Staggering, Record Number of Iraq-Assigned US Soldiers Have Deserted

Six THOUSAND soldiers have deserted. 6,000!!!

Thanks to Buzzflash for this link to Canadian TV report:

NDP MP Bill Siksay is lending his support to a campaign aimed at allowing a growing number of American military deserters to find refuge in Canada.

According to the British Columbia MP, the issue resonates with a lot of Canadians.

For example, Siksay told CTV's Canada AM early Wednesday, Canadians are widely opposed to the prison abuse reported at the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay prisons.

"They're (also) outraged at the failure to produce any weapons of mass destruction, since that was one of the main reasons for going into this war," he added.

So far, that support has translated into 15,000 signatures on a petition organized by the community-based War Resisters Support Campaign.

"There's huge public support for these war resisters in Canada," Siksay said.

Joshua Key is one of dozens of U.S. soldiers who fled their army to seek refuge in Canada. After an eight-month tour in Iraq, Key said he couldn't face a return trip.

When asked whether that's not just part of the job, Key told Canada AM his Iraq tour wasn't exactly what he enlisted for.

"Everybody has a false interpretation that battle's supposed to be fought with tanks or between soldier and soldier," Key said, describing his frustration fighting a more amorphous enemy.

"It's just like you don't know what who it's going to be from one day to the next. You can't get rid of the whole population."

Once again, Canada has been a good friend and a good neighbor, but one we treat very badly.