Niagara River Music 00:00
Patrick: I knew I was at a crossroads in my life and wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do. 00:04
Music 00:09
Highway to Peace Bridge Patrick: I was leaving behind, along with my family at the time, pretty much the American dream. 00:16
Music 00:21
Peace Bridge/ Border
BOWDEN: Patrick Hart remembers vividly the day he travelled north over this bridge, possibly for the last time. 00:27
Patrick: Coming over the peace bridge I hadn’t quite made up my mind as to what I was doing. 00:33
BOWDEN: Crossing over the Niagara River, from the United States into Canada, he was embarking on a journey from the familiar towards the unknown. Patrick: I just had a gut feeling 00:42
Patrick driving. that everything was going to be okay and everything is okay, you know. I don’t have to worry about being deployed, my son doesn’t have to, have to worry about when he is going to see daddy again, because he sees daddy every day. 00:55
Photo. Patrick in tank BOWDEN: Patrick Hart was a career soldier. Born and raised in the industrial city of Buffalo in northern New York State, he thrived on the routine and the security of the military. 01:07
Patrick: My grandfather was a mess sergeant in World War Two; my Dad served in the navy. 01:22
Patrick. Super: Patrick HartDeserter Everyone I knew joined the military; you know, it is just what you did. 01:26
Jill Hart Jill Hart: It suited him. He was great at it. The soldiers beneath him respected him so much. 01:33
Wedding photo
BOWDEN: Jill Hart was a proud and patriotic military wife.Jill Hart: You know people made jokes – ‘Oh Mrs Hart, she bleeds red white and blue’ you know. My whole house was red white and blue and that is not a joke, it was red white and blue. The whole living room, 01:38
Jill. Super: Jill Hart the kitchen, everything. I felt like if you are going to support something you support it 100 percent. 01:50
File footage. Kuwait Music 01:56
BOWDEN: But during a tour of duty in Kuwait in 2005 Patrick Hart started to question whether he could face his next deployment – to Iraq. 02:03
Photo. Patrick in Kuwait Patrick: All the units returning from Iraq were coming into Kuwait . You know I would meet them when they got there and they would show me DVD, 02:13
Patrick/ Photos. War Victims photos that they had taken, some with video, some pictures and these photos were just insane, you know – just people being ripped apart by 50 calibre machine guns – there’s nothing left of them. I have seen pictures of babies with chemical burns all over their hands. I felt like I could have done what they were doing, but that is not, that’s not what I signed up to do, 02:22
Patrick you know. I signed up to help people, not do stuff like that. 02:46
Canadian ‘Let them Stay’ footage Woman: Warmly welcome Patrick Hart, our most recent resister. 02:55
BOWDEN: So Patrick Hart went AWOL. While on leave from his base at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, he fled to Canada, joining other deserters and their supporters. 03:01
Chanting 03:12
BOWDEN: In a country opposed to the war in Iraq, many Canadians understand Patrick Hart’s dilemma, and have extended a warm welcome to him and the other deserters. 03:17
Patrick speech: Let me start by saying that when I was in Kuwait I never crossed the border to Iraq; I don’t have any blood on my hands. Thank God for that . 03:28
BOWDEN: He’d made his decision and left the US without telling his wife. 03:38
Jill Hart: That afternoon he called. I remember him saying ‘Hi honey’ and then I remember screaming for about 45 minutes. 03:43
Jill. Super: Jill Hart I was terrified. I was sick to the stomach. I thought, oh my God. The word coward never came into my mind because I know my husband and I know he is not a coward. But the word traitor came to my mind, I have to be honest. I thought will people view him as a traitor to this government? Would people view him you know, in the same manner that they view terrorists? 03:50
Photo. Patrick in Kuwait BOWDEN: What would you have done if your husband had told you beforehand what he was planning? 04:11
Jill Hart: I would have turned him in. 04:15
I would have called his company commander. I would have said my husband had a conversation with me where he expressed that he thinks going AWOL is a better option than going to Iraq, please come and get him. And I would have done that because that was the right thing to do, I love my husband, I’ve always loved my husband, but he was going to break the law. 04:17
Jill and Patrick walk hand in hand
BOWDEN: Jill Hart didn’t know what to do next, but says the decision was made for her during a conversation with her husband’s commanding officer – who was devising ways to get his AWOL soldier back. 04:38
Jill at meeting It’s a story she re-tells at the talks she now gives on behalf of the spouses of deserters. 04:53
Jill Hart: He said we can arrange to get word to your husband that you have been so severely sexually assaulted that he needs to come back to take custody of your son. And in two seconds the only thing that I could say was ‘I am sorry Sir but this conversation is over’ and that’s when I made my decision to join my husband in Canada. 04:58
Family photo
BOWDEN: Within just a few weeks Jill Hart crossed the border with the couple’s young son.Jill Hart: I would rather be in Canada 05:15
Jill than to be in the States and have Patrick in prison for God knows how long in a country where the maximum penalty for what he has done is death by firing squad, that is insane. 05:23
Zaslofsky answers phone at War Resisters Support Campaign office Zaslofsky [on phone]: “War Resisters” 05:35
BOWDEN: Lee Zaslofsky has become something of a father figure to the deserters. As coordinator of the War Resisters Support Campaign, he meets them on arrival, arranges housing, and helps them settle in. He also sought sanctuary in Canada almost 40 years ago during another controversial war. 05:38
Zaslofsky: When they gave me orders to go to Vietnam I had a decision to make. 05:57
Lee. Super: Lee ZaslofskyWar Resisters Support Campaign I decided to come to Canada and frankly it was the best decision I ever made in my life, but it was very difficult. It was hard on my parents for sure. 06:01
Highway to Peace Bridge. Toronto BOWDEN: Between 1965 and 1973, during the days of the draft as many fifty thousand Americans went to Canada rather than fight in Vietnam. Despite a US amnesty in the late 1970s pardoning draft evaders, many stayed on in Canada. Back then it was relatively easy to gain permanent residency and start a new life. 06:11
Canadian flag Zaslofsky: What they want now is for people to apply in their home countries 06:40
Lee and wait for as long as it takes. It could take a year before they -- in their home country -- to see if Canada wants to let them in. Well this isn’t very feasible for someone who has got a warrant out for his arrest, is it? 06:43
Lee in office
BOWDEN: This time, the numbers are in the hundreds, rather than thousands, but Mr Zaslofsky says there’s been an increase in the number of inquiries and arrivals since US President George W Bush proposed a surge in troops in Iraq. Zaslofsky: We used to be accustomed to getting maybe a war resister 06:58
Lee. Super: Lee ZaslofskyWar Resisters Support Campaign one a month, maybe two a month, now it is very common to get two in a week. 07:15
Lee petitioning BOWDEN: Lee Zaslofsky seems to spend every waking hour working on the cause of the deserters he so strongly identifies with.Zaslofsky: None of them are cowards, none of them hates the United States 07:27
Lee or wants to betray it in any way. I think they feel betrayed, I think they feel let down, and I think some of them were deeply revolted by what they saw happening in Iraq or in Afghanistan and couldn’t square it with their idea of what it means to be an American. 07:40
Ice on Lake Ontario/ Toronto Music 07:57
BOWDEN: Most of the deserters have chosen to settle in Toronto, separated from the United States by the icy waters of Lake Ontario. Canada and the US may be close neighbours, with intertwined economies, but the deserters feel a long way from home. 08:02
Joshua giving talk at book launch
Joshua: People act like that is just an easy decision to leave your country and walk across to another and I have to say it is probably the hardest one I ever made and I’m sure with the rest of the guys as well . 08:19
BOWDEN: Tonight the deserters and those who support them are attending the launch of Joshua Key’s book. It tells of his seven months in Iraq, and why he couldn’t go back. 08:28
Joshua: After many days -- and of course it is not like a rash decision you just make ‘I am going AWOL’ – you sure look at the consequences. You sure look at other routes. I called the JAG officer, and he said you got two choices, he goes “ You either go to prison or go back to Iraq’. And I said, I just hung up the phone and looked at my wife and I said okay we gotta make up our own choice, and that choice was to run. 08:40
Photos. Joshua in Iraq
BOWDEN: Joshua Key made his decision after what he says were dozens of fruitless raids on Iraqi homes. Joshua: I am not a baby killer, I am not a civilian killer. You know, of course I am a soldier and I am here to kill enemy combatants, but I was 09:04
Joshua. Super: Joshua Key Deserter
never seeing that. All I was seeing was civilians getting hurt, getting killed, traumatized, and still no justification for it. 09:18
View of Toronto across lake
BOWDEN: Canada’s immigration laws are now much stricter than they were during the war in Vietnam. Joshua Key and his 09:29
Joshua walking with Bowden
family entered the country as visitors, and have applied for refugee status. Along with the 34 other resisters taking the same course, all he can do is wait. 09:354
Joshua: It is comforting to know that more soldiers are coming, and they’re coming all the time you know. So that reassures ,that reassures me that of course with the more instances that of course I am not alone. 09:45
Canadian flag BOWDEN: And while Canadian authorities have not exactly welcomed the deserters, they haven’t deported them, either. 09:54
Jeffry House in office Helping the resisters with the legal process in Canada is another man who feels a sense of déjà vu -- Vietnam draft dodger, now lawyer, Jeffry House. 10:00
House. Super: Jeffry House Lawyer
House: The soldiers are applying for refugee status. They are saying that the war in Iraq violates international law, therefore they shouldn’t have to fight it and therefore any effort to punish them is persecution; you shouldn’t have to do something illegal and you shouldn’t be jailed because you don’t want to do something which is illegal. 10:11
Pentagon shots BOWDEN: Back in the US, at the Pentagon, the army takes a very different view. Lt. Col. Bob Tallman: We do what we are told; 10:35
Tallman. Super: Lt. Col. Bob TallmanUS Army spokesman we all raised our hand and took an oath to support the constitution of the United States. It is not a soldier’s job it is not a soldier’s prerogative to determine which wars he or she will fight, and which wars he or she thinks are illegal. 10:43
Soldiers on tour in Iraq
BOWDEN: The Pentagon estimates that as many as 8,000 soldiers have deserted since the Iraq war began – less than one percent of the force. Penalties range from involuntary discharge to death. But the army spokesman is doing his best to play down both the impact of desertion and the punishment. Lt. Col Bob Tallman: In 94 percent of cases 10:55
Tallman we let them out with less than honourable discharge. That’s not to say there isn’t somebody at Fort Leavenworth right now serving time for desertion, but the vast majority of the soldiers who desert do not spend time, long periods of time in jail. 11:21
Photo. Joshua in Iraq
BOWDEN: One of the resisters we spoke to said he was told you’ve got two choices, go back to Iraq or go to jail. 11:34
Tallman Lt. Col Bob Tallman: I don’t think go to Iraq, go to jail were the only two possibilities that this soldier had. The army is not that incompassionate. We understand soldiers are humans, we understand soldiers have problems, and we work as hard as we can to solve problems for soldiers if we can. 11:41
Niagara Falls
BOWDEN: So far none of the deserters’ applications for refugee status have been approved in Canada. The Immigration Department says each case will be assessed on its merits. House: I believe that 11:57
House. Super: Jeffry House Lawyer
Canada will not send them back to jail. I think that Canada itself refused to participate in the Iraq war because Canada thought, correctly, that the war was illegal. 12:09
Patrick’s band
BOWDEN: Patrick Hart is convinced he’d go to jail in the US, and he’s angry. You can hear the anger in his music, and in the words of a song he wrote called ‘United Hate of America’. 12:23
Patrick: It is a great outlet you know, 12:51
Patrick. Super: Patrick Hart Deserter every time I sing it I am imagining George Bush in front of me and just screaming in his face. 12:53
Jill
BOWDEN: Are you embarrassed at all about what he did ? Do you feel that he’s not doing his duty, but other soldiers still are? 13:02
Super: Jill Hart
Jill Hart: My husband made a stand and said I will not be responsible for deaths of innocent people, and how can you not respect that? 13:08
Patrick Patrick: I served nine and a half years in the army. I was prepared to go and fight and die and I will fight for a just cause, I will fight to defend myself, I won’t fight or be a corporate mercenary. 13:16
Soldiers battering door BOWDEN: Joshua, do you think much about the guys still in Iraq 13:35
Joshua. Super: Joshua KeyDeserter who, I am sure, don’t necessarily want to be there either?Joshua; Oh Very much so, I mean that’s my, my … One of my intentions -- they shouldn’t be there you know. I wish that I could wave a wand and they would all be home, because none of us -- I mean the guys I was with, there was a few wanted to be there you know, I used to them the GI Joe type, but I would say for the most part we are all doing what we are told, we don’t want to be there. 13:39
Soldiers battering door 14:00
Tallman Lt Col Bob Tallman: Soldiers who desert are in violation of their contract. It is a contract not just with the army, it is a contract with the American people, it’s a contract with the units they are serving in. 14:05
Toronto. Icy lake shots Music 14:15
BOWDEN: The deserters believe that more and more soldiers will break those contracts. Rather than return to Iraq for longer, more frequent deployments, they will put down their weapons, walk away from their country, and head north to Canada. 14:18
Canadian flag Music 14:33
Credits: Reporter : Tracy Bowden Camera: Tim BatesEditor: Woody LandayResearch : Janet Silver Alex Lisman, additional footage. Also War Resisters Support Campaign 14:40
Patrick: I knew I was at a crossroads in my life and wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do. 00:04
Music 00:09
Highway to Peace Bridge Patrick: I was leaving behind, along with my family at the time, pretty much the American dream. 00:16
Music 00:21
Peace Bridge/ Border
BOWDEN: Patrick Hart remembers vividly the day he travelled north over this bridge, possibly for the last time. 00:27
Patrick: Coming over the peace bridge I hadn’t quite made up my mind as to what I was doing. 00:33
BOWDEN: Crossing over the Niagara River, from the United States into Canada, he was embarking on a journey from the familiar towards the unknown. Patrick: I just had a gut feeling 00:42
Patrick driving. that everything was going to be okay and everything is okay, you know. I don’t have to worry about being deployed, my son doesn’t have to, have to worry about when he is going to see daddy again, because he sees daddy every day. 00:55
Photo. Patrick in tank BOWDEN: Patrick Hart was a career soldier. Born and raised in the industrial city of Buffalo in northern New York State, he thrived on the routine and the security of the military. 01:07
Patrick: My grandfather was a mess sergeant in World War Two; my Dad served in the navy. 01:22
Patrick. Super: Patrick HartDeserter Everyone I knew joined the military; you know, it is just what you did. 01:26
Jill Hart Jill Hart: It suited him. He was great at it. The soldiers beneath him respected him so much. 01:33
Wedding photo
BOWDEN: Jill Hart was a proud and patriotic military wife.Jill Hart: You know people made jokes – ‘Oh Mrs Hart, she bleeds red white and blue’ you know. My whole house was red white and blue and that is not a joke, it was red white and blue. The whole living room, 01:38
Jill. Super: Jill Hart the kitchen, everything. I felt like if you are going to support something you support it 100 percent. 01:50
File footage. Kuwait Music 01:56
BOWDEN: But during a tour of duty in Kuwait in 2005 Patrick Hart started to question whether he could face his next deployment – to Iraq. 02:03
Photo. Patrick in Kuwait Patrick: All the units returning from Iraq were coming into Kuwait . You know I would meet them when they got there and they would show me DVD, 02:13
Patrick/ Photos. War Victims photos that they had taken, some with video, some pictures and these photos were just insane, you know – just people being ripped apart by 50 calibre machine guns – there’s nothing left of them. I have seen pictures of babies with chemical burns all over their hands. I felt like I could have done what they were doing, but that is not, that’s not what I signed up to do, 02:22
Patrick you know. I signed up to help people, not do stuff like that. 02:46
Canadian ‘Let them Stay’ footage Woman: Warmly welcome Patrick Hart, our most recent resister. 02:55
BOWDEN: So Patrick Hart went AWOL. While on leave from his base at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, he fled to Canada, joining other deserters and their supporters. 03:01
Chanting 03:12
BOWDEN: In a country opposed to the war in Iraq, many Canadians understand Patrick Hart’s dilemma, and have extended a warm welcome to him and the other deserters. 03:17
Patrick speech: Let me start by saying that when I was in Kuwait I never crossed the border to Iraq; I don’t have any blood on my hands. Thank God for that . 03:28
BOWDEN: He’d made his decision and left the US without telling his wife. 03:38
Jill Hart: That afternoon he called. I remember him saying ‘Hi honey’ and then I remember screaming for about 45 minutes. 03:43
Jill. Super: Jill Hart I was terrified. I was sick to the stomach. I thought, oh my God. The word coward never came into my mind because I know my husband and I know he is not a coward. But the word traitor came to my mind, I have to be honest. I thought will people view him as a traitor to this government? Would people view him you know, in the same manner that they view terrorists? 03:50
Photo. Patrick in Kuwait BOWDEN: What would you have done if your husband had told you beforehand what he was planning? 04:11
Jill Hart: I would have turned him in. 04:15
I would have called his company commander. I would have said my husband had a conversation with me where he expressed that he thinks going AWOL is a better option than going to Iraq, please come and get him. And I would have done that because that was the right thing to do, I love my husband, I’ve always loved my husband, but he was going to break the law. 04:17
Jill and Patrick walk hand in hand
BOWDEN: Jill Hart didn’t know what to do next, but says the decision was made for her during a conversation with her husband’s commanding officer – who was devising ways to get his AWOL soldier back. 04:38
Jill at meeting It’s a story she re-tells at the talks she now gives on behalf of the spouses of deserters. 04:53
Jill Hart: He said we can arrange to get word to your husband that you have been so severely sexually assaulted that he needs to come back to take custody of your son. And in two seconds the only thing that I could say was ‘I am sorry Sir but this conversation is over’ and that’s when I made my decision to join my husband in Canada. 04:58
Family photo
BOWDEN: Within just a few weeks Jill Hart crossed the border with the couple’s young son.Jill Hart: I would rather be in Canada 05:15
Jill than to be in the States and have Patrick in prison for God knows how long in a country where the maximum penalty for what he has done is death by firing squad, that is insane. 05:23
Zaslofsky answers phone at War Resisters Support Campaign office Zaslofsky [on phone]: “War Resisters” 05:35
BOWDEN: Lee Zaslofsky has become something of a father figure to the deserters. As coordinator of the War Resisters Support Campaign, he meets them on arrival, arranges housing, and helps them settle in. He also sought sanctuary in Canada almost 40 years ago during another controversial war. 05:38
Zaslofsky: When they gave me orders to go to Vietnam I had a decision to make. 05:57
Lee. Super: Lee ZaslofskyWar Resisters Support Campaign I decided to come to Canada and frankly it was the best decision I ever made in my life, but it was very difficult. It was hard on my parents for sure. 06:01
Highway to Peace Bridge. Toronto BOWDEN: Between 1965 and 1973, during the days of the draft as many fifty thousand Americans went to Canada rather than fight in Vietnam. Despite a US amnesty in the late 1970s pardoning draft evaders, many stayed on in Canada. Back then it was relatively easy to gain permanent residency and start a new life. 06:11
Canadian flag Zaslofsky: What they want now is for people to apply in their home countries 06:40
Lee and wait for as long as it takes. It could take a year before they -- in their home country -- to see if Canada wants to let them in. Well this isn’t very feasible for someone who has got a warrant out for his arrest, is it? 06:43
Lee in office
BOWDEN: This time, the numbers are in the hundreds, rather than thousands, but Mr Zaslofsky says there’s been an increase in the number of inquiries and arrivals since US President George W Bush proposed a surge in troops in Iraq. Zaslofsky: We used to be accustomed to getting maybe a war resister 06:58
Lee. Super: Lee ZaslofskyWar Resisters Support Campaign one a month, maybe two a month, now it is very common to get two in a week. 07:15
Lee petitioning BOWDEN: Lee Zaslofsky seems to spend every waking hour working on the cause of the deserters he so strongly identifies with.Zaslofsky: None of them are cowards, none of them hates the United States 07:27
Lee or wants to betray it in any way. I think they feel betrayed, I think they feel let down, and I think some of them were deeply revolted by what they saw happening in Iraq or in Afghanistan and couldn’t square it with their idea of what it means to be an American. 07:40
Ice on Lake Ontario/ Toronto Music 07:57
BOWDEN: Most of the deserters have chosen to settle in Toronto, separated from the United States by the icy waters of Lake Ontario. Canada and the US may be close neighbours, with intertwined economies, but the deserters feel a long way from home. 08:02
Joshua giving talk at book launch
Joshua: People act like that is just an easy decision to leave your country and walk across to another and I have to say it is probably the hardest one I ever made and I’m sure with the rest of the guys as well . 08:19
BOWDEN: Tonight the deserters and those who support them are attending the launch of Joshua Key’s book. It tells of his seven months in Iraq, and why he couldn’t go back. 08:28
Joshua: After many days -- and of course it is not like a rash decision you just make ‘I am going AWOL’ – you sure look at the consequences. You sure look at other routes. I called the JAG officer, and he said you got two choices, he goes “ You either go to prison or go back to Iraq’. And I said, I just hung up the phone and looked at my wife and I said okay we gotta make up our own choice, and that choice was to run. 08:40
Photos. Joshua in Iraq
BOWDEN: Joshua Key made his decision after what he says were dozens of fruitless raids on Iraqi homes. Joshua: I am not a baby killer, I am not a civilian killer. You know, of course I am a soldier and I am here to kill enemy combatants, but I was 09:04
Joshua. Super: Joshua Key Deserter
never seeing that. All I was seeing was civilians getting hurt, getting killed, traumatized, and still no justification for it. 09:18
View of Toronto across lake
BOWDEN: Canada’s immigration laws are now much stricter than they were during the war in Vietnam. Joshua Key and his 09:29
Joshua walking with Bowden
family entered the country as visitors, and have applied for refugee status. Along with the 34 other resisters taking the same course, all he can do is wait. 09:354
Joshua: It is comforting to know that more soldiers are coming, and they’re coming all the time you know. So that reassures ,that reassures me that of course with the more instances that of course I am not alone. 09:45
Canadian flag BOWDEN: And while Canadian authorities have not exactly welcomed the deserters, they haven’t deported them, either. 09:54
Jeffry House in office Helping the resisters with the legal process in Canada is another man who feels a sense of déjà vu -- Vietnam draft dodger, now lawyer, Jeffry House. 10:00
House. Super: Jeffry House Lawyer
House: The soldiers are applying for refugee status. They are saying that the war in Iraq violates international law, therefore they shouldn’t have to fight it and therefore any effort to punish them is persecution; you shouldn’t have to do something illegal and you shouldn’t be jailed because you don’t want to do something which is illegal. 10:11
Pentagon shots BOWDEN: Back in the US, at the Pentagon, the army takes a very different view. Lt. Col. Bob Tallman: We do what we are told; 10:35
Tallman. Super: Lt. Col. Bob TallmanUS Army spokesman we all raised our hand and took an oath to support the constitution of the United States. It is not a soldier’s job it is not a soldier’s prerogative to determine which wars he or she will fight, and which wars he or she thinks are illegal. 10:43
Soldiers on tour in Iraq
BOWDEN: The Pentagon estimates that as many as 8,000 soldiers have deserted since the Iraq war began – less than one percent of the force. Penalties range from involuntary discharge to death. But the army spokesman is doing his best to play down both the impact of desertion and the punishment. Lt. Col Bob Tallman: In 94 percent of cases 10:55
Tallman we let them out with less than honourable discharge. That’s not to say there isn’t somebody at Fort Leavenworth right now serving time for desertion, but the vast majority of the soldiers who desert do not spend time, long periods of time in jail. 11:21
Photo. Joshua in Iraq
BOWDEN: One of the resisters we spoke to said he was told you’ve got two choices, go back to Iraq or go to jail. 11:34
Tallman Lt. Col Bob Tallman: I don’t think go to Iraq, go to jail were the only two possibilities that this soldier had. The army is not that incompassionate. We understand soldiers are humans, we understand soldiers have problems, and we work as hard as we can to solve problems for soldiers if we can. 11:41
Niagara Falls
BOWDEN: So far none of the deserters’ applications for refugee status have been approved in Canada. The Immigration Department says each case will be assessed on its merits. House: I believe that 11:57
House. Super: Jeffry House Lawyer
Canada will not send them back to jail. I think that Canada itself refused to participate in the Iraq war because Canada thought, correctly, that the war was illegal. 12:09
Patrick’s band
BOWDEN: Patrick Hart is convinced he’d go to jail in the US, and he’s angry. You can hear the anger in his music, and in the words of a song he wrote called ‘United Hate of America’. 12:23
Patrick: It is a great outlet you know, 12:51
Patrick. Super: Patrick Hart Deserter every time I sing it I am imagining George Bush in front of me and just screaming in his face. 12:53
Jill
BOWDEN: Are you embarrassed at all about what he did ? Do you feel that he’s not doing his duty, but other soldiers still are? 13:02
Super: Jill Hart
Jill Hart: My husband made a stand and said I will not be responsible for deaths of innocent people, and how can you not respect that? 13:08
Patrick Patrick: I served nine and a half years in the army. I was prepared to go and fight and die and I will fight for a just cause, I will fight to defend myself, I won’t fight or be a corporate mercenary. 13:16
Soldiers battering door BOWDEN: Joshua, do you think much about the guys still in Iraq 13:35
Joshua. Super: Joshua KeyDeserter who, I am sure, don’t necessarily want to be there either?Joshua; Oh Very much so, I mean that’s my, my … One of my intentions -- they shouldn’t be there you know. I wish that I could wave a wand and they would all be home, because none of us -- I mean the guys I was with, there was a few wanted to be there you know, I used to them the GI Joe type, but I would say for the most part we are all doing what we are told, we don’t want to be there. 13:39
Soldiers battering door 14:00
Tallman Lt Col Bob Tallman: Soldiers who desert are in violation of their contract. It is a contract not just with the army, it is a contract with the American people, it’s a contract with the units they are serving in. 14:05
Toronto. Icy lake shots Music 14:15
BOWDEN: The deserters believe that more and more soldiers will break those contracts. Rather than return to Iraq for longer, more frequent deployments, they will put down their weapons, walk away from their country, and head north to Canada. 14:18
Canadian flag Music 14:33
Credits: Reporter : Tracy Bowden Camera: Tim BatesEditor: Woody LandayResearch : Janet Silver Alex Lisman, additional footage. Also War Resisters Support Campaign 14:40