Canada Gives Cold Shoulder to War Resisters

[tuvor]

New America Media, News Analysis, Mary Ambrose, Posted: Jan 02, 2007

Editors Note: As more troops are asked to return or extend their tours to Iraq and as President Bush has admitted that soon he will send even more, some soldiers have deserted to Canada. NAM Managing Editor Mary Ambrose fnds their official reception has been a little frosty.


SAN FRANCISCO - When 27 year old machine gunner Chris Teske was in Germany with the US army when he decided he couldn’t go to Iraq. After two tours in Afghanistan he’d been honorably discharged but they called him back to service to train young soldiers in the use of the 50 calibre machine gun. He had reached a point where, according to his wife St and he had to stop. He couldn’t take responsibility for arming these young men since, as his wife Stephanie says, “the racism against the Muslim culture that was all through the army there, really got to him”. He decided to escape. He and his wife spent a couple of months researching desertion and finally decided to go to Canada.

“We wanted some place where the language wasn’t a problem and our family could drive to see us” says Stephanie. But they had to get out of Germany first.

Soldiers don’t have access to their passports. They have to use only their military ID to travel so the Teskes had to try and fly out of Germany minus a passport. Stephanie pled their case. “I cried a lot and told them we’d spent $3,000 on these tickets and my parents were waiting for us and frankly, we just got lucky.” They flew to North Carolina – their home state – jumped in a car and drove straight north. They had help with places to stay and food from the war resisting community on both sides of the border until they reached Toronto, October 11th, two days after Canadian Thanksgiving.

http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=48192964f62b940595ce123f33e2893f

EDIT: Crossposted in the Canada Forum http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=190x18935

[Maat]

1. I hope that they get their refugee status.

The whole situation is way beyond disgusting.

[Higans]

2. Mexico would probably be a better option.