Pioneer
Park rally in support of war resister Robin Long
Robins
attorney, James Branum on developments
James
Branum on the pros and cons of resistance
Robin is the first US
war resister to be deported from Canada to the U.S. since Vietnam. He arrived
in Colorado Springs on Friday, July 18th and is currently in the
El Paso County Jail awaiting courts martial for charges related to his refusal
to report to the 2nd Brigade 2nd Infantry Division in
2005. We will be joined by Lee Zaslofsky, National Coordinator of the War Resisters Support Campaign of Canada,
and by James Branum, Long's
attorney.
(Update
Sept 10) Robin is in Mirimar, San Diego Navy brig, to serve his sentence.
A website with pertinent info on how to write him is here: Miramar.
Address
ROBIN
LONG, PO BOX 452136
SAN DIEGO, CA 92145-2136
message
from Robin' lawyer,James:
I
also talked to the brig today. Books can only be sent commercially by a publisher
or book store. I have about a dozen books sent to Robin that he couldn't take
with him to Miramar, so I'm going to sell those on Ebay (I'll let folks know
the address) and use the funds to buy him new books that he hasn't read yet.
Also someone earlier sent Robin an amazon gift card at the jail, which would
have been great except they don't have internet access at the jail. In the future,
if folks want to just buy him amazon credit, then send the card either to me
or to Courage to Resist and we'll buy books for Robin with it and have them
shipped to him.
Contact
the Fort Carson, Colorado Springs GI Advocates:
WAR
RESISTER ROBIN LONG TO FACE COURT MARTIAL FRIDAY.
PFC
Robin Long, the first Iraq-era U.S.
war resister to be deported from Canada,
will face a General Court Martial for desertion on Friday, August 22nd
at 9:00 A.M. at Bldg. 6221 on Ft. Carson.Long
and his attorney, James Branum, will hold a press conference at the site of
the Court Martial at the end of the proceeding.Long has
attracted considerable support in the local peace community, and concerned individuals
will hold a vigil to mark the decision in his case Friday at 5:00 P.M. outside
the Main Gate at Ft. Carson
Reporting
from San Diego -- Antiwar activists have taken up the cause of an Army deserter
who was deported from Canada and is now being held at the brig at Marine Corps
Air Station Miramar.
Two
dozen members of Military Families Speak Out and San Diego Veterans for Peace
protested Tuesday afternoon outside the base in support of Robin Long, a onetime
Army private who was sentenced in August to 15 months behind bars and a dishonorable
discharge.
The
activists support Long's view that the Iraq war is illegal and say his sentence
is particularly cruel because it could prevent him from returning to his sick
girlfriend and their 2-year-old son in Canada. Canadian law makes it difficult
for convicted felons to enter Canada.
"Here's
a guy who did what his conscience told him to do," said Dave Patterson, who
was in the Air Force during the Vietnam War.
"Why
do we need to put him in prison? That's crazy."
Long,
25, of Boise, Idaho, enlisted in 2003 and deserted in 2005 when his Ft. Carson,
Colo.-based unit was ordered to Iraq. He fled to British Columbia and applied
for refugee status on the grounds that, as an opponent of the war in Iraq, he
would suffer irreparable harm if returned to the United States.
Long's
application was rejected and he was deported in July. His court-martial case
is on appeal to a military appeals court. Also, activists have appealed to President-elect
Barack Obama to pardon Long.
Long
was the first U.S. service member who sought sanctuary in Canada to be deported.
His deportation caused a political controversy in Canada because it seemed to
signal a reversal of Canada's welcoming attitude toward deserters and draft
resisters from the U.S. during the Vietnam war. About half a dozen American
service members in Canada are now believed to be facing deportation.
As
the Long case continued, the lower house of the Canadian parliament passed a
nonbinding motion calling on the government to allow U.S. deserters to remain
in Canada.
The
Conservative Party government has not followed that policy.
In
Canada, Long met a Canadian woman, fathered a child and opened a business encouraging
water conservation by replacing grass lawns with less thirsty plants. His attorneys
believe that Canada and the U.S. military have dealt harshly with him as an
example to other troops.
"It's
such a waste," said James M. Branum, Long's lawyer.
Joel
Guberman, an immigration lawyer in Toronto who is not involved in the Long case,
said a deportation order and a criminal conviction will make it difficult, but
not impossible, for Long to return to Canada.
Guberman
said Canadian law allows three avenues of appeal: Long could seek a "waiver
of admissibility" based on the argument that desertion from the U.S. Army is
not a serious crime in Canada. He could wait five years and assert that he has
been rehabilitated. Or, he could get a hearing after being sponsored for return
by his girlfriend, a Canadian citizen.
"It's
not quite as dire as I'm hearing," he said in a telephone interview.
Military
rules prohibit brig prisoners from talking to reporters. But before he was deported,
Long was quoted on an activist website as saying, "Regardless of what hardships
I go through, I could have put Iraqi families through more hardships. I have
no regrets."
Lee
Zaslofsky gives a primer on how to resist the war
Lee
Zaslofsky on the history of War Resisters Support Campaign
Note from Lee Zaslofsky
of the War Resisters Support Campaign in Canada:
Dear
Friends --
When
we found out that Robin Long was to be sent to Fort Carson, Colorado, near Colorado
Springs, I began to make arrangements to visit him on behalf of the Campaign
and his many supporters in Canada. I flew to Denver on July16. I had previously
been in touch with the NBC affiliate in Colorado Springs, and they arranged
to send a reporter from their Denver affiliate to interview me outside my hotel
there.
The interview,
I understand, was shown that evening. Visiting Robin The next day, July 17,
I rented a car and drove down to Colorado Springs. I had a n appointment at
the El Paso County Jail to see Robin. I say "see", because the arrangement there
is that you see the person on a screen, and he sees you, and you can converse,
but there is no physical contact -- we are in different buildings! You get exactly
30 minutes (timer is on the screen) to chat, etc.
I found
Robin to be in excellent spirits. He has short hair and wears glasses (I had
known him without glasses), and was wearing the orange inmate's suit. He said
he gets along fine with the other prisoners, who call him "the professor"
because he helps them out with crossword puzzles and the like. Robin spoke realistically
about his situation, but he was waiting to speak with his lawyer before deciding
how to plead etc. I won't go into detail about what he said, but he is aware
of what he might have to face, and is prepared to face it with courage and without
bitterness.
This
is completely consistent with his character as I have known it for several years.
I continue to admire his peaceful moral strength. I passed on to him some loving
words of encouragement from Renee, his former partner, and her mother, and that
made him very happy. Apparently they plan to send him some pictures, probably
of his son Ocean, who turned two on July 8, while Robin was in Jail in Nelson,
BC.
I told
Robin about the wide media coverage that his case had been receiving both in
Canada and the US, especially in Boise, ID, his home town. He was pleased to
learn that the Toronto Star had published a lead editorial, "Stop Deportation
of War Deserters", the day after he was deported. He was also happy to know
that there were demonstrations protesting his deportation in Vancouver, Toronto,
and elsewhere. He asked me to arrange to get him some books -- especially Joshua
Key's "The Deserter's Tale", which he admitted he hasn't yet read.
Prison
rules say that books can only be sent via the publisher or a company like Amazon,
so please don't try to send him any directly. I deposited some money in his
prison account, which will allow him to buy some necessities and some fruit
etc, which seems not to be supplied automatically.
Local
Peace Folks Colorado Springs is a military town, with Ft. Carson, the US Air
Force Academy, and several Air Force bases nearby. But "The Springs" also has
a good number of peace activists, whom I was able to contact through Bill and
Genie Durland, Quakers whom I was told about by Orion Smith of the Canadian
Friends Service Committee. Bill and Genie's place was my first stop in The Springs,
and it was great to meet them and learn about their lifetimes work for peace
thorough the Quakers, through Bill's law practice and political involvement,
and through their involvement with Christian Peacemaker Teams, which has an
office next door to ours in the Steelworkers Building in Toronto. Bill helped
Conscientious Objectors in the military, and continues to help them in semi
retirement. He will be consulting with Robin's lawyer, James Branum, and hopes
to get recognized as an official advisor to Mr. Branum, which will allow him
to visit Robin in person.
The Vigil
Bill and Genie invited me to attend a meeting at the Colorado Springs Justice
and Peace Commission. (J & P). There we planned a vigil for the next day, Friday,
July 25. Pete Haney, the director of the Commission, is a good organizer, so
the next day we made signs "Free Robin Long"; "Support the Troops Who Resist",
etc, for the vigil. Before helping with the signs, I went to my second appointment
with Robin at the jail. When I arrived I was upset when they told me he had
been moved to Fort Carson. I thought they might be trying to rush through his
court martial, so I quickly went over to the J & P office and began making calls
-- to media, to the Fort, to his military lawyer. Finally I got hold of his
lawyer, who told me that Robin had been taken to Ft. Carson in order to meet
with him and his military lawyer, and that he would be back in El Paso County
Jail later on. It's a bit sad to be relieved that Robin would be back in jail,
but at least I knew he was OK.
The vigil
that evening took place outside the Pioneer Museum, across the street from J
& P. Robin had asked that we not demonstrate outside the jail, and it isn't
a good idea to do so near Ft. Carson, so we picked a prominent location near
J & P. The event drew about 20 people, as well as two local TV channels, and
was well covered on the evening news, I'm told. The turnout included Bill and
Jean, of course, as well as Garett Reppenhagen, of Iraq Veterans Against the
War, and Mark Lewis, whose website, csaction.org is a great resource for progressive
folks in that area and beyond (he made videos of me, James Branum and the vigil,
which you can see on his website).
The next
day I left for Denver to get my plane back to Toronto.
Thanks!
I would
like to thank all the good people I met in Colorado Springs, both for their
advice and support, and for arranging to house me (thanks, Steve and Mary Lynn).
feed me, and point me in the right direction. I was very impressed with James
branum, both because of his legal knowledge and his deep commitment to peace.
With him, and Bill Durland, Robin will benefit from the best legal representation
and advice available. Thanks to Courage To Resist for helping to fund James's
legal work, and to Final Word I told Robin, and everyone who asked, that I had
come to Colorado to show Robin that we stand with him and support him, and that
we still regard him as a member of our war resister family in Canada. We will
continue to remain in touch with Robin, and to support him as he is punished
for the "crime" of refusing to take part in an illegal, immoral, and disastrous
war. It will be very difficult for Robin to return to Canada, given his new
status as a Deported Person, but we will keep hoping that one day we will see
him again living in peace among us in Canada.
By
mail: Make checks out to “Courage to Resist / IHC”
and note “Robin Long” in the memo field. Mail
to:
Courage
to Resist
484 Lake Park Ave #41
Oakland CA 94610
Courage
to Resist is committed to covering Robin’s legal and related defense
expenses. Thank you for helping make that possible.
Also:
You are also welcome to contribute directly to Robin’s legal expenses
via his civilian lawyer James Branum. Visitgirightslawyer.com,
select "Pay Online via PayPal" (lower left), and in the
comments field note “Robin Long”. Note that this type of donation
is not tax-deductible.
2.
Send letters of support to Robin
Robin's
pre-trial confinement has been outsourced by Fort Carson military authorities
to the local county jail.
Robin
is allowed to receive hand-written or typed letters only. Do NOT include postage
stamps, drawings, stickers, copied photos or print articles. Robin cannot
receive packages of any type (with the book exception as described below).
3. Send
Robin a money order for commissary items
Anything
Robin gets (postage stamps, toothbrush, shirts, paper, snacks, supplements,
etc.) must be ordered through the commissary. Each inmate has an account to
which friends may make deposits. To do so, a money order in U.S. funds must
be sent to the address above made out to "Robin Long, EPSO". The sender’s
name must be written on the money order.
4.
Send Robin a book
Robin
is allowed to receive books which are ordered online and sent directly to
him at the county jail fromAmazon.com
or Barnes and
Noble. These two companies know the procedure
to follow for delivering books for inmates.
Last
month 25-year-old U.S. Army PFC Robin Long became the first war resister since
the Vietnam War to be forcefully deported from Canadian soil and handed over
to military authorities. Robin is currently being held in the El Paso County
Jail, near Colorado Springs, Colorado, awaiting a military court martial for
resisting the unjust and illegal war against and occupation of Iraq. Robin
will be court martialed for desertion “with intent to remain away permanently”—Article
85 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice—in early September. The maximum
allowable penalty for a guilty verdict on this charge is three years confinement,
forfeiture of pay, and a dishonorable discharge from the Army.
In
order to expedite Robin’s trial, it appears that his unit command, the
Fourth Brigade Combat Team, Fourth Infantry Division is opting to not charge
Robin with speech-related violations of military discipline; opting to try
and convict Robin as fast as possible.
Robin
went absent without leave (AWOL) from the Army in 2005, realizing that he
had significant moral opposition to the war and the lies he had been told
regarding the reason for invasion and occupation of Iraq. After being transferred
to an Iraq bound combat unit, Robin went to Boise, Id. (his home town) where
he stayed for several months, before traveling to Canada.
Robin
recently talked to Courage to Resist about why he enlisted. “When the
U.S. first attacked Iraq, I was told by my president that it was because of
direct ties to Al-Qaida and weapons of mass destruction.” Robin explained
that while he was uneasy about his personal role in fighting, the Iraq War
seemed justified. So when his recruiter promised him a non-combat position
within the U.S., he took it. Regarding his decision to resist later, Robin
explained, “I made the best decision. Regardless of what hardships I
go through, I could have put Iraqi families through more hardships. I have
no regrets.” When asked by the Boise Weekly, in May of 2006, if he was
prepared to go to jail, Robin replied, “Yeah if it came down to that,
I'd be willing to go to prison because I know I did the right thing and I
can sleep at night and my conscience is still good.”
On
July 27th, 2008 Garrett Reppenhagen of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Lee
Zaslofsky of the War Resisters Support Campaign (Canada), members of the Springs
Action Alliance and more joined James Branum, Robin Long’s civilian
lawyer in Pioneer Park to demand Robin Long’s freedom. Garrett praised
Robin, declaring “I support Robin Long because he is a Soldier of Conscience.
There is a huge propaganda campaign in this country to get young men to join
the military. He bought the hype. He signed up for a promised [non-combat]
job, but it turned out not to be so. He decided to go to Canada and follow
his conscience instead.”
As
Robin awaits trial by military tribunal, a general court martial, he sits
in the El Paso County Jail – surrounded by other military inmates, as
well as civilians serving time on convictions or awaiting criminal prosecution.
In the past Robin would have been held in pretrial confinement in an Army
stockade, but with rising troop level needs, the Army has chosen to shut down
many stockades and outsource confinement of soldiers to civilian authorities.
With the exception of Robin’s Lawyer, James Branum, all of Robin’s
visitors must communicate with him via a camera and real time video screen.
Robin is allowed out of doors for only one hour a day, and even then cannot
see anything but a thin strip of sky, directly overhead.
Despite
the deprivations ofthe Paso county jail, Mr. Branum reports that Robin is
“…in considerably good spirits, especially considering all that
he is going through.” In a recent phone interview with Courage to Resist
Robin reported that he was very happy with Mr. Branum calling him “awesome”
as well as his military assigned defense lawyer “a smart cookie”
in Robin’s words. He has received many visitors – pastors and
members of local congregations, members of the IVAW among them. He wants everyone
to know that the cards and the letters of support he receives are most
welcome and give him of true sense of the support that is swelling for him,
outside the confines of his cell. Lee Zaslofsky, of the Canadian WRSC reports
that Robin is “..aware of what he might have to face, and is prepared
to face it with courage and without bitterness.”
The
fact remains, however, that the Iraq War is unjust and illegal. The U.N. Charter,
the Geneva Convention and the Nuremberg principles all bar wars of aggression.
The U.S. Constitution makes such treaties part of American law as well. Robin
Long is a hero for not only recognizing these truths, but putting his future
on the line to courageously resist participating in an immoral occupation.
The least we can do is support Robin, and demand his immediate freedom
Canada To Evict
US Deserter
1st soldier to head north to avoid Iraq war loses refugee bid, mulls plea
to Federal Court
by
Nick Kyonka
American war resister
Jeremy Hinzman has been ordered out of the country after a four-year legal
battle to earn a home in Canada.
A U.S. Army deserter,
Hinzman was the first post-Vietnam War resister to file for refugee status
when he arrived in Canada in January 2004 while fleeing a scheduled deployment
to Iraq.
Several bumps in
the road later, he received a deportation order yesterday from the Canada
Border Services Agency after an immigration officer rejected a pair of
his last-ditch attempts to remain in the country.
He and his family
have been ordered to leave by Sept. 23.
“I’m
tremendously disappointed,” Hinzman said yesterday, apparently fighting
back tears following the decision. “(But) life goes on and we’ll
make the most of it wherever we end up.”
Friends and family
joined Hinzman yesterday morning outside the Mississauga offices of the
border services agency where he received the decision.
His wife, Nga Nguyen,
cradled the couple’s three-week-old daughter, Meghan, while their
6-year-old son, Liam, smiled and ran around in circles as his father hugged
crying supporters.
A native of Rapid
City, S.D., Hinzman joined the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division
in January 2001.
He fled to Canada
in 2004, just weeks after learning of his scheduled deployment to Iraq
to fight in a war he says is both illegal and immoral.
After his initial
refugee application was denied in March 2005, Hinzman launched a series
of court appeals, all of which were rejected. A bid to take his case to
the Supreme Court was rejected in November 2007.
Yesterday’s
decision slammed the door on two of his remaining options to stave off
deportation - a pre-removal risk assessment and a humanitarian and compassionate
review.
Either could have
seen him granted permanent residency had the officer reviewing the case
found he would face persecution, torture or otherwise unfair treatment
if returned to the U.S.
If returned, he
could face a return to his unit or a court martial for desertion - a felony
offence that would come with possible jail time.
Despite his uncertain
future, though, Hinzman said had no regrets about deserting his unit in
the name of a principled stand.
“(Iraq) was
an unjust war based on false pretenses,” he said.
“Every soldier
who refused to fight has probably saved a lot of lives.”
He said he would
now consider whether to appeal the decision, a path taken by fellow resister
Corey Glass, whose deportation order is on hold while the Federal Court
decides whether to review his case.
Meanwhile, Lee
Zaslofsky, of the War Resisters Support Campaign, said his group would
continue to fight for Hinzman and the estimated 200 other resisters living
in Canada.
“We’re
going to be appealing to all Canadians to let the government know that
this kind of thing has got to stop,” he said, noting a non-binding
opposition bill passed in Parliament earlier this year that called on
the government to allow resisters such as Hinzman to stay.
A nationwide poll
conducted in June found two-thirds of Canadians would support a decision
to allow the resisters to stay.
“(The government)
must implement the will of Parliament and the people of Canada,”
Zaslofsky said.
Naomi
Klein appeals for the release of Jeremy Hinzman
Jeremy
Hinzman and his family appeal to Canada to let they stay
Darrell
Anderson, AWOL in Canada, speaks
Ryan
Johnson, AWOL in Canada, speaks
Citizenship and Immigration
Critic Maurizio Bevilacqua
Press Conference in support
of Corey Glass and U.S. Iraq War Resisters in Canada
House
of Commons Votes to Let U.S. War Resisters Stay in Canada
Statement
of Support for U.S. War Resisters in Canada
Canada's
House of Commons, November 28, 2005
Presenter:
Hon. Paul DeVillers, M.P. Simcoe North, Liberal Party
Toronto,
March 17, 2007 Part of the 4th anniversary anti-Iraq/Afghanistan
war march and rally at the US embassy, war resisters and supporters
first gathered at the USW hall to hear from resisters Jeremy Hinzman
and others
U.S.
War Resister and 17-year Veteran, Chuck Wiley
Rally
to support U.S. War Resisters, Toronto, Canada, January 26,
2008
Sgt.
Corey Glass, Iraq Veteran and War Resister
U.S.
War Resister and Iraq War Veteran, Phil McDowell
