Army Deserter Back in Georgia

[EagleSmack]

US soldier who abandoned unit returns from Canada

AP – Army Spc. Cliff Cornell, 28, smokes in his hotel room on Monday, Feb. 9, 2009 in Savannah, Ga., after …




SAVANNAH, Ga. – Sporting a dragon tattoo on his forearm and skulls on both biceps, Cliff Cornell looks tough. But he dissolves into tears as he reflects on his return to the Army four years after he fled to Canada to avoid the war in Iraq.

"I'm nervous, scared," Cornell said, wiping puffy eyes beneath his sunglasses Monday at a Savannah hotel after a three-day bus ride from Seattle. "I'm just not a fighter. I know it sounds funny, but I have a really soft heart."

I'd be nervous too. You're going to jail for sure

Cornell, 29, of Mountain Home, Ark., turned himself in to military police Tuesday afternoon at nearby Fort Stewart, where he'll likely face criminal charges for abandoning his unit before it deployed to Iraq in January 2005.

I wouldn't plan on going back to Arkansas either.

He said he fled because he doesn't think the war has improved the lives of Iraqis, and he couldn't stomach the thought of killing.
"During my training, I was ordered that, if anyone came within so many feet of my vehicle, I was to shoot to kill," said Cornell, who enlisted in 2002 but never deployed to war. "I didn't join the military to kill innocents."

Keep talking son... keep making it worse.

The Army artillery specialist made it to Canada in 2005 and soon started a new life working at a grocery store on Gabriola Island in British Columbia.

Maybe Canada will let you back to bag groceries for them. Sounds like you had a successful career.

Cornell's attorney, James Branum of Lawton, Okla., said Cornell was assigned to a unit after meeting with military police, but it was still unclear if the Army would hold him in pretrial confinement. "He was visibly shaking when they came to pick him up," Branum said.

I'd be shaking as well.

Cornell's exile ended last week when he crossed the U.S.-Canada border into Washington state. He left voluntarily to avoid deportation.

Thanks Canada.

The first U.S. service member forced out of Canada after the government denied him protective status as a war objector was 25-year-old Army Pvt. Robin Long of Boise, Idaho. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison last August after pleading guilty to desertion charges at Fort Carson, Colo.

He's still in the brig. I guess Obama didn't get his letter asking for a pardon.

Michelle Robidoux, spokeswoman for the Toronto-based War Resisters Support Campaign, said the group has worked with about 50 U.S. service members seeking refugee status or political asylum in Canada. The group estimates more than 200 have fled to Canada, most of them hiding out illegally.

They are not doing to well helping these folks out. In fact they are making it worse.

"There are probably another three or four who are imminently under threat of deportation, and we're trying hard to fight that," Robidoux said.

You are 0-2.

The lower house of Canada's Parliament passed a nonbinding motion in June urging that U.S. military deserters be allowed to stay in Canada, but the Conservative Party government has ignored the vote.

Nonbinding. It is what it is.

During the Vietnam War, thousands of Americans took refuge in Canada, most of them to avoid the military draft. Many were given permanent residence status that led to Canadian citizenship, but the majority went home after President Jimmy Carter granted amnesty in the late 1970s.

The Army has listed Cornell as a deserter since a month after he left, but he hasn't been formally charged with any crimes, said Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson.
"He needs to come and turn himself in, and then the justice process will kick in from there," Larson said Monday.

And "kick in" it will!

The unit Cornell was assigned to when he fled — the 1st Battalion, 39th Field Artillery Regiment — disbanded in March 2006.
Branum said he expects Cornell to be charged with being absent without leave, punishable by up to 18 months in prison, or desertion — a more serious charge with a maximum prison sentence of five years.

Being charge with AWOL after four years! :lol:

Keep dreaming. After 30 days AWOL becomes Desertion.

He said he hopes the Army shows some leniency since Cornell avoided the war because of his political convictions. "This is different from someone leaving for selfish reasons," Branum said. "This is someone who said, 'I'm not going to kill civilians.'"

Yeah... the Army is going to show leniency because of that. Fat chance.

Bu bye Cliff

 

[Cliffy]

US soldier who abandoned unit returns from Canada

Yeah... the Army is going to show leniency because of that. Fat chance.

Bu bye Cliff

You really are a sadist gloating over the misfortunes of others. I've heard that the military messes up peoples heads and you are living proof.

 

[EagleSmack]

How am I a sadist to want justice done!

Quit being such a pansy. He knew the rules. Time to pay the piper.

 

[Nuggler]

8O
Quite a difference between the VeeeetNamm draft dodgers and Iraq/Illegal war DESERTERS.

Ain't no draft now, so all these warriors ENLISTED, signed up, agreed to obey the rules. These rules, unfortunately, involve killin some folks, and maybe gettin killed in return. Golleeee. They knew that.

Sendem all back. Every last mother's son. But, send them back.........gently. We don't wanna be sadists ner nothin. Put some padding underneath the handcuffs and shackles.

:angry3:

 

[EagleSmack]

Thanks Nugs... we may not always agree...but we can agree on this.

It has nothing to do with being a sadist. The guy Deserted 4 years ago and now it is time to face his crime.

 

[Spade]

Thanks Nugs... we may not always agree...but we can agree on this.

It has nothing to do with being a sadist. The guy Deserted 4 years ago and now it is time to face his crime.

Perhaps he just couldn't face a crime?

 

[EagleSmack]

Perhaps he just couldn't face a crime?

Do you have a point?

 

[Risus]

Thanks Nugs... we may not always agree...but we can agree on this.

It has nothing to do with being a sadist. The guy Deserted 4 years ago and now it is time to face his crime.

Eagle, I almost hate to say this, but on this issue, I agree with you

 

[EagleSmack]

Perhaps he just couldn't face a crime?

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

 

[Spade]

Do you have a point?

A soldier must not obey an order he thinks contravenes either the Geneva Conventions or what he considers to be a war crime. However, I agree that if he refuses, he should stand and face the consequences for his refusal and defend his act of conscience. However, not everyone is that brave. I cannot be as arbitrary as your written opinion sounds.

 

[Cannuck]

A soldier must not obey an order he thinks contravenes either the Geneva Conventions or what he considers to be a war crime.

What he considers a war crime is irrelevant. If it isn't, in fact, a war crime, he needs to do what he is told. That's what he signed up to do. If he didn't want to do it he should not have signed up.