US military deserter applies for asylum in Germany

[WillieW]

US Military Deserter Applies For Asylum In Germany - Lawyer



BERLIN (AFP)--A U.S. soldier who deserted because he didn't want to serve and commit "war crimes" in Iraq has applied for asylum in Germany, his lawyer said Friday.

Andre Shepherd, who served in Iraq between September 2004 and February 2005 where his job was maintaining Apache military helicopters, refused to return there last year from his base in Germany.

The 31-year-old deserted because "he does not want to take part in the American war in Iraq, a war that does not conform with international law and because he does not want to be implicated in war crimes," his lawyer Reinhard Marx told AFP.

The lawyer wants to apply for asylum under a European Union directive from April 2004 stipulating that asylum can be granted if the applicant has to take part in a conflict and commit a "crime against peace, a war crime or a crime against humanity," Marx said.

If the application is unsuccessful Shepherd faces extradition and imprisonment in the U.S., the lawyer added.

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[Captain Hilts]

1. They can have him. nt

[madokie]

2. meaning???

[Captain Hilts]

3. You can't permit troops to pick and choose in which conflicts they'll serve.

His first obligation is to his unit that expects him to be there.

[noamnety]

9. No, that's not his first obligation. n/t

[Captain Hilts]

10. His unit has come to depend on him. nt

[noamnety]

11. Yes, his unit depends on him.

But no, that's not his first obligation.

[Aristus]

12. He's following U.S. Military doctrine as it was taught to me in Basic Training.

An American soldier has a legal, ethical and moral obligation to disobey unlawful orders. And the unmitigated slaughter in Iraq was most certainly initiated by an unlawful order. It's not even the case where a guy enlists, and then tries to get out of deploying by suddenly developing a conscience. He served a tour in Iraq, knows what the situation on the ground is, and understands the depths of depravity that caused the war in the first place. He's a hero, as far as I'm concerned.

[Orsino]

18. But we can permit corrupt imperialist warmongers to abuse the volunteer system?

No.

The Bush Administration abdicated its moral authority long ago. If there ever was a US military worthy of the absolutism you espouse, this ain't it.

I think the Bushies are criminal, and won't demand that anyone honor a contract with them. Taxpayers who want loyalty ought to realize that it starts from the top down.

[old mark]

4. Meaning he voluntarily enlisted, and should have the

integrity to honor his commitment.

mark

[Captain Hilts]

5. ...To his unit who expect him to play his role. That's why they train as a UNIT.

There is no such thing as individual freedom in the military.

[Selatius]

15. His first obligation is to the law, not to his unit.

The order to invade Iraq would likely be considered a crime against the peace, given the justifications for the war were provably false. Conspiracy to wage aggressive war and waging aggressive war were indictments brought against high-ranking Nazi officials at the end of the last world war. These are where the Nuremberg Principles originated from. He swore an oath to defend the Constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic. Let the courts have their say.

Ya'll people keep forgetting that part of oath. Pretty soon, there are going to have to be fucking JAG officers out there on foot patrol because morons keep forgetting where they swore their oath to, and I thought I had it bad with Viet Nam and watching my family suffer through that war.

[Joe Chi Minh]

6. One day you two are going to have to face your Maker. He'll obviously excuse

many of the troops who feel they have no choice, but he won't excuse soulless, imperialist enablers such as yourselves. And you'll have deserved everything he throws at you - for all eternity.

Some people just don't like the thought of killing innocent men, women and children, who don't damn well want you out there; and others, it seems are fine with it.

If that man has the courage and self-confidence to seek asylum in a foreign country as a conscientious objector, good for him. My step-father fought in the artillery in WWII (my own father was in the engineers) and was in no doubt that the conscientious objectors were among the bravest people. And that was a war in which you had to be "ever so slightly loony" to think pacifism was an option, imo.

There are 5 million orphans in Iraq now, thanks to our troops. Do you really think God won't hold the people responsible for the murder of their paretns to account? If so I don't think he's the kind of God that most Chrisitians would recognise. Imagine that little child in the Toy shop saying to her dead father, "Wake up, Daddy!" Then multiply that by 5 million.

[UndertheOcean]

7. If only more will listen to their humanity , like him

[Joe Chi Minh]

8. I think many would love to, Underthe Ocean, but they lack the worldly, intellectual self-confidence

to arrange such measures, or to contemplate the immediate, medium-term and long-term consequences.

I truly feel as sorry for them as I do for the Iraqi people. Even in a way, more sorry. Though beyond a certain level of suffering, discriminating between levels of suffering becomes pretty meaningless.

[Pastiche423]

13. Please let the application be sucessful

[Selatius]

14. It's a shame Shroeder is no longer in power. Angela Merkel will not be so lenient.

You can bet Merkel will apply tremendous pressure on the courts to reject this person's claim.

[Joe Chi Minh]

16. Do you really think so? She didn't give me the impression she' loved all things Neocon.at.all.

I know she's supposed to be right wing, but Merkel's party is a very different animal from the feral beasts of the right in the UK and US.

[Selatius]

17. I know, given the two, I'd rather Gerhard Shroeder than Angela Merkel.

Shroeder was vehemently against the war in Iraq.

[Joe Chi Minh]

19. Thanks for the info.