Dereliction of Duty

NDP MP Bill Siksay wants Canada to open the doors to American military deserters who have fled from duty rather than serve in Iraq, reports CTV:

According to the British Columbia MP, the issue resonates with a lot of Canadians.

For example, Siksay told CTV's Canada AM early Wednesday, Canadians are widely opposed to the prison abuse reported at the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay prisons.

"They're (also) outraged at the failure to produce any weapons of mass destruction, since that was one of the main reasons for going into this war," he added.

So far, that support has translated into 15,000 signatures on a petition organized by the community-based War Resisters Support Campaign.

"There's huge public support for these war resisters in Canada," Siksay said.

Let's leave aside the issue of 15,000 signatures on a petition equalling huge public support. I could get 15,000 signatures on a petition to reinstate the stocks for petty thieves and dunking for common scolds.

The question is whether Mr. Siksay would have extended the same support to conscripts into Saddam Hussein's army, or to conscripts in the Chinese and North Korean armies.

Refusal to serve for them would not have resulted in a fair trial, a dishonourable discharge and a year or two in an austere but livable military prison.

Refusal for them would have met with a quick bullet to the back of the head, if they were lucky.