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Topic: US deserters head to Canada over Iraq

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Steve Myers
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Jeremy Hinzman

Brandon Hughey

TONY JONES: As the situation in Iraq deteriorates, a number of US soldiers have fled into Canada, seeking refugee status there on the grounds that the war in Iraq is illegal.

If they're successful in their bid for asylum, the small number of US deserters could soon grow.

Stephen McDonell made contact with two American deserters for this report.

STEPHEN McDONELL: Jeremy Hinzman was a United States soldier in the elite infantry division, the 82nd Airborne.

He served in Afghanistan and, after returning to America, heard they were being sent to Iraq.

Hinzman thought the war would only benefit the likes of the Vice President's old company Haliburton, which gained the lions share of post-war rebuilding contracts.

He also didn't believe the stated reasons for the Iraq war.

So, one night he drove north to Canada to seek asylum.

JEREMY HINZMAN, FORMER US ARMY 82nd: It was evident before we even went in that there were no weapons of mass destruction.

I mean, selfishly I didn't want to go and die so people like Haliburton could go and line their pockets and I didn't want to go and kill people for the same reason.

STEPHEN McDONELL: Brandon Hughey operated a tank in the 1st Cavalry Division based at Fort Hood in Texas.

BRANDON HUGHEY, FORMER US ARMY 1st CAVALRY DIVISION: I believe that Bush launched this war based on lies.

As the war dragged on, no weapons of mass destruction were found, still have not been found and there was no link to Al Qaida ever found.

STEPHEN McDONELL: The day before he was sent to Iraq, Brandon Hughey also decided to make a run for Canada.

BRANDON HUGHEY: I had been in contact through email with a political activist from the US and he had told me that if I would drive myself to Indianapolis he would take me the rest of the way to Canada, so that's what we did.

STEPHEN McDONELL: Brandon Hughey and Jeremy Hinzman now, technically, face the death penalty in the United States for desertion.

They told Lateline that they've applied for refugee status in Canada on the grounds that they've fled a country making them fight an illegal war.

JEFFREY HOUSE, LAWYER: Interestingly enough we've been told unofficially from sources in cabinet that the Canadian government had a legal opinion that the war was unlawful before it made its determination not to participate.

We've asked for that legal opinion.

STEPHEN McDONELL: Both Hinzman and Hughey will soon go before Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board, using legal arguments that go back to World War Two.

JEREMY HINZMAN: Obviously, the Nuremburg Tribunal was saying as a soldier you have a responsibility to not carry out illegal acts and that's the logic I use for what I've done.

If I were to go to Iraq, I would be taking part in a criminal enterprise.

BRANDON HUGHEY: I feel that this war is wrong and I'm not going to let myself be a pawn in it.

Just because I signed a contract doesn't mean I should throw out my moral principles.

STEPHEN McDONELL: This case is putting enormous pressure on Canada which has been trying to patch up relations with the United States, after it refused to back the Iraq war.

There's also a precedent for US soldiers fleeing to Canada.

During the Vietnam war, they did so in their thousands.

JEFFREY HOUSE: I know of other US soldiers in Canada.

They have not made any decision about what they are going to do.

I also know of US soldiers in the United States who have indicated that they will be coming to this country but have not yet arrived.

BRANDON HUGHEY: As long as we're in that country and this drags on and the attacks against our troops go on, I think it's likely that more soldiers will head up here.

STEPHEN McDONELL: In Iraq, the comrades of both these deserters are currently facing full-blown combat.

It gives them mixed feelings not to be there.

JEREMY HINZMAN: In terms of people from my unit dying, like how do I feel about that?

Horrible, absolutely horrible.

And at times or often I feel kind of guilty about that, that I'm not there, you know, sharing in it but, on the flip side, I feel that I had to do what we have done because I wouldn't want to die in vain.

BRANDON HUGHEY: I am proud of what I've done.

I feel that I am standing up for what I believe is right.

STEPHEN McDONELL: As Brandon Hughey looks across Niagara Falls, across the border to the homeland to which he can never return, he's optimistic about a Canadian future.

For now, he and Jeremy Hinzman are happy to give up the United States if living there means going to war in Iraq or going to gaol for refusing to.

Stephen McDonell, Lateline.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT

LOCATION: http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2004/s1085869.htm

Broadcast: 12/04/2004
Post Tue Jun 22, 2004 1:34 pm 
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