Marinerhodes said:
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I would not say all Canadians. I would say those that back the deserters and provide refuge have taken a public stance.
The political asylum angle is what bothers me. They are not targets because of political malice and persecution. They are targets of public and private ridicule because they have made themselves such. The US government is not going to "persecute" them. The US military will prosecute them though.
I know it sounds like a matter of semantics but it really isn't.
Sorry if you thought I was painting all Canadians with the same brush ... I sure didn't mean to infer that all Canadians were taking a public stance on Iraq ... I really meant to say that those that are backing these cowards have made their opinions very evident.
I am with you ... the fact that the Canadian government will even consider granting political asylum to soldiers who have fled the battlefield or run from their duty during a period of conflict, is very disturbing to me. At no time have I read or heard of a single case where an individual who has fled to Canada being a target of persecution or subject to the death penalty for their actions.
YES, upon return to US soil these cowards will be prosecuted, sentenced (some to prison time) and then will be booted out of the military with a BCD.
To be even
MORE blunt, during the Vietnam War, I felt the very same way as I do now. No matter what war you are talking about, when a supposed friendly nation allows military deserters to shelter in their country instead of returning them to face the justice they so richly deserve ... I question whether they are the friends that everyone thinks they are.
As far as I am concerned, the
ONLY things these cowards deserve is our utter contempt for their cowardice, a courts martial, a finding of guilty as charged, a long sentence behind the walls of 'grey city' busting rock, and then a Bad Conduct Discharge. (Nothing more and nothing less).
That was what Vietnam deserters deserved but never got ... political expediency was the rule back then ... let's not allow it to happen this time.