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Politics "Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule -and both commonly succeed, and are right." -H.L. Menken

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Old 04-02-2006, 05:49 AM   #1
tenet_2012
 
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U.S. deserter tells of atrocities

By ANDREW DAVIDSON


TORONTO (CP) - 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.

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," Key said of his squad's guiding principles. "Everything's justified."

Key is one of five members of the U.S. armed forces asking for asylum in Canada.

But the Oklahoma native is unique in that he is the only applicant that has combat experience in Iraq, said Key's lawyer, Jeffry House. The other are seeking asylum in Canada to avoid being sent there, he said.

"He has boots-on-the-ground experience about what the actual conduct of the war in Iraq is," House said outside the hearing.

With visible bags under his eyes, Key told the hearing he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and frequently has nightmares over what he witnessed in Iraq.

He recalled participating in almost nightly raids on homes of suspected insurgents in Ramadi and Fallujah as a member of the 43rd Combat Engineer Company.

He said that while the raids seldom turned up anything of interest, he often saw soldiers ransack the homes and steal jewelry or money, while superior officers looked the other way.

He also said several Iraqis were shot dead, and that they were cases of soldiers "shooting out of fear and inventing reasons afterward."

In Ramadi, Key said he saw the beheaded bodies of four Iraqis beside a shot-up truck and witnessed several members of the Florida National Guard kick a severed head "like a soccer ball."

Key also said he witnessed one of his "trigger happy" platoon's squad sergeants shoot part of an unarmed Iraqi man's foot off in Khaldia, a village between Fallujah and Ramadi. The man was sitting on a chair outside a store and had raised his foot as a sign of disrespect, he said.

Key added he was never questioned about the incident and was not aware of any charges being laid.

Keith Brennenstuhl, the IRB member overseeing the hearing, ruled at an earlier hearing that the board would not consider the legality of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Key also described seeing U.S. soldiers indiscriminately kick and scream at two hooded and naked detainees while escorting them to a grassy area to relieve themselves.

Brennenstuhl asked Key whether he received any interrogation training before dragging detainees out of their homes during raids.

"The only thing we were told was how to keep them quiet," Key said, explaining that soldiers cuffed prisoners' hands behind their backs and put hoods over their heads.

"Could they breathe?" Brennenstuhl asked.

"I guess it wasn't my concern," Key responded, adding that officers said the hoods were designed "to humiliate them."

Key, the father of four young children, told the hearing he joined the army for steady pay and medical coverage for his family. He said he initially went to Iraq as a willing participant because he believed U.S. intelligence claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

But Key became disillusioned with the war during his service and decided to abandon his contract with the army during a two-week leave from Iraq in November 2003.

He and his family lived on the run in Philadelphia before crossing the border at Niagara Falls, N.Y., on March 3, 2005.

Key now works as a welder in Fort St. John, B.C. He and his wife Brandi have four children between the ages of seven months and six years.

If returned to the United States, Key said he believed the army would "make an example" of him as a way to deter other possible deserters.

Lawyers from all parties will submit their written submissions in the coming weeks before the board rules on Key's application.

Source
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Old 04-02-2006, 08:02 AM   #2
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So, the war has been going on for how long now?

And this is the only person that's come forward claiming that the army is committing atrocities?
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Old 04-02-2006, 08:49 AM   #3
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While this man is probably exaggerating what he has seen, I don't doubt that atrocities have been committed. It's a part of war. The ugly part that people don't want to see. The government would have us believe that this war is justified and, to be honest, for a time I personally thought it may have been. The longer it goes on, the less tenable our position becomes. There, apparently, were no WMDs in Iraq. Why, then, did we go in? To "free" the Iraqi people from a tyrannical dictator? Doubtful. The liberal half of me is appalled, though not surprised at the amount of bullshit the American public has been fed and even more disgusted with the willingness of said public to swallow it. The realpolitik side of me wishes that even if the U.S. were to engage in a form of Neo-Imperialism that the public could at least benefit in some way from it. After all, the Empire is supposed to be for the good of its Citizens. This, too, has proven to be a total falsehood. We have gained nothing from this war, and I'm positive the troops on the ground realize it. It is no wonder they've become embittered and jaded. They're fighting a hostile population and hostile public opinion from home at the same time. There will be no victory parades upon their return. I can see how, in this climate, soldiers can acclimate themselves to violence and brutality. I'm not saying it's right or just, but for God's sake, we, all of us and not just the government, made this monster. We can't just hope to wash it all away with trials and inquests, placing the blame on a samll group of men that we fancy to be aberrant in their behavior. Bush goaded the American people into the war by waving the flag and thumping the bible. The stars have faded from our eyes and now we don't like what we see. I dare say, we should have seen this coming.

Great Britain's Lord Kitchener, Minister for War during the Great War may have said it best: "Dont talk to me about atrocities in war; all war is an atrocity."

Whew. Now that that's out of my system, I think I'm going to go drink myself into a stupor. God bless America. But damn Bush and his cabinet to Hell.
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Old 04-02-2006, 10:27 AM   #4
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Old 04-02-2006, 11:20 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PinstripesAndPithHelmets
Whew. Now that that's out of my system, I think I'm going to go drink myself into a stupor. God bless America. But damn Bush and his cabinet to Hell.
I have never heard it put better.
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Old 04-02-2006, 06:27 PM   #6
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I hope he's allowed to stay in Canada, and never comes back to the states, for his sake. He'll be butchered alive by his "comrads".
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Old 04-03-2006, 08:29 AM   #7
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This is nam all over again, see a pattern to republican warsd?
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Old 04-03-2006, 12:04 PM   #8
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Read the BBC article.

Quote:
US deserter 'shocked by abuses'

A US soldier who fled to Canada to avoid serving in Iraq says he was shocked by alleged atrocities committed by the American military.

Josh Key was speaking before Canada's refugee board hearing his asylum plea.

Among the incidents, he described soldiers kicking the severed head of an Iraqi like a football in Ramadi.

Mr Key served as an explosives expert in Iraq for eight months, and deserted to Canada with his family in 2004. He faces a court martial back in the US.

The soldier, 27, also told Canada's refugee board he saw a US army squad leader shooting the foot off an unarmed Iraqi man.

The army's attitude in Iraq was "just shoot and ask questions later", Mr Key said.

Appeal

Mr Key says he refuses to fight in a war he regards as immoral and illegal.

About 20 US soldiers have applied for asylum in Canada. Two have already had their applications rejected.

The Immigration and Refugee Board said it was not convinced the men would face persecution if they were sent back to the US. They have said they will appeal against the decision.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Key said he was in Iraq when he realised the war was unjustified.

"The only people that were getting hurt was the innocent; that was innocent Iraqi people, as well as innocent soldiers."

On his return to the US, he told the army that he did not want to return, but was advised that he would face prison if he refused. It was then that he decided to desert.

"Before I went to Iraq, I was trained on how to escape terrorists. You learn to only go where crime is already at. You only go somewhere where who cares about a deserter if somebody is getting murdered every night. I went to Philadelphia," he said.

He spent 14 months in the city, before deciding to flee to Canada.

During the Vietnam war, more than 100,000 Americans went to the neighbour country to avoid the draft.
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Old 04-03-2006, 08:15 PM   #9
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Canada Eh? Its like living in america without the self-rightous newage political Nazis. I do hope he is allowed to stay.
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Old 04-06-2006, 04:21 AM   #10
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Can the mods move this to POLITICS as it fits better there and will get a better, bigger, response. It's not really 'sp00ky' news...
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Old 04-07-2006, 09:33 AM   #11
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This is true, Sternn.
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Old 04-08-2006, 07:56 AM   #12
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Pin -

That was good. Put very well.
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