TORONTO, May 24 (UPI) -- About 200 U.S. troops are AWOL -- absent without leave -- in Canada rather than face deployment in Iraq, supporters say.
The Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper hasn't been willing to grant them asylum or refugee status so they face court-martial and prison time if deported to the United States, USA Today reported Monday. Parliament is to debate a bill Tuesday that would let them stay.
Gerard Kennedy, a member of Parliament who sponsored the bill, sees it as "a basic moral, human nature question."
"Do we always, under all circumstances, want our military personnel to follow orders or do they have some rights?" Kennedy said.
One of those seeking sanctuary in Canada is Patrick Hart, a 36-year-old U.S. Army sergeant who headed north in 2005 rather than face a second deployment.
"I've bled for my country, I've sweated for my country, I've cried myself to sleep for my country -- which is a lot more than some people who are passing judgment on me have done," he told USA Today. "I would rather go sit in prison than go to Iraq."
Some current deserters are finding support among draft dodgers and deserters from the Vietnam War era.
"They understand," Hart said of the war resisters of that time.
Bill King, 63, who went to Canada 42 years ago to avoid going to Vietnam, says working with the Iraq deserters "breaks your heart."
"You flash back to when you were that age," King said.
Most Iraq war deserters in Canada are in hiding, said Michelle Robidoux of the War Resisters Support Campaign.
