[Marxism] CBS News: 5, 500 servicemen have deserted since the war started in Iraq.

[Juan Fajardo <fajardos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Deserters: We Won't Go to Iraq
CBSNews.com

    Wednesday 08 December 2004

    The Pentagon says more than 5,500 servicemen have deserted since
the war started in Iraq.

    60 Minutes Wednesday found several of these deserters who left the
Army or Marine Corps rather than go to Iraq. Like a generation of
deserters before them, they fled to Canada.

    What do these men, who have violated orders and oaths, have to say
for themselves? They told Correspondent Scott Pelley that conscience,
not cowardice, made them American deserters.

[...]  Brandon Hughey [...] says at first, he was willing to die "to
make America safe." And while Hughey was in basic training, he didn't
get much news. But when he left basic training, he started following the
latest information from Iraq.

    "I found out, basically, that they found no weapons of mass
destruction. They were beginning to come out and say it's not likely
that we will find any - and the claim that they made about ties to al
Qaeda was coming up short, to say the least," says Hughey. "It made me
angry, because I felt our lives were being thrown away as soldiers,
basically."

When Hughey got orders for Iraq, he searched the Internet and found
Vietnam era war resisters willing to show him the way north. In fact,
they were willing to drive him there, and a Canadian television news
camera went along.

Hughey had an invitation to stay with a Quaker couple that helped
Americans avoid the draft during Vietnam. From Fort Hood, Texas, to St.
Catherine's in Ontario, Canada, Hughey crossed the border, duty free.

[...] Only a few of the reported 5,500 deserters are in Canada, but
[Toronto lawyer, Jeffry] House says he's getting more calls from nervous
soldiers all the time.

Full story:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121204X.shtml#
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/06/60II/main659336.shtml


_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism