ttom500: If it is the case I am thinking of..his unit was assigned to a deployment to Iraq......and he skipped. I think that he is looking at Levenworth time. Maxium security hard time military prison in Kansas.
This was written on July 2nd:
War deserter 'poster boy' not actually wanted in U.S.: ReportDavid Wylie , Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, July 02, 2008
A Toronto rally planned today to stop the deportation of high-profile U.S. war deserter Corey Glass has one hitch - Glass is reportedly not a war deserter and is welcome back in the U.S.
Protesters are gathering in Toronto's Parkdale community for Thursday to oppose the Conservatives' decision to deport Glass, despite Parliament passing a non-binding motion on June 3 calling for an end to deportation proceedings against Glass and other war resisters.
However, ABC News reported Wednesday that Glass, 25, was discharged from the U.S. army shortly after going AWL in 2006. Calling Glass the "poster boy of the war resisters movement," the American news agency found Glass was discharged from the California National Guard Dec. 1, 2006 - four months after arriving in Canada.
"He is not considered absent without leave. He is not considered a deserter," Maj. Nathan Banks, a U.S. army spokesman, told ABC. "He is running for no reason. He is fully welcome in the United States. I cannot believe this is a big deal in Canada."
When the news organization reached Glass with the news, he was flabbergasted. "I had absolutely no idea that I had been discharged. This is insane. This is so weird. There are no warrants? No one is looking for me?"
Glass joined the National Guard in 2002 and was told he would not have to fight on foreign shores, but in 2005 was sent to Iraq. After five months of an 18-month tour he returned on a two-week leave. He fled to Canada shortly thereafter.
"I signed up to defend people and do humanitarian work such as helping out when there was a hurricane or tornado," he said. "I should have been in New Orleans after Katrina, not in Iraq."
But Michelle Robidoux of the War Resisters Support Campaign, which is organizing the rally, said Glass could still face prosecution and is still on individual ready reserve, meaning he could be called back to Iraq anytime over the next three years.
"His lawyer said nothing has changed," said Robidoux.
"There are 16,000 soldiers that are on individual ready reserve who are called back to Iraq, so he's not at all out of the woods in that regard."
Lee Zaslofsky, also of the war resisters group, said the discharge is only administrative.
"It's not a real discharge . . . and we feel the situation hasn't changed substantially," he said. "We know of cases where guys go back and they have done and pretty much completed the outsourcing, only to be told, 'Hey guess what, we decided to court-martial you.' So they can do that."
Zaslofsky said Glass was "totally unaware of this so-called discharge.
"When he was told of it he said, 'Well this looks weird and strange, but I'll look into it.' And when he looked into it he found . . . there's not much substance to it."
© Canwest News Service 2008
