Ravenwood - 03/31/05 06:15 AM
The good news on the war front is that Canada won't harbor cowards that flee from their military duties.
The ruling, written by Immigration and Refugee Board member Brian Goodman, said [U.S. Army paratrooper Jeremy] Hinzman had not made a convincing argument that he would face persecution or cruel and unusual punishment if sent back to the United States.Hinzman screwed up by saying that he would still support the military, just not in a combat role. That pretty much says that he doesn't object to the war itself, just to his having to fight on the front lines. Of course if I didn't want to be the first boots on the ground, I probably wouldn't volunteer for paratrooper duty.Goodman said that while Hinzman may face some employment and social discrimination, "The treatment does not amount to a violation of a fundamental human right, and the harm is not serious."
Hinzman's attorney, Jeffry House, said his client would appeal the ruling and still believed that he would be granted refugee status in Canada.
Hinzman, 26, fled from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in January 2004, weeks before his 82nd Airborne Division was due to be deployed to Iraq. He had served three years in the Army, but had applied for conscientious objector status before his unit was sent to Afghanistan in 2002.
Category: Get Your War On
Comments (2) top link me
I think your last paragraph is in error. Back when there was a draft, conscientious objectors often wound up in jobs that supported the war, but didn't involve directly killing anyone. E.g., they might be field medics (at least when the enemy was sufficiently civilized that a man could go out on a battlefield wearing a prominent red cross and not get picked out as a target just because they knew he wouldn't be shooting back).
However, Hinton volunteered for the Army, drew their pay for years, and then decided he didn't want to kill anyone - AFAIK only after a war started. That's like a fireman who's happy to draw his pay to train and stand ready to fight fires, but chickens out when it comes to actually entering a burning building. If you aren't going to do the job, drawing the pay to get ready to do the job is fraud.
Posted by: markm at March 31, 2005 11:28 AMFYI - according to the laws currently on the books, it doesn't matter how you feel about the current war, conscientious objections are allowed for religious reasons only. He would have to convert to being a Quaker or something similar to gain C.O. status.
Posted by: Pasty at March 31, 2005 1:05 PM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014
