Deserter gets a little help from Rae
(38) Jeremy Hinzman has broken faith with all of them.
He is a deserter.
Not a war resister, not a draft dodger as thousands before him who sought refuge in Canada from conscription during the Vietnam era, but a bolter, an abandoner of fellow soldiers – those who went, avidly or reluctantly, hawkish or dreading combat to the bone.
Hinzman turned tail on the U.S. Army in 2004 after learning his unit was headed for Iraq.
He had served a tour in Afghanistan the previous year, working in the kitchen, temporarily classified for a "non-combatant'' job while his conscientious objector bid was being considered.
It was turned down and he was ordered back to regular duties.
That's when he skedaddled north.
Since then, Hinzman has been living in Toronto with his young family.
His application for refugee status was rejected last month.
He has been ordered to leave Canada by Monday.
Yesterday, at a downtown church, with Bob Rae at his side, Hinzman made another plea for amnesty.
Rae echoed the call for a last-ditch meeting with Immigration Minister Diane Finley to avert deportation and what will occur on the other side of the border – arrest for desertion, a court-martial, perhaps a prison sentence.
"I'd rather go to jail than kill people,'' Hinzman asserted.
Actually, he'd rather not go to jail, otherwise he wouldn't be here and trying to stay.
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