Wanting Their Cake and Eating it Too.

From the CBC...

"Demonstrators gathered outside the Canadian Embassy in Washington Friday to demand protection for U.S. soldiers who seek refuge north of the border to avoid deployment to Iraq.
A group of about 50 American veterans of the Iraq war and their supporters said they want the Canadian government to provide sanctuary to men and women trying to escape military commitments in the U.S."

As a former soldier in the Canadian military I have to oppose this request. If you join the military you should be prepared to go wherever you are sent. The history of US military deployments should have been enough to prevent these people from joining in the first place. If you want to choose which conflicts you engage in, become a mercenary. It is not an a la carte situation.

I am sure that the American soldiers are happy to be rid of these cowards. I would be. A soldier needs to be able to count on his fellow soldiers to watch his or her back. A soldier that is prepared to run away because he or she does not like the conflict they are sent to has no business being in the military in the first place.

I am also not sure why these people think it is the job of Canada to offer sanctuary to soldiers who refuse their deployments. We might not support the invasion of Iraq, but that does not mean we are going to oppose the US government to protect people who are willing to abandon their oaths. I think some Americans have a misguided idea as to what Canada is all about. We do not want to become the dumping ground for people who do not like their home country.