Giving refugee status to Joshua Key would ruin Harpers status with the USA. He (Harper) has already proven usefull to them. Key is flushable material to Harper. Another deserter had left BC because he was convinced by the US military to return to his homeland to get a discharge. Upon arriving he realised it was just a hoax by the American military. He is now a fugitive in his own country. Once in the American military, you have lost your soul. Canada nor the USA will let you have it back. Canada is also allowing you to sell your soul and one may wonder where Canadian deserters will get their refugee status.
The above is a comment that "boflaade" has posted to Tom Godfrey's article "Military deserter denied refugee status" at Vive le Canada. Vince noted and it seemed a good way to remind everyone that Oklahoma's Joshua Key was denied refugee status. Key, a war resister, self-checked out while on leave, moved with his family to Philadelphia and then, in March 2005, moved with them to Canada. The other US war resister referred to in the comments is Kyle Snyder who has self-checked out again as a result of the military's empty words.
Meanwhile, the US military has announced today: "Two Task Force Lightning Soldiers attached to 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, were killed when a helicopter crashed in Salah Ad Din province, Monday. No activity fire was observed in the area at that time." And they've also announced today: "One Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 died Saturday from wounds sustained due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province. One Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 died today from wounds sustained Saturday due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province. One Soldier assigned to 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division died today from wounds sustained due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province."
According to ICC that brings the US military fatality count in Iraq to 18 for the month on this sixth day of the month. Not that you'd know that to scan the headlines in the New York Times.
We don't cover show trials and that's all the Times can offer this morning. We will note Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily's "Saddam Verdict Could Tear Iraqis Apart" (IPS):
In Baghdad's predominantly Sunni neighbourhood al-Adhamiya, Iraqi police battled resistance members armed with machine guns. In Saddam Hussein's hometown Tikrit, thousands defied a curfew to carry pictures of Saddam through the streets.
The divisions were deepened further when Iraqi army units attacked pro-Saddam demonstrators in many areas. Sunni television channels Zawra and Salahedin that aired pro-Saddam demonstrations were immediately shut down and raided by Iraqi security forces.
The closure of the two networks has infuriated Sunnis further. The move appeared similar to the U.S.-ordered closure of the newspaper al-Hawza of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, which sparked his first uprising against occupation forces two years back.
In a country where sectarian death squads are killing on average more than 100 people a day in the capital city alone, another polarising event is the last thing Iraq needs at this time.
One potential flashpoint everyone is watching is the northern oil-rich city Kirkuk. The city has a mixed population, including Sunni ethnic Arabs who were settled there under Saddam's regime. Kurdish leaders want Kirkuk, and its wealth, within an autonomous Kurdistan.
In the Shia-dominated south, more than 100,000 Iraqis are fleeing their homes each week as Shia leaders push for federalism, under which each ethnic group would take substantial control of a region it dominates.
And Lewis notes Nancy A. Youssef's "Iraqis think few U.S. troops are fighting for them" (McClatchy Newspapers):
Ask an Iraqi what American troops are fighting for in Iraq, and the answer likely will be: not for me.
No matter the politics of the respondent, recent interviews with 19 Iraqis, both Shiite and Sunni Muslims, found almost no one who thought the Americans were fighting for them. Only ethnic Kurds, who have established a largely autonomous region in Iraq's north, were willing to say that American troops serve their interests.
Public opinion surveys over the years have shown growing Iraqi discontent with the American presence. The most recent, released in September by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a group affiliated with the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy, found that seven of 10 Iraqis want U.S.-led forces to withdraw within a year. In the same survey, 78 percent said the U.S. presence provokes more conflict than it prevents; 84 percent said they had little or no confidence in the U.S military.
But the unwillingness of Iraqis to say that the Americans were fighting specifically for them underscores how confusing U.S. policy has become in Iraq's complicated political environment of competing sects, ethnic groups, tribes, militias, interest groups and leaders.
That's it for this morning. If anyone feels deprived, there's no news out there. Not when 18 US soldiers die since the start of this month and the press isn't even interested in it. They're gas bagging in the worst Nancy Grace style, they aren't reporting.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
joshua key
kyle snyder
dahr jamail
ali al-fadhily
nancy a. youssef
