canada has ordered the deportation of five U.S. war deserters --
Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Patrick Hart, Matt Lowell and Dean
Walcott -- and their families in the past year.

The deportations have been occurring against a background of legal
and political pressure.

The Federal Court of Canada is scheduled in February to hear an
appeal by Hinzman of his deportation order.

And last June, Parliament passed a motion that called on the Canadian
government to create a program to allow U.S. war resisters to apply
for permanent resident status in Canada and to cease all deportation
and removal proceedings. Following the Parliamentary vote, 64% of
Canadians said they want U.S. war resisters to be allowed to stay,
according to a poll conducted by Angus Reid.

Cornell has sought legal advice to try to fight his deportation. He
said "it is very encouraging" to see all the support Canadians are
giving those who resist fighting in the Iraqi war for conscientious reasons.

"Most of the Canadians that I've talked to are like me and can't see
why the U.S. is at war with Iraq."

--------

War resister ordered out by Christmas

http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_central/nanaimonewsbulletin/news/36344844.html

By Jenn Marshall - Nanaimo News Bulletin
Published: December 17, 2008

An American war resister now living on Gabriola Island must leave
Canada by Christmas Eve or face removal by force.

Cliff Cornell, 28, joined the U.S. army in 2002 hoping to receive
training and experience that would lead to civilian job opportunities.

"I come from a poor family and there's not a lot of options in the
United States," he said.

Several months after joining, the U.S. army invaded Iraq and
Cornell's unit was selected to go overseas.

"I didn't like it, it was all sketchy, it was all lies," he said. "I
didn't feel like killing innocent people."

When Cornell went on leave for the holidays before his unit was
scheduled to go to Iraq in January 2005, family members drove him to Ontario.

He lived in Toronto for nine months before moving to Gabriola Island
to live with a friend. Since then, he's been working at Village Foods
grocery store.

Cornell applied for refugee status, but was turned down in April, he
said. He then applied to Immigration Canada to stay in Canada on
humanitarian and compassionate grounds and applied for a pre-removal
risk assessment.

During a Dec. 10 meeting in Vancouver, Cornell's application was
denied and he was given two weeks to leave the country or be forcibly removed.

"Why they only gave me two weeks, I have no idea," said Cornell.

"I don't want to go to jail. The only thing I know is [military
prison] is supposed to be a lot worse than civilian prison."

Jen Yuhasz, a friend and co-worker, said Cornell has befriended many
people on Gabriola during his three years there.

"We don't want him to go," she said.

Nanaimo-Cowichan NDP MP Jean Crowder said she is hoping to get the
deportation order overturned.

"I'm sending an urgent request off to the Prime Minister asking him
to intervene," she said. "I think Cliff deserves a chance to stay in
Canada. If there's no intervention, he's going to go back to the
States and he's going to go to jail."

Lee Zaslofsky, coordinator with the Toronto-based War Resisters
Support Campaign, said the group estimates there are about 200 U.S.
Iraq war resisters living in Canada.

The group is lobbying the government to allow those people to stay in Canada.

Zaslofsky said Cornell is one of several individuals who are fighting
deportation orders. For more information, please go to www.resisters.ca.

Alykhan Velshi, communications director for Jason Kenney, federal
Minister of Immigration, confirmed that Cornell was asked to leave
the country.

"The government remains convinced that U.S. military deserters are
not genuine refugees and do not fall under internationally accepted
definitions of people in need of protection," he said. "We will
continue to make this argument."
--

reporter@nanaimobulletin.com

--------

War resister faces Christmas Eve deportation

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/555380

Dec 17, 2008

The War Resisters Support Campaign says a former U.S. soldier living
in Nanaimo, B.C., has been told he must leave Canada by Dec. 24 or
face removal by force.

Cliff Cornell, originally from Arkansas, arrived in Canada in January
2005 after refusing to deploy to Iraq, and he now works as an
assistant manager of a retail store.

Cornell's deportation order follows similar orders for war resisters
Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman and his family, Patrick Hart and his
family, Matt Lowell and Dean Walcott.

Lee Zaslofsky, co-ordinator of the support group, is calling on
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to stop all deportations of war resisters.

The group wants the federal government to implement a motion adopted
by Parliament in June recommending that "conscientious objectors" to
wars not sanctioned by the United Nations be allowed to stay and
apply for permanent resident status.

A spokesman for Kenney says the government "remains convinced" that
U.S. military deserters are not genuine refugees.

Federal Court is to hear an appeal by Hinzman against his deportation
order on Feb. 10.

"(Immigration) Minister Jason Kenney should stop all deportations, at
least until the Federal Court has completed the Hinzman appeal,"
Zaslofsky said.

"It would be a travesty if war resisters were deported, especially
over the holidays, only to have the court find that they should be
given another chance to apply to stay in Canada."

Alykhan Velshi, spokesman for Kenney, said the government's position
remains unchanged.

"The government remains convinced that U.S. military deserters are
not genuine refugees and do not fall under internationally accepted
definitions of people in need of protection," Velshi said in an email.

"We have successfully advanced this position before three independent
tribunals. ... We will continue to make this argument."

The war resisters group says in a release that another resister, Kim
Rivera, will receive a decision on Jan. 7.

Rivera served in Iraq and came to Canada with her husband Mario and
their two children in early 2007.

--------

Army deserter granted reprieve; celebrates Christmas in Canada

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Army+deserter+granted+reprieve+celebrates+Christmas+Canada/1109800/story.html

By Darrell Bellaart
December 24, 2008

NANAIMO, B.C. ­ A U.S. army deserter living in B.C. will not be
forced to leave Canada by Christmas Eve.

Clifford Cornell, who was to be deported back to the U.S. this week,
was given a temporary reprieve by Immigration Canada.

Cornell has another month to build his legal defence to stay in Canada.

Cornell, 28, signed up with the U.S. army in 2002, accepting a
recruiting bonus worth about $5,000.

The Arkansas native deserted when he learned a few months later he
would have to fight in the Iraq war.

Cornell could face several years in a military prison if he enters the U.S.

"The thing has been put back to Jan. 22 so I've got another month,"
Cornell said. "I wish it was longer but at least this way I've got
another month to talk to my lawyer and figure out what the next step is."

It means now he'll be spending his Christmas in the snowy Great White
North, not behind bars. Asked how he would celebrate, he said: "I'll
probably just go out and buy a case of beer."

He's still working out how he'll spend his Christmas, or who he'll
spend it with.

Cornell, who is distant from his father and stepbrothers, said he
feels closer to Canada now than U.S.

"I've been here over four years now and I'm established. I've got
friends and I've got a decent job now. To me, it is home. I really
don't have anything down there to go back to."

Immigration Canada turned down Cornell's application for refugee
status on Dec. 4, then he applied to stay in Canada on humanitarian
and compassionate grounds. That application too was denied so he
applied for something called a pre-residence assessment, which was also denied.

His lawyer will spend the next month asking Immigration Canada for an
explanation why his applications were denied and exploring what his
options are to stay in the country.

--------

Deportation order delayed for Gabriola war resister

http://www.bclocalnews.com/vancouver_island_central/nanaimonewsbulletin/news/36694924.html

By Jenn Marshall - Nanaimo News Bulletin
Published: December 24, 2008

Cliff Cornell has another month to find a way to stay in Canada.

Cornell's deportation order was changed late last week, giving
Cornell until Jan. 20 to leave the country.

Cornell is the second U.S. war resister to seek sanctuary on Gabriola Island.

The 28-year-old was ordered earlier this month to leave Canada by
Dec. 24 or face removal from the country by force. Cornell moved to
Gabriola to live with another war resister, Joshua Key, and his
family, who have since moved to eastern Canada while awaiting a new
refugee claim hearing.

Jean McLaren, a Gabriola resident who describes herself as a longtime
peace activist, said the community has rallied around both men and
offers of monetary support continue to pour in for Cornell.

"He wouldn't be a good soldier. He's a very quiet, unassuming guy,"
she said. "It's not even a legal war in Iraq, it has never been
sanctioned by the United Nations."

Cornell, originally from Arkansas, joined the army for civilian job
opportunities he was assured he would have once he had military
experience on his resumé.

When the U.S. invaded Iraq, he came to Canada, lived in Toronto for
several months and then moved to Gabriola, getting a job at the
Village Food Market.

McLaren and fellow Gabriolan Steve Waters, a war resister from the
Vietnam era, have spearheaded the campaign to help both Cornell and Key.

But McLaren said support has come from all areas of the community.

"I've had so many people phoning me saying, 'Do you need money, what
do you need?' People are very supportive," she said. "We're doing
what we can. We're just hoping that it doesn't happen."

Waters said support might have been so forthcoming because Gabriola
is such a small community.

"Not everybody is supportive of Cliff here, I'm sure there's a few
that wish he would go away, but not many," he said. "You see
everybody, so you have more of a sense of community here."

Cornell said he will be meeting with his lawyer to discuss options,
but in the meantime, he will still be trying to get the word out
about his situation.

"I'm pretty well established here, I've got a good job and I've got
my own life here."

Lee Zaslofsky, coordinator of the Toronto-based War Resisters Support
Campaign, said the group knows of only one U.S. war deserter forcibly
deported by the Canadian government.

He said Robin Long was brought to the border by the Canada Border
Services Agency and court martialed in the U.S. in August. He was
sentenced to 15 months in a military prison and given a dishonourable
discharge.

On June 3, a motion was passed in Parliament recommending that
conscientious objectors to wars not sanctioned by the Security
Council of the United Nations, such as the Iraq war, be allowed to
remain in Canada and apply for permanent resident status.

But since then, the government ignored that motion, Zaslofsky said.

Cornell has also gained the support from Nanaimo-Cowichan NDP MP Jean
Crowder, who is asking the Prime Minister to intervene on his behalf.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association has no official policy on war
resisters, but not for lack of interest, said Micheal Vonn, policy director.

"Only because our plates are full," she said.

Alykhan Velshi, communications director for Jason Kenney, federal
Minister of Immigration, said about 20 U.S. war deserters are seeking
asylum in Canada.

"U.S. war deserters, having abandoned their fellow countrymen
fighting on the battlefield, are not genuine refugees," he said.

"In fact, all the asylum claims of U.S. war deserters serve to do is
create delays before the Immigration and Refugee Board to the
detriment of actual refugees who face real persecution and hardship
in their countries of origin. That is something U.S. war deserters
will have to weigh on their conscience."
--

reporter@nanaimobulletin.com

.

Coffee and counseling both

Coffee and counseling both

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/566421.html

BRENT CHAMPACO; brent.champaco@thenewstribune.com
Published: December 13th, 2008

Army Pfc. Ramona Schrupp ordered her usual beverage at Lakewood's new
coffee shop: a soy vanilla latte with two shots of espresso.

The soldier with the 51st Signal Brigade at Fort Lewis has visited
Coffee Strong about eight or nine times since it opened Nov. 5.

The coffeehouse was started by veterans opposed to the war in Iraq.
But Schrupp said organizers support the troops without pushing a
political agenda.

The 20-year-old says she likes the atmosphere and loves the java.

"I'd rather come here than a Starbucks," Schrupp said after placing
her order Thursday.

Coffee Strong, whose name plays on the Army's slogan "Army Strong,"
has been open a little more than a month. The owners and staff say
they're pleased with their small but loyal following, given their
obscure location and lack of advertising.

The shop is located in Tillicum at 15109 Union Ave S.W. and
overlooking Interstate 5. The owners pay $1,500 a month to share a
building with a Subway sandwich shop. Passers-by still see the name
of the previous coffee shop, Java Flow, that operated in the space.

But being close to the gates of Fort Lewis has its benefits, said
barista Michael William. He's one of the shop's six trained
"counselors" who work to connect soldiers with resources to help them
understand their rights.

The 26-year-old former private first class in the Army National Guard
said most customers learn of Coffee Strong by word of mouth. The shop
already has its regulars.

"I would say for not even having the right sign up, I think we're
doing pretty good," he said.

Seth Manzel, the shop's co-founder and a member of Iraq Veterans
Against the War, expected to get some backlash from people who
support the war. He says he hasn't personally received criticism so
far, although that might have to do with people not knowing he's open.

Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Kubistek said the post is aware of Coffee
Strong's presence and political views. It's a legal business so
there's no need to restrict soldiers from going there, he said.

"We don't have a position on the political views of an outside
individual," he said.

The premise of Coffee Strong harkens back to the Vietnam War era,
which saw similar coffee shops open near military installations.

Manzel's group wanted a one-stop shop where members of the military
could talk openly about the war, learn about their rights and find
resources for those who struggle when they return from the combat
zone, such as with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Coffee Strong is at least the fourth such coffeehouse to open since
the Iraq war began. Others are located near Fort Drum in New York,
Fort Hood in Texas and Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia.

Manzel said he knew it wouldn't be easy. The location the group
originally eyed – a former dry-cleaning business north of the current
location – didn't pan out.

But with the help of fundraisers and donated equipment from companies
such as Tully's Coffee, the shop finally opened.

It has the feel of a neighborhood coffee haunt sprinkled with
memorabilia from an anti-war rally. While pouring cream or cinnamon
into their beverages, customers can pick up literature at a nearby
table about the GI rights hot line or how to be a conscientious objector.

Above the row of computer stations are pictures and drawings
questioning the war.

Manzel, who spent a year in Iraq as a sergeant assigned to Fort
Lewis' 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division in 2004, said the group
didn't want to push its political views on customers.

The intent is to support troops in a different way than waving flags
on freeway overpasses or putting yellow-ribbon decals on cars.

"We're anti-war, but we're not 'in your face' about it," Manzel said.

So far, he said, soldiers have come in mostly seeking help dealing
with paperwork issues, such as getting time off from their units to
deal with family emergencies. There hasn't been a big demand for
counseling yet, but much of the printed literature is disappearing.

The coffeehouse also has hosted concerts and other events.

Organizers hope to start advertising – including a new sign – over
the next two months.

Jeff Von Schmauder, a senior airman in the Air Force Reserve who
ordered a large tea Thursday, said he supports Coffee Strong because
it's a small business.

"It's great to have a local coffee shop where people can gather and
meet," said Von Schmauder, who lives in Hawaii but was visiting
friends in the South Sound.

Jesse Sledge, a private with the 51st Signal Brigade, said he
appreciates the support he gets at the shop. He also doesn't feel a
political agenda being pushed on him.

"They've got the utmost respect for our position," he said.
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Brent Champaco: 253-597-8653

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