TORONTO,
December 8 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Two US soldiers
have applied for political asylum in Canada in protest at the
atrocities committed by the US army in Iraq and Afghanistan, hoping to
capitalize on the country's opposition to US President George W Bush's
foreign policy.
In
graphic testimonies to a Canadian tribunal, former Marine Sergeant
Jimmy Massey and fugitive paratrooper Jeremy Hinzman have argued that
they could not tolerate killing innocent civilians in Iraq and treat
the Iraqis as terrorists any longer, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
reported Wednesday, December 8.
“The
code of silence you take in the Marines is much like the one in
organized crime,” Massey told Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board
(IRB).
The
IRB was set up to consider the merits of refugee claims at arms length
from the Canadian government.
Canada
has declined Bush's request for troops in Iraq and the majority of its
people are opposed to the war.
“30
Plus” Civilians Killed
Massey
told IRB that men under his command in the 3rd battalion, Seventh
Marines, killed “30 plus” civilians within 48 hours while on
checkpoint duty in Baghdad.
“I
do know that we killed innocent civilians,” AFP quoted Massey as
telling the Canadian tribunal. “We were shooting up people as they
got out of their cars trying to put their hands up.”
Massey
said that in some incidents, Iraqi civilians were killed by between
200 and 500 rounds pumped into four separate cars which each failed to
respond to a single warning shot and respond to hand signals, at a
Baghdad checkpoint.
Searches
found no weapons in the vehicles or evidence that those killed were
anything but innocent civilians, said Massey.
He
also said marines killed four unarmed demonstrators and more Iraqis
the next day during another spell of checkpoint duty in the occupied
Iraqi capital.
“I
was never clear on who was the enemy and who was not,” said Massey.
“When
you don't know who the enemy is, what are you doing there?” Asked
the 21-year-old Marine, later honorably discharged from his 7th Marine
weapons company.
“Evil
People”
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|
Jimmy Massey
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Massey's
testimony came to bolster claims by fugitive paratrooper Jeremy
Hinzman that he walked out on the 82nd Airborne Division to avoid
being ordered to commit war crimes in Iraq.
Hinzman
has told the IRB that the army was drilling its soldiers to think of
all Arabs and Muslims as potential terrorists, the Associated Press
reported.
“We
were being told that it was a new kind of war, that these were evil
people and they had to be dealt with,” Hinzman said.
“We
were told that we would be going to Iraq to jack up some
terrorists.”
Hinzman
fled from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on January 2 and now lives in
Toronto with his 31 year-old wife, Nga Nguyen, and 2 year-old son
Liam.
The
South Dakota-born soldier is claiming refugee status based on his
contention that he was right to refuse to fight in a war which he says
was illegal and violated human rights and the Geneva Conventions.
Hinzman
first requested conscientious objector status in 2002 before learning
he was to be posted to Afghanistan, where he eventually made 18 combat
parachute jumps.
The
following year, the request was rejected, and late in 2003 he learned
he was to be deployed to Iraq, prompting his flight to Canada.
“I
was faced with being deployed to Iraq to do what the infantry does,
kill people, and I had no justification for doing so,” said Hinzman.
“The
military is to fight justified wars,” added his lawyer Jeffrey
House, an American who first came to Canada as a draft dodger during
the Vietnam War.
Some
30,000 to 50,000 Americans fled to Canada during the Vietnam War and
were allowed to settle there.
Eight
US soldiers have begun legal
action in an effort to stop the US army extending their
tours of duty in Iraq.
The
soldiers, seven of whom have stayed anonymous, are believed to be the
first active-duty personnel to sue the army.
Since
the start of the US occupation of Iraq April 9, 2003, hundreds of US
marines have reportedly deserted army units and
fled
the country through Kuwait or Turkey under disguise,
escaping unabated resistance operations.
Click
here for IOL’s Live Dialogue with Hinzman last September
