Iraq, for most of us, is a distant thought. We see it is a country plagued by war, ruined by sanctions, and blessed (or cursed) with oil. But for Darrell Anderson, 22, and Cliff Cornell, 24, two former soldiers of the U.S. army, Iraq was their reality.
Anderson and Cornell are just two of the six known American military war-resisters who have fled to Canada rather than go to war or face jail terms. On Tuesday night, they spoke to a crowd of almost 200 people in Sidney Smith Hall about their decision to come to Canada. The lecture, entitled “Soldiers say No to war and occupation in Iraq,” was organized by Students for Peace in Iraq, and the War Resisters Support Campaign and was endorsed by SAC.
Anderson said that he joined the forces because the army promised $50,000 for college and that he would not have to go overseas. Soon after, however, his unit was sent to Iraq. Anderson saw seven months of combat and was awarded a purple heart after he received a flesh wound to his torso during a particularly violent day on patrol. He told the crowd how, day after day, soldiers his age and younger were “pushed to the absolute brink,” to the point that their primary concern was “just surviving”.
So when he came back to Kentucky at Christmas, he struggled to think of a reason to go back.
“I was not going back to Iraq to kill innocent people,” Anderson said. So instead of returning to Iraq or being forced to hide in the U.S., Anderson turned his back on his career and his family-including his 4-year-old daughter-to come to Toronto for “a chance to have a life again.” He pleaded with the lecture audience to help him lobby the Immigration and Refugee Board to approve his claim. He vehemently opposes the policies of the Bush administration and expressed bitterness about the status of civil rights in the U.S.
“I refuse to spend a day in prison for standing up for what I believe in.”
Cornell spoke next, about how he decided to come to Canada even before he went to Iraq.
He said that going to war “just didn’t feel right.” In tears, he told the crowd that his unit is currently in Iraq.
“I feel most of them won’t make it back,” he said. “And those that will, will face depression, post-traumatic stress from shooting and killing innocent people. No one signs up to kill innocent people.” Cornell left his family, who disapproved of his move to Canada to start a new life. But Cornell is adamant he made the right decision.
“I don’t want to be killing innocent people. I think this is the right choice.”
Both Anderson and Cornell have become spokespersons for the war-resisters movement. CNN was filming at the lecture, and Anderson had already been interviewed by Time, NBC, and many Canadian and U.S. newspapers. He’s hoping his vocal refusal to participate in what he sees as an illegitimate war will resonate through the media, and eventually land on George Bush’s doorstep.
Both Anderson and Cornell are eagerly awaiting the ruling on fellow army-deserter Jeremy Hinzman’s refugee case, to see what their chances are. Hinzman’s refugee claim was heard by Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board on December 6 to 8; no decision in the Hinzman case has yet been made public.
