Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Media: AFP
Byline: N/A
Date: Sept 30, 2006
OTTAWA, Sept 30, 2006 (AFP) - An American deserter who fled to Canada to
avoid more military service in Iraq will return to Kentucky this weekend to
reunite with his family and face his punishment, reports said Saturday.
"He needs to be home. This is not his home," his Canadian wife Gail Green,
who plans to accompany him, told public broadcaster CBC.
"He's in a state of limbo, he's been put through way too much and he needs
the support of his family," she said.
Darrell Anderson, 24, originally from Lexington, Kentucky, moved to Toronto
18 months ago after fleeing the United States to avoid serving a second tour
in a war he had come to resent.
"Rich Americans are making money off this war and used the poor youth of the
nation to fight it," said Anderson in March 2005 at an anti-war rally in
Toronto.
He is one of a handful of US soldiers who absconded over the Iraq war and
applied for refugee status in Canada.
But life in Canada proved too difficult. His refugee bids were denied, so he
cannot legally work here or receive proper health care, he told the CBC.
"I'm just tired of sitting in limbo. I just want to get on with my life,"
Anderson said.
He also lamented Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan, saying it echoed
the mistakes he claims the United States made in Iraq.
Anderson had served seven months in Baghdad and Najaf with the First Armored
Division, guarding police stations and other frontline work, before being
wounded by shrapnel.
He was awarded a Purple Heart, an honor given to wounded soldiers.
He is now scheduled to appear before a military tribunal at Fort Knox on
Tuesday, and could be given a dishonorable discharge, or possibly a lengthy
prison term, according to reports.
Byline: N/A
Date: Sept 30, 2006
OTTAWA, Sept 30, 2006 (AFP) - An American deserter who fled to Canada to
avoid more military service in Iraq will return to Kentucky this weekend to
reunite with his family and face his punishment, reports said Saturday.
"He needs to be home. This is not his home," his Canadian wife Gail Green,
who plans to accompany him, told public broadcaster CBC.
"He's in a state of limbo, he's been put through way too much and he needs
the support of his family," she said.
Darrell Anderson, 24, originally from Lexington, Kentucky, moved to Toronto
18 months ago after fleeing the United States to avoid serving a second tour
in a war he had come to resent.
"Rich Americans are making money off this war and used the poor youth of the
nation to fight it," said Anderson in March 2005 at an anti-war rally in
Toronto.
He is one of a handful of US soldiers who absconded over the Iraq war and
applied for refugee status in Canada.
But life in Canada proved too difficult. His refugee bids were denied, so he
cannot legally work here or receive proper health care, he told the CBC.
"I'm just tired of sitting in limbo. I just want to get on with my life,"
Anderson said.
He also lamented Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan, saying it echoed
the mistakes he claims the United States made in Iraq.
Anderson had served seven months in Baghdad and Najaf with the First Armored
Division, guarding police stations and other frontline work, before being
wounded by shrapnel.
He was awarded a Purple Heart, an honor given to wounded soldiers.
He is now scheduled to appear before a military tribunal at Fort Knox on
Tuesday, and could be given a dishonorable discharge, or possibly a lengthy
prison term, according to reports.