I cracked my Freeps this morning and whaddaya know? News, both good and annoying. The annoying part is the my city is currently harbouring Michigan’s Matt David Lowell, a Yank deserter who has chosen to tuck tail and scurry north of the border rather than do the duty that he swore to do. The good part is that this little bugger has just gotten the word from the Immigration and Refugee Board on how his application for refugee status went.

Refugee from the United States. From arguably the freest country in the world; a place where you can go from baggage handler to billionaire; where nobody ever starves, anybody can vote (and “anybody can become president; that’s one of the risks you take” 🙂 ) and political dissidents have a habit of not disappearing. In different circumstances, I could probably laugh my balls off at that idea.

But these aren’t different circumstances. This is my country and this gutless prick is trying to pass himself off as a refugee. The Immigration and Refugee Board issued their decision in typical bureaucratic style, taking eight damn pages to say one lousy word:

Fuggeddaboudit.

But the recent immigration board decision likely means Lowell could be shipped back to the U.S. within the next year.

His punishment for desertion, the board’s decision reads, wouldn’t “amount to persecution or . . . cruel and unusual punishment” — factors that can lead to successful refugee claims in Canada.

Gee whiz, the damn bureaucrats got something right for a change. I just have one question left: what the hell’s with that “shipped back to the U.S. within the next year” bullshit? What’s the God damned holdup? I haven’t been able to confirm it, but I’m pretty friggin’ sure that this bastard probably has a warrant for his arrest south of the border.

In other words, he’s a wanted criminal. Canada and the US have an extradition treaty, remember? That means that if somebody commits a crime in Canada and then screws off to the States, they ship his sorry ass right back to us. That treaty works both ways.

Remember what happened the last time some American scumbag tried to hang his hat on this side of the border? Everybody totally flipped their wigs. Some even suggested that he should be stuffed in a trunk and dropped on the American side of the border, and not necessarily on dry land. So why the deafening silence over Lowell’s presence in my home and native land?

Oh yeah, I forgot; Lowell’s not a scumbag. He’s not some gutless waste of skin who VOLUNTEERED for military service in time of war only to — when the time came to actually DO his duty — tuck tail and run, leaving the other men in his unit to pick up the slack. No, no, boys and girls. The high an’ mighty Matty Davey Lowell is that Holiest Of The Holies of the anti-military nutjob cult: a Conscientious Objector.

What utter bullshit. This asshole wasn’t drafted, he volunteered, just like every other soldier in the American Armed Forces. It’s not like he didn’t know what he was getting into; he signed up after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. There is no way in hell that he couldn’t have known that he was going to get sent into combat. Say what you want to about the US military’s admittance standards when it comes to intelligence, but they aren’t THAT damned low. Now, he pukes up the most relentlessly recycled of the trendy antiwar pap right on cue to anyone that will listen: “I wanted to go to Afghanistan, not Iraq!”

More bullshit. This shithead wants us to think that it’s been soldiers’ God-given right down through the ages to pick and choose what orders they follow and what ones they don’t. Any idiot knows without even joining the army that, especially in wartime, soldiers exist for three reasons and ONLY three reasons: killing, dying, and doing as we’re told. Pretty it up and dump whatever euphemisms you want on it but those three are what it all boils down to, because that’s how you win a war. Period.

So spare me the song and dance about how this chickenshit’s supposed morals. He’s a coward, plain and simple.  People with principles don’t run for the hills, they take a stand.
Finally, while we’re blowing wind out our asses about conscientious objectors, bear this in mind: Fred Topham was a conscientious objector. Because of his faith, he refused to carry a weapon but he sure as hell didn’t run away, either. For those of you not familiar with “Toppy’s” story:

On 24th March 1945, Corporal Topham, a medical orderly, parachuted with his Battalion on to a strongly defended area east of the Rhine. At about 11:00 hours, whilst treating casualties sustained in the drop, a cry for help came from a wounded man in the open. Two medical orderlies from a field ambulance went out to this man in succession but both were killed as they knelt beside the casualty. Without hesitation and on his own initiative, Corporal Toham went forward through intense fire to replace the orderlies who had been killed before his eyes. As he worked on the wounded man, he was himself shot in the face. In spite of severe bleeding and intense pain, he never faltered in his task.

Having completed immediate first aid, he carried the wounded man steadily and slowly back through continuous fire to the shelter of a wood. During the next two hours Corporal Topham refused all offers of medical help for his own wounds. He worked most devotedly throughout this period to bring in wounded, showing complete disregard for the heavy and accurate enemy fire.

On his way back to his company he came across a carrier which had received a direct hit. Enemy mortar bombs were still dropping around, and the carrier itself was burning fiercely and its own mortar ammunition was exploding. An experienced officer on the spot had warned all not to approach the carrier. Corporal Topham, however, immediately went out alone in spite of the blasting ammunition and enemy fire, and rescued the three occupants of the carrier. He brought these men back across the open and although one died almost immediately afterwards, he arranged for the evacuation of the other two, who undoubtedly owe their lives to him.

This N.C.O. showed sustained gallantry of the highest order. For six hours, most of the time in great pain, he performed a series of acts of outstanding bravery and his magnificent and selfless courage inspired all those who witnessed it.

London Gazette, 3 August 1945

For his valour and courage under fire, Frederick George Topham was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award on the British Commonwealth for the recognition of valour in the face of the enemy. The next time you want to call some chickenshit like Matt Lowell a “conscientious objector,” take a second to consider what yardstick you should be using to define that.

As for Lowell, the bottom of the Freeps article has this little tidbit:

IF YOU GO

What: Public meeting for those interested in resisting the Iraq war and offering support to military resisters.

When: Thursday, 7 p.m.

Where: Tolpuddle housing co-operative, common room, 380 Adelaide St., at King Street, in London.

Who: Speakers, including a local war resister.

“Local war resister.” Gee, I wonder who that could possible be? So it looks like little Matty’s going to try to cash in his Andy Warhol minutes. Feel free to turn our and make your opinions known as well.

Hey, Matty…
You say that you’re “so sick of running” and “don’t want to have to look over [your] shoulder every day, wondering if this is the day somebody comes to [you] and says, ‘What you did was wrong’…?”  The solution is simple: get your worthless little chickenshit ass the hell back to Fort Lewis, stand in front of that Court Martial and face the consequences of your choice.

You say you’re no coward; I say prove it.

Following the tragic death of Trooper Mark Wilson in Afghanistan in October of last year, one sports artist (a friend of Wilson’s family) was hit hard and decided that something should be done to show appreciation for the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform. Well, David Arrigo up and did just that in his own, very Canadian, way. Patrick Maloney had the story in today’s Freeps, which is reproduced in its entirety below:

Goalie mask soldier tribute

Mon, January 8, 2007
By PATRICK MALONEY, FREE PRESS REPORTER

Trooper Mark Wilson’s death in Afghanistan has inspired a special piece of art that’s being passed among elite NHL players and may become part of the upcoming all-star game.

Sports artist David Arrigo, a friend of one of Wilson’s relatives, was hit hard by the October death of the London soldier and inspired to design a military-themed goalie mask.

“It just sort of pushed me — this is going to be my addition to thanking the soldiers,” said Arrigo, who has done work for years for the NHL, NFL and other pro sports leagues.

“(But) I didn’t want this piece to be about any one person — it’s more about all the soldiers in Afghanistan.”

The detailed mask design, Arrigo explained, has two distinct sides: The right is called “the mission,” and features images of an Afghani girl reading and a Canadian soldier. The left side, called “the memory,” includes a bagpiper and a soldier pinning a poppy on a wreath.

What could have been a quiet tribute, however, is getting much more attention thanks to the contacts Arrigo and Wilson’s cousin, NHL photographer Dave Sandford, have throughout pro hockey.

The pair are in discussions with at least one goalie to wear the mask in Dallas on Jan. 24 during the all-star skills competition or in the all-star game.

They have also photographed the mask with hockey celebrities such as Don Cherry, who mentioned the project during Coach’s Corner on Hockey Night In Canada. Sandford was to photograph Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby with it.

Those photos will eventually be posted at nhl.com and on Arrigo’s own website, darrigoart.com. Arrigo’s mask will then be auctioned off on the NHL’s website with the money raised going to the families of fallen troops.

“I’m looking to put a call out to corporate Canada,” Arrigo said. “If they’re not going to bid on the mask, (they could) create some other programs of awareness.”

NHL officials in the U.S. were so impressed, they have asked Arrigo to make a mask with an American theme.

Wilson, 39, was killed in an October roadside bomb attack while serving in Afghanistan. As London’s first combat casualty of the mission, his death rocked the city and sparked an outpouring of support for the family.

The attention the mask is generating is further proof that support continues, his cousin Sandford said.

“They’re not forgetting this,” said Sandford. “While everybody may not agree with why they’re there (in Afghanistan), the fact . . . is they’re there. You have to support them.

“Whether it’s in the form of a little yellow ribbon or a goalie mask, it’s one of those things that keeps (it) in the forefront.”

I have to say that, after my last post, this is a refreshing bit of news. I could spout off about this for hours, but it really does speak for itself. This is so good that I’m putting the whole damn thing up here for everyone to see. For those out there who would question the courage and dedication of our men and women in uniform who put themselves in harm’s way for the greater good: keep reading, and learn something…

Canadian soldiers ready to re-enlist

Mon, January 1, 2007
The six-month tours leave troops seemingly enthused for more.
By BILL GRAVELAND, CP

HOWZ-E MADAD, AFGHAN-ISTAN — Sweltering heat in the summer, frigid cold in the winter, sleeping in the desert and the ever-present threat of Taliban attacks doesn’t seem to be a downside for some Canadian soldiers serving here.

As a matter of fact, with the end of this rotation coming up in February, a number are already talking about coming back for another tour of duty.

Forty-four Canadian soldiers have died in this war-torn country since 2002 and 2006 has been the bloodiest year for our troops since the Korean War.

But individuals like Cpl. Mark Ejdrygiewicz, 22, of Lethbridge, Alta., believe a six-month tour isn’t long enough to get the job done.

“On this six-month tour we did a lot. There was a lot of progress made: Op Medusa and down in Panjwaii and the districts there opening up the schools and building highways,” said Ejdrygiewicz, known as “Edge” to his patrol mates, as he rode in the back of a light armoured vehicle near Howz-e Madad.

“We’re doing what we can but we know the Taliban are going to come back. Winter’s here and they’ve gone back to Pakistan,” he said, taking a drag from his cigarette. “We’ve got a foothold on the ground in the area but in the back of your mind you know they will be coming back and it will be another threat.”

And Ejdrygiewicz takes his job very seriously. Written in felt pen on the cover of his helmet in Pashto is “Taliban Relocation Service,” a tribute to fallen comrade Master Cpl. Jeffrey Walsh, who was killed by an accidental rifle discharge last summer.

“One of our good friends who passed away back in August, Jeff Walsh, on his first roto, he had the acronym TRS and his idea was to make T-shirts for this platoon,” smiled Ejdrygiewicz.

“When he passed away it’s something we all kind of held onto and put that tag onto everything. Some interpreters helped me translate it into Pashto and I thought it would be a nice thing to put on the helmet,” he added.

“The reason it is in Pashto is so we can have a laugh and the locals can have a laugh as well and it’s caught on pretty well so far.”

As far as Ejdrygiewicz is concerned, any soldier who doesn’t want to come back for another tour here, shouldn’t have come in the first place.

“Being gung-ho, being enthusiastic about doing his job? Hey that’s a good thing,” he said. “If you’ve got soldiers out here wanting to go home, miserable and complaining, they’re a risk to you, they’re a risk to themselves and they don’t need to be here.”

I don’t. Not at all. That’s because I know that the worst of the usual suspects will twist this in vile and sickening ways. But I don’t see myself as having much choice, since it’s out already.

Our soldiers are the finest and the bravest on the face of God’s Earth, bar none. I say that. I believe that. And I God damned well stand by that.

But the truth of the matter is that not every man is cut out for combat. Some men are born to be soldiers, some are made into soldiers, and some can never be soldiers, no matter how hard they try. And no, I’m not going to make some bullshit glib crack about how “there is nothing so exhillerating as being shot at and missed,” if for no other reason than that there’s nothing that sucks so much as being shot at and hit.

The point is, not every man can bear the stress of combat. We are not immune to this reality.

The Globe & Mail’s Christie Blatchford has penned a story of one man who, in earlier days, would have himself staring down the barrels of men from his own unit as an officer asked him if he wanted a blindfold. Men in his unit describe it as desertion. I call it cowardice in the face of the enemy.

The following is Christie’s story in its entirety. I’ve trimmed it a bit for size (substituting “NATO” for “North Atlantic Treaty Organization” and such) but apart from that, the story is just as she wrote it. And before anybody thinks about sending Christie any poisoned-pen letters, bear in mind that I don’t like what I see here either but it’s a journalist’s job to tell the story and she seems to do it fairly. Bear that in mind.

THE AFGHAN MISSION: EXCLUSIVE REPORT

Did he abandon his troops?
Nearly all members of Charles Company have distinguished themselves under fire. But one veteran noncommissioned officer is not included in that honourable group

CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD

FOB ZETTELMEYER, AFGHANISTAN — When Major Matthew Sprague says he is tempted to put in his whole company for awards or commendations, he isn’t kidding.

So many of the officers, NCOs and ordinary grunts of the 1st RCR’s C Co, which Major Sprague commands, have distinguished themselves under fire here in southern Afghanistan — particularly on two terrible days in September, when the company was first attacked with shocking ferocity by the Taliban, and then, still reeling from the four men lost that morning, accidentally strafed in a friendly-fire incident that killed another and injured 38 the very next day — that separating the ordinarily brave from the ridiculously courageous is difficult if not impossible.

But there is one man not included in that honourable group.

In several recent interviews, during which he properly sang the praises of his troops, Major Sprague didn’t even mention his name. Asked directly about him yesterday, he would not discuss the soldier except to say tersely that he is now out of the army and that the alleged incident that led to his leaving is “in the past, as far as I’m concerned.”

The Globe and Mail has learned the man is a veteran NCO who is alleged to have deserted his troops while they were under fire Sept. 3 and was later sent home to Canada.

The Globe has decided not to use the soldier’s name, in large measure because even those who feel most betrayed are loath to see him criticized publicly.

“He left me there to die,” MCpl Ward Engley of C’s 8 platoon said yesterday in a brief, blunt interview conducted in the back of a LAV that was taking him to the base at nearby Masum Ghar and then to Kandahar Air Field for emergency dental treatment.

He said the NCO was “hiding behind a wall” and wouldn’t come out long enough to give him the radio when he asked for it.

“Our grenades were duds,” MCpl. Engley said, contempt colouring his voice, “and we were running low on ammo, but he couldn’t even hand me the radio.”

MCpl. Engley is not the only soldier to characterize what happened that morning as desertion.

It was described the same way by three other soldiers interviewed by The Globe, including two of those who were pinned down by heavy fire when the NCO is alleged to have left his post, and the 25-year-old officer who commands 8 platoon.

In army language, MCpl. Engley said, what the NCO did was “shit the bed hard.”

The offensive against the notorious White School — a known Taliban stronghold in the volatile Panjwai area since last summer, when the 1st PPCLI suffered casualties there — was part of the kickoff to Operation Medusa, the massive, Canadian-led NATO campaign.

While ultimately deemed a major success, with as many as 1,000 Taliban claimed killed and senior NATO commanders singing its praises in speeches, Medusa was arguably a bit of a cock-up from the get-go.

Originally, battle orders called for three days of heavy bombing and artillery, plus 18 air strikes on Taliban commanders identified as “high-value targets,” before the soldiers of C Co were to move into the area, then lush with three-metre-tall marijuana fields and nearly impenetrable.

But at the last minute, after intelligence supposedly reported no signs of the enemy, the bombings and air strikes were called off. The soldiers were ordered to cross the Arghandab River early on the morning of Sept. 3.

“Our orders came in saying there would be three days of bombarding the shit out of it, and then they cancelled all that and then we rolled in at 7 in the morning,” said Pte Will Needham, a 22-year-old from Toronto. “. . . We rolled in, drove right into an ambush site, and it was told to us the night before that this grid was basically an ambush site.”

Originally, in fact, the troops were supposed to cross the river on foot — “dismounted,” as they call it — because it was thought their LAVs would be unable to cross. But those orders, too, disappeared, with combat engineers making “breaches” across the river for the vehicles.

As described by Lt Jeremy Hiltz, the 8 platoon boss, MCpl. Engley, Pte. Needham and Pte. Travis Rawls, a 31-year-old from 8 platoon, the scene as they first crossed the river was eerie — as still “as when I’m skydiving,” MCpl. Engley said.

“We knew, deep down inside,” Lt. Hiltz told The Globe. “We knew they [the Taliban] were there. . . . But it’s still quiet, and there’s no indication that anything’s wrong, except for guys are looking at each other, there’s that feeling.

“But I think at that point, we’re still pretty young and I think a lot of guys didn’t recognize it.”

The troops of 8 platoon dismounted, and what greeted them were the leaflets that had been dropped from the air before the start of Op Medusa — pamphlets warning the Taliban, and civilians in the area, that NATO forces were coming.

MCpl. Engley’s section was ordered to secure a big ditch, he said, and it was from there that “all of a sudden, the whole world exploded around us” — RPGs, mortars, rounds from lethal 81 mm recoilless rifles, machine-gun fire coming at the soldiers from what seemed like all directions.

It wasn’t until more than a week later, when the Canadians actually secured the area around the White School, that they realized the enormity of what they had been up against, Lt. Hiltz said.

The Taliban had “trench lines, ditches, bunkers, firing holes. I mean, they were firing from trees, firing from pot fields, explosions were coming from pot fields looked like mortars but they were actually RPGs impacting at ground level. They were watching our antennas go by and firing from pot fields,” from as close as 100 metres.

MCpl. Engley’s section, meantime, was ordered to leave the ditch and do a room-by-room search of four small mud-walled buildings near the White School.

It was there, Pte. Needham said, that “we pretty much got pinned down by RPGs and small-arms fire, which was coming mostly from the south.”

Pte. Rawls said it was at that point the NCO is alleged to have claimed to be hit, then left them behind, saying he was off to get them support.

“I didn’t have a fucking clue he was even gone, he wasn’t really the command-and-control leader,” Pte. Needham snapped.

Lt. Hiltz was equally blunt: He “basically deserted, left the section while a couple of guys were pinned down.”

Ptes Needham and Rawls were on the right side of one building, two reservists were on the left, and other members of the section were spread out throughout the little compound, all of them “putting down fire.”

They couldn’t tell where the enemy fire was originating from, couldn’t even tell if they were receiving friendly fire from other platoons. It was very confusing, Pte. Rawls said, and they couldn’t raise anyone on the radio to tell them where they were trapped, or find out where the other platoons were located.

On top of that, a 225-kg bomb was dropped almost on top of the section. “Basically, it was being called right on top of us,” Pte. Rawls said. But the bomb either malfunctioned or its GPS system rendered it inert, as it is supposed to if it goes off target.

When the order to withdraw eventually came from Major Sprague, the soldiers were too far from their LAV to retreat safely. In the end, the section was pinned down for two to three hours.

It was Sgt Graeme Ferrier, driving up and down the line looking for stragglers, who found them. They were the last out to safety, and only afterward did they learn that their beloved warrant officer, Frank Mellish, his fellow warrant Rick Nolan, combat engineer Sgt Shane Stachnik and Pte. Needham’s former roommate and best friend, Pte. Will Cushley, had been killed.

Their section has since been rebuilt with replacements from CFB Petawawa, but as Pte. Rawls said, “They arrived after all of that. When we arrived, same as everybody who gets here, you train as infanteer and you want to come and get in on the action and you get into it like that, and it’s a mess like that, and you don’t want to ever see it again.

“They don’t know what that’s like yet. If they find that out, probably when they lose a friend.”

And Pte. Needham said, “That’s the only way you really realize . . . I knew it was going to be bad, but I never thought someone I knew would get killed. I never knew it would be like this. Like September was the worst month ever, we lost a lot of good people. I didn’t think it would be this bad.

“And it was.”

He continued, “We had been on ground in this country for three weeks. Most people hadn’t been in a firefight. We’d been ambushed once and fired twice, but it was a lot of inexperienced men going into a huge combat situation . . . it was overwhelming for a bunch of people who didn’t have the experience. That’s what it comes down to, I guess.”

Both Privates Needham and Rawls said that if they stay in the army, they will switch units because of the “incompetence” they’ve seen here.

Coming to Afghanistan, Pte. Rawls said, the big concern was “about everyone around you. Are they gonna do their job? And are you?”

They have their answers now.

Tip o’ the hat to SDA for this one. Haul ass over to Angus Reid and put your two cents in. The moonbats seem to be stuffing the ballot box on this one…

It has always been interesting to me that the people that whine and lecture the most vehemently about what nasty things Western soldiers are doing in Afghanistan are the very people that have the least understanding of anything that is actually happening on the ground there. We hear over and over about how outraged “ordinary Afghanis” are over “foreign invaders/occupiers” in their homeland, propping up a corrupt government, and how they just want us to bugger off.

Interesting then, isn’t it, what you hear from those very same “ordinary Afghanis” on those rare occasions when someone from the Western media actually listens to what they’re saying:

“It’s not Karzai’s fault. If the terrorists would stop coming here from neighbouring countries and blowing themselves up, things would get better.”

Neither man blames NATO forces for Afghanistan’s cascade of failure. “They haven’t done bad or good that I can see,” says Hamoun. “The warlords are gone from Kabul, which is good. But nothing else has changed.”

“We know the Canadians are here to help us and we thank them,” says Marjdin. “I have nothing, but I feel safe. Only the Christian countries are trying to help Afghanistan. The Muslim countries do nothing for us. They watch us starve.”

Yup. We’re real unpopular with the Afghanis, alright. 🙄