Would-be refugee tells of Iraq horrors

[tuvor]

A “trigger-happy” U.S. army squad leader shot the foot off an unarmed Iraqi man and soldiers kicked a severed head around like a soccer ball, a U.S. war deserter told an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing Thursday.

Joshua Key, the first U.S. deserter with combat experience in Iraq to apply for refugee status in Canada, told the board he witnessed numerous atrocities committed by U.S. forces while serving eight months as a combat engineer.

Mr. Key, 27, said he was never trained on the Geneva Convention and was told in Iraq by superior officers that the international law guiding humanitarian standards was just a “guideline.”

“It's shoot first, ask questions later,” Mr. Key said of his squad's guiding principles. “Everything's justified.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060330.wresister0330/BNStory/National/home

[TomInTib]

1. if you start looking at them as humans,then how are you going to kill them

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1741699,00.html

[tuvor]

3. Thanks for posting that. It deserves its own thread. n/t

[TomInTib]

4. Funny how it is, sometimes...

I posted that yesterday and I do not believe anyone saw it.

Hey, I looked at your profile - my sweetheart is recently from Vancouver, BC.

[tuvor]

6. Vancouver was my home for ten years

The Island is great, but I still miss that city.

[Dunvegan]

2. An Iraqi defecting to America to escape military torture...

...next...on the Twilight Zone...

[HuffleClaw]

5. i can't say i'm hopeful for this guy

considering our new neocon PM and his minions, BUT i think he would be likely to win on appeal. there is HUUUGE pressure from the yanks about this issue. and there was some 'agreement' made that was designed to prevent this very thing iirc, though i would like to think our courts would think differently, using the charter of rights and freedoms which is paramount in canadian law.

[Moderator]

7. DUplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2198319