Deserter goes on trial today (UPDATED)

Robin Long, the first deserter to be deported from Canada since the Vietnam War goes on trial today at Fort Carson, Colorado. He’s made a deal to plead guilty so it should be a short trial (SFGate link);

Pvt. Robin Long, 25, of Boise, Idaho, faces up to three years in prison and a dishonorable discharge, civilian defense attorney James Branam said Thursday.

Long went to Canada in 2005, but authorities there denied his request for refuge and deported him in July of this year.

Branam said Long has reached an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to desertion with intent to remain away permanently, a lesser charge than desertion with intent to shirk hazardous duty.

The Left blames the Conservative Canadian government and their commitment to the Afghanistan War for the deportation. But Canada said, after Jimmy Carter’s sweeping amnesty for draft dodgers, that US cowards couldn’t depend on Canada harboring them again.

From Icono-Curmudgeon-Clast;

Members of the Colorado Springs peace community filled up the courtroom on base with supporters, and will begin new counseling to war resisters.

So here’s some counseling that you can get from me for free;

If you can’t find the courage to live up to your obligations and you really feel the need to be a cowardly chickenshit, go to Cuba. I mean, if you’re really worried about being persecuted by a corrupt and unfeeling government in the United States and you want to go somewhere that won’t deport you, Cuba only makes sense. Whichever Castro gets to decide these things there won’t let you be deported…even if you want to be deported.

I’m sure I’m not the first to recommend this to you. Now, unless you’re just going to Canada for the media attention and the comforts of living in the good old US of A, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, maybe even Russia would welcome you.

But see, if you’re going to Canada to live in the US-lite….all of the comforts without the judgmental persecution…that’s just being hypocritical. Hitch hike to Mexico City and hop a flight to Havana and show everyone how really committed you are to the cause of war resistance instead of just driving across a lightly guarded border and parading for the press. Be a man for once.

Someone tell Hinzman he’s still got time to prove to me he has a pair. I wonder if either of these cowards are IVAW yet.

UPDATE: Thanks to McClatchey Watch for dropping by to tell us  the little weasel got 15 months;

Pfc. Robin Long, who fled rather than reporting for duty at Fort Carson in 2005 told court-martial judge Col. Debra Boudreau that he left the country because of moral objections to what he termed an “illegal war.” The judge came back with a 15-month sentence after prosecutors argued that Long “abandoned his duty, his honor and his country.”

That’s about 15 months less than I would have given him but it’s a lot more than I expected from the politically sensitive US Army. I’m sure he’ll be a martyr and we can look forward to “Free Robin Long” chants in future protests.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Phony soldiers, Politics