SwiftVets.com

[shawa]

As Ronald Reagan used to say: "There they go again".

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/mm20041208.shtml

AWOL and AINO (American in Name Only)
Michelle Malkin (archive)

December 8, 2004

Fugitive U.S. soldier Jeremy Hinzman is an unrepentant embarrassment to his country of birth. Last year, he deserted from the 82nd Airborne Division, fled to Canada and became the anti-war movement's sexiest man alive. Now, in a desperate bid for refugee status, this AWOL poster boy is collectively smearing our brave men and women in Iraq as war criminals to save his hide.

Do our neighbors to the north really want to become a paradise for America's cut-and-run reprobates? Apparently so. At Hinzman's refugee hearing on Monday, the National Post reports, “demonstrators braved the morning snow and icy winds to show their support, carrying signs such as ‘Canada should welcome war resisters.'"

Perhaps too much drug-addled ‘60s nostalgia has burnt out the bleeding-hearts pacifists' brain cells. But there is a Michael Moore-sized distinction between Hinzman and the thousands of “resisters” who fled to Canada during the Vietnam War. Unlike the American draft dodgers who crossed the northern border more than three decades ago, Hinzman volunteered for military service in January 2001. He joined of his own free will. Nobody forced him to go to the recruitment office. Nobody dragged him to Fort Bragg.

He happily cashed in his Army paychecks until deployment to Afghanistan was imminent. After his application for conscientious-objector status was rejected, he grudgingly finished his stint in Afghanistan, declared opposition to the coming war in Iraq, packed up his wife and infant son, and waltzed into the open arms of Toronto's radical leftists.

It's been one big pacifist kumbayah ever since -- a dazzling procession of campus tributes, rock-star galas, and international media martyrdom. And when he's not on his tour of self-promotional duty, Hinzman and his wife (a feminist social worker who has also applied for asylum in Canada) are savoring the good life in their newly adopted home. Hinzman reports on his own snazzy Web site:

In the mornings, we usually take (son) Liam to various playgroups in our neighborhood. In the afternoon, we alternate which one of us cooks dinner. I also try to go for a run while Liam naps. In the evening we play with our son and often go to various parts of Toronto and 'people watch' to get Liam out of the house. After he goes to sleep for the night, I try to read or Nga (Hinzman's wife) and I watch a movie or do various other things. A great deal of this routine, or lack thereof, will probably soon change after I get a work permit and find some sort of employment.

Hinzman is enjoying his domestic tranquility on the backs of each and every American military man and woman who is living up to his or her commitment to uphold a sworn oath of duty. Hinzman and his lawyer plan to argue to Canadian immigration officials that American soldiers are guilty of war crimes and that forcing Hinzman to fight in Iraq would have likely made him a war criminal. Among the witnesses testifying on Hinzman's behalf is former U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey, the Winter Soldier of the 21st century, who claims his platoon killed “a bunch of innocent civilians.” Massey has been making the rounds in the French media and other America-hating swamps.

Several others have followed Hinzman's trail, hoping Canada will buy into their sob stories. But by embracing our cowards, Canada undermines not only the war on terror but also its own asylum system. American deserters face neither execution nor persecution if returned to the United States. Just look at Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes, who on Monday refused to board his Navy ship in protest of the war on Iraq.

Unlike Hinzman, Paredes is ready and willing to go to jail. After his release, Paredes is sure to get a book deal, a CBS made-for-TV movie, a party at Susan Sarandon's, and honorary Canadian citizenship -- if he doesn't apply for it himself first.

If Hinzman had half a brain and as much spine, he'd come back to the States and face the music. But that would require an ounce of American character that is as foreign to him as it is to his Canadian comrades.

[tony54]

I think in a time of war, the FBI should go to Canada and retrieve OUR TRAITOR, with a warrant of course and bring him back in handcuffs, and then turn him in to the Army for court-martial.
Make an example out of him.
If we can retrieve murderers and bank robbers, we certainly can retrieve an "enemy of the state".
If Canada don’t like it, tough!
THEY ARE HARBORING A CRIMINAL.

[shawa]

Tony,

Here's at least one Canadian columnist who agrees with you.
Quote:
"I think Canada should send him home to deal with the consequences of his decisions."

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Peter_Worthington/2004/12/08/772461.html

Wed, December 8, 2004

Deserter is not a draft dodger

By PETER WORTHINGTON -- For the Toronto Sun


While one can't guess what the refugee board will rule, from the evidence it's hard to conclude that Jeremy Hinzman deserted from the U.S. army for any reason other than he was scared.

This isn't to suggest he was a coward, because it takes a certain kind of courage to leave your country and claim refugee status rather than go to a dangerous area.

And it's not a comfortable feeling knowing that most of your countrymen will view you with disdain -- as will many Canadians -- if the refugee board accepts you as a "refugee" from what Hinzman claims is an "illegal war" in Iraq.


There's a certain amount of irony in this and other desertion cases, when Canada is in the midst of a campaign to raise money to buy the Victoria Cross won by Cpl. Fred Topham in World War II, that's being sold by his late wife's family.

Topham and his comrades of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion were undoubtedly scared in 1945 when they parachuted over the Rhine and Toppy won his VC -- the only VC won in the Sixth British Airborne Division to which Toppy's unit was attached.

The 1st Paras did more fighting in Northwest Europe than any other Canadian unit.

Hinzman was a paratrooper, too -- and deserted the U.S. 82nd Airborne on the eve of it being sent to Iraq.

Hinzman says the idea of killing people is repugnant to him, and that his application to be a conscientious objector was rejected.

One wonders why a conscientious objector would join the army.

Topham and his fellow soldiers didn't like killing either, but they did their duty.

In fact, Topham didn't kill -- he was a medic who repeatedly put his life at risk saving the wounded under fire.

Perhaps it isn't fair to compare the two men, but the question begs: Why did Hinzman join a volunteer army if he wasn't prepared to do what soldiers do, which is fight an enemy?

He wasn't drafted, he enlisted in early 2001. His claim that the war against Saddam Hussein was "illegal" rings hollow.

That's not a soldier's role to decide.

And the Vietnam situation doesn't apply either. During Vietnam America had the draft -- a conscript army.

Many Americans who didn't want to go to Vietnam or be in the military, came to Canada.

Some Canadian citizens now helping U.S. deserters were once Vietnam draft dodgers.

Even then, a draft dodger was different from a deserter -- a much more serious offence.

Most people don't have much use for deserters -- especially from a volunteer army, and before they've been shot at. A guy who deserts because he's been in combat too long, is different from someone who deserts because he doesn't want to risk combat.

Hinzman says he joined the army to get an education (war is an "education" although not the sort he wants).

His interest in Buddhism conflicts with his interest in the military, as does his status as a new parent, plus his sudden concern about the legality of wars.

As Hinzman says, he had no great "epiphany" -- just a growing dislike for the prospect of war.

It reached a peak when he was due to leave for Iraq.

Up to then, he'd apparently been an adequate soldier, passing all the training tests required.

Most likely is that fear dominated his psyche and after the outrage of 9/11, he realized soldiering wasn't for him.

So he fled to Canada.

I think Canada should send him home to deal with the consequences of his decisions.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ScottyDog]

This guy seems to be trying to emulate John F. Kerry.

If the media gets away with it, they will be trying to get this guy to do just what John Kerry did during the Vietnam War.

Our Government should kidnap this traitor, try and convict him of Treason.

[tony54]

HERE IS ANOTHER ONE: another Kerry wannabee.
http://www.canada.com/nanaimo/story.html?id=a1a5867d-4b62-4a55-b7b8-f92037031ab6

U.S. killed unarmed Iraqis, war-dodger hearing told

Colin Perkel
Canadian Press

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

TORONTO (CP) - A former United States marine told a refugee hearing for an American war dodger Tuesday that trigger-happy U.S. soldiers in Iraq routinely killed unarmed woman and children, and murdered other Iraqis in violation of international law.
In chilling testimony intended to bolster the asylum claim of compatriot Jeremy Hinzman, former staff sergeant Jimmy Massey recounted how nervous soldiers trained to believe that all Iraqis were potential terrorists often opened fire indiscriminately.
"I was never clear on who the enemy was," Massey, 33, told the hearing.
"If you have no enemy or you do not know who the enemy is, what are you doing there?"
On several occasions, his soldiers pumped hundreds of bullets into cars that failed to stop at U.S. military checkpoints, killing all occupants - who were later found to be unarmed, Massey said.
On another occasion, marines reacted to a stray bullet by killing a small group of unarmed protesters and bystanders, said Massey, who said he suffers from nightmares and post-traumatic stress disorder.
"I was deeply concerned about the civilian casualties," he said.
"What they were doing was committing murder."
Massey's statements echoed earlier testimony from Hinzman, who says he fled the U.S. military because he believed the invasion of Iraq was illegal, and any violent acts he committed there would be unconscionable.
"This was a criminal war," Hinzman said.
"Any act of violence in an unjustified conflict is an atrocity."
Hinzman, 26, deserted his regiment in January just days before being deployed to Iraq, and fears he will be unfairly court-martialled if returned to the United States.
Hinzman told the Immigration and Refugee Board hearing that the U.S. military regarded all Arabs in the Middle East - Iraqis in particular - as potential terrorists to be eliminated.
"We were referring to these people as savages," Hinzman testified.
"It fosters an attitude of hatred that gets your blood boiling."
While a federal government lawyer said U.S. deserters often get about a year in jail, Hinzman countered he would be treated more harshly because of his views on the Iraq war.
"Serving even one day in prison for refusing to comply with an illegal order is too long," Hinzman said.
"I would be prosecuted for acting upon a political belief . . . for refusing to do something that was wrong."
A Washington Post reporter covering the hearings said Americans are extremely sensitive to Hinzman's request for asylum because of parallels to the Vietnam War.
"There's a great deal of worry that Iraq is beginning to look a little like Vietnam," said Doug Struck.
"Americans are very worried when their servicemen start saying, 'No, we're not going to go.' It sends alarms off."
Hinzman, whose only prior knowledge of Canada came from CBC radio broadcasts, admitted it is seemingly "preposterous" for an American to seek asylum in Canada.
He said he chose to go public with his claim to head off any possibility of being quietly sent home.
"I felt that (Canadian) authorities could say, 'You are an American. What the hell are you doing? Go back.' "
Hinzman's lawyer, Jeffry House, said Canada has allowed deserters from other countries to stay and compared Hinzman's situation to that of the former Soviet Union.
"People used to be prosecuted for their political opinions and activities," House said in an interview.
"That was persecution. It is fundamentally wrong."
Hinzman enlisted voluntarily for four years in November 2000. He was a crack infantryman with the 82nd Airborne Division based in Fort Bragg, N.C., until he deserted after his application as a conscientious objector failed.
Brian Goodman, who is chairing the three-day hearing that ends Wednesday, indicated he will likely decide Hinzman's claim early in the new year.

[Fphamm]

Sounds like this sack of fecal matter, is trying to do the same thing that sKerry did, and just as in Vietnam, the liberal leftists are all over this like the stink on ---. We should just march on up there, and grab this jerk, then try him, then hang him. This type of crap really helps our war on terror, just giving ammo to the terroristic butt munchers...

[Tex25]

The only way they will get asylum is by saying they saw war crims being commited. Hopefully the Canadian Government will see through this and not grant it to them.

[GM Strong]

This guy should be refused repatriation and told he is unwelcome. He is of the same ilk as Johnny Jihad bin Walker. Let him find abother country to whine in. Learn French in Quebec and then go to the land where duplicitous lying cowards belong. (Arafat went there for his finale.) Good Canadians shouldn't have to deal with this clod either.
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8th Army Korea 68-69