Canada Court to rule Thursday on ‘refugee’ status of U.S. troops AWOL from Iraq now in Canada

[babylonsister]

Canada Court to rule Thursday on ‘refugee’ status of U.S. troops AWOL from Iraq now in Canada
Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2007-11-15 14:19. Nonviolent Resistance

Expert will comment at Federal Courthouse

SACRAMENTO – A leading international war resister leading a fight to allow hundreds of U.S. military personnel to remain in Canada to avoid going to Iraq will hold a major news conference here Thursday morning – just minutes after the Supreme Court of Canada is due to decide whether U.S. troops will be able to apply for “refugee” status in Canada.

A news briefing to discuss the Canadian decision will be held at 9 a.m. TODAY/THURSDAY outside the
Federal Courthouse (5th & I Streets). The Canadian justices will announce their decision shortly
before the briefing.

Gerry Condon, director of Project Safe Haven and a former Vietnam War resister, is in Sacramento
previewing a new film, “Breaking Ranks,” about the estimated 20,000 U.S. service men and women who
have gone AWOL – many of whom served one tour in Iraq and refused to go back.

A couple hundred AWOL GI’s, from the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force, are currently living in
Canada. Many served one tour in Iraq and then refused to go back again. Instead, they and their
families have moved to Canada. With the support of many Canadians, they are struggling to create a
home for themselves and a sanctuary for war resisters, said Condon.

Nearly fifty of the resisters have asked Canadian authorities to allow them to remain in Canada as
political refugees. They strongly believe they are doing the right thing by refusing to fight in an
illegal war. They look to UN refugee law, which states soldiers should be considered refugees if
they face persecution for refusing to fight in wars “widely condemned by the international community
as contrary to standards of human conduct.”

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