Robin Long Deported From Canada

Sure, there are many criticisms one could make about this guy -- like, "duh, the Army is not going to keep a promise not to send you to Iraq, what were you thinking?" and/or "oh, so you didn't want to kill Iraqis but Afghans or Venezuelans are another story?" Nonetheless, this guy did the right thing by refusing to go and has my thanks and my respect.

Robin Long deported from Canada

Courage to Resist. July 17, 2008

Courage to Resist has made civilian legal representation available to Robin and will be doing everything possible to provide him our full support.More info coming soon.

On July 15th, Robin Long became the first U.S. war resister since the Vietnam War forced to leave Canada and turned over to the U.S. military. About the same time as dozens of supporters gathered at Peace Arch Park on the Canadian-U.S. border, Robin was taken across the border and handed over to U.S. border agents.

Robin was briefly held at the Whatcom County Jail in Bellingham, Washington, before U.S. military police took him to Fort Lewis, 50 miles south of Seattle.

Within the next few days he will be taken to Fort Carson, Colorado where he is expected to be immediately placed in pre-trial confinement and eventually court martialed for AWOL, desertion, and possibly other violations of military discipline.

At 19, the Boise, Idaho native joined the Army on the promise that he would not be deployed to Iraq. However, in April 2005 Robin was ordered to Fort Carson in preparation for deployment to Iraq. Robin recounted, “My superiors were telling me; ‘You're going to the desert to fight rag heads’. It wasn't like I was going to Iraq to liberate the people.” After his Army “battle buddy” didn’t report for deployment by leaving for Canada, Robin also went AWOL and hitchhiked to Canada, eventually settling down with help of the War Resisters Support Campaign.

let them stayAlong with a few other U.S. Iraq War resisters, Robin had been most recently living in Nelson, British Columbia, a town of 10,000 people. Local police have gained a reputation of being hostile to war resisters. Authorities claimed that because Robin was staying with different friends around Nelson, he was in violation of a previous order to notify authorities of his whereabouts—which gave them the opening for an expedited removal. Robin’s bad luck continued when a conservative Canadian Judge ruled against his last ditch appeal.

“This is a gift from Stephen Harper to George Bush,” says Gerry Condon of Project Safe Haven, referring to the conservative heads of state of Canada and the U.S. “And it will trumpet that Canada is no longer a safe haven for AWOL GIs.” However, Gerry believes that “this is not the first of many deportations. It may be the first and the last. A minority government that ignores the will of its people and its Parliament will not be allowed to rule much longer.” Federal elections are expected to take place in Canada this fall.