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TEWSPilot

Canada to send American deserters back home

A Pentagon advisor says he's encouraged by the recent decision by the Conservative Canadian government to send American deserters back to the U.S. for possible court-martial and dishonorable discharge.

According to the Wall Street Journal, approximately 30,000 active duty U.S. service members have been reported as deserters since 2003. The Pentagon defines a deserter as a member of the armed forces who has been away without leave 30 consecutive days or more or has sought asylum in a foreign country. While the actual number of deserters living in Canada is not known, The New York Times earlier this year cited the War Resisters Support Campaign estimate of more than 200.

Lt. Colonel Bob Maginnis (USA-Ret.) expects the U.S. will actively prosecute deserters that Canada sends home. "The military is pretty strict on treason -- and if it gets its hands on these people, it will put them in jail. They'll spend years, I would expect, in jail," says the senior Army strategist. "I don't think they're just going to let them go free unless a new president comes in and grants amnesty -- and of course we've seen that in the past."

Maginnis believes the U.S. is willing "to take care of its own dirty laundry" in the matter, but has to "get its hands" on those he says failed to do their duty and chose to leave the country.

The Canadian government is expected to begin deporting American deserters as early as this month.

Send them to California to fight the fires...get them "acclimated" for their eventual eternal home....

carpro · Admin Joined: 10 May 2004 Posts: 1176 Location: Texas

While I applaud Canada's decision, I do not believe the Army or Marines will do any more than slap the hands of the deserters and discharge them.

It's a good bet the Canadians feel the same as I do.
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"If he believes his 1971 indictment of his country and his fellow veterans was true, then he couldn't possibly be proud of his Vietnam service."

TEWSPilot · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:34 am Post subject: Fall In!

Strip them of their right to vote and all benefits and put them on Guard Duty at the worst Hell holes on Earth...including the Marine Recruiting Station in Berkeley, CA. Put them in them Pink uniforms so they can operate in "stealth" mode.

LewWaters · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:49 am Post subject:

TEWSPilot · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:08 am Post subject:

Lew, you have a heart of gold. Surely they could be trusted with a walkie-talkie and a thermometer so they could give us a reading if they were airdropped into the center of the "action". We do something sorta like that with hurricanes, don't we? Very Happy

ocsparky101 · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:13 pm Post subject:

From the glass half full perspective. Canada has done our troops who serve a huge favor. Can you imagine our hero's having to depend on any one of these cowards to watch their backs. It does not matter what the liberals do now. What is important is they were not available to do harm.

Me#1You#10 · Site Admin Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 6503

TEWSPilot · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:56 pm Post subject:

Unless the U.S. punishes them severely, they still win a moral victory just like their predecessors did after Vietnam, and their "victory" will inspire others like them to follow suit. Cancer has to be cut out and put on display for educational purposes. ...I know, won't happen....

TEWSPilot

Me#1You#10 · Site Admin Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 6503

I dunno TEWS...seems like packing a firearm in a suitcase prior to crossing a border is a pretty boneheaded thing to do and I'm not confident I'd want American authorities to react much differently.

That being said, hopefully the current "thaw" in Can-USA relations can make this go away without some major repurcussions to the soldier.

TEWSPilot

#1, I agree, but maybe the soldier had no other way to transport it. He couldn't just drop it in the mail and have it waiting when he got to Fort Drum. Perhaps we need some sort of policy allowing U.S. military members reporting to a duty station under orders to pack their own self-defense weapons in their luggage. Unarmed U.S. military members have been attacked even in the U.S. Given the circumstances, I don't think putting a young U.S. military member reporting for duty in Canadian prisons for 3 years for having a pistol packed in his luggage is justified. For balance, let's see what happens to the returned deserters.

zinfella · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:57 pm Post subject:

TEWSPilot · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:37 pm Post subject:

I guess I'm just too lost in the old world of "common sense" where authorities actually assessed situations and made judgements rather than just applying "one size fits all" law like a robot. Maybe the folks living in the area, including this soldier, should have known better or maybe they are just used to be treating like slaves of the all powerful state. I think I was born much too late.

zinfella · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:40 pm Post subject:

GoophyDog · Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 6:50 pm Post subject:

Reference the deserter. The UCMJ will take care of him. His actions are well defined in articles 85 and 86 so it will be up to a courts martial. I believe a dishonorable is considered a felony so voting rights are removed (except for those liberal states that have modified it).

Reference the CPL: A 25 year old corporal? Well, the intelligence factor is amply shown on this one. The phrase "He's old enough to know better" comes immediately to mind. I grant you his actions were probably innocent enough to warrant a simple "shame on you" but I hope his actions are considered by the Army when it comes to any sort of future leadership position.
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