War resister wins another shot at permanent residence

[Cato]

I stand behind this guy 100%. The wars only continue so long as there are people to fight them. The troops should abandon en masse this illegitimate commander-in-thief and his puppet masters' war of terror. The only people who should be standing trial are the people who sent them there to begin with. Every last one of them.

Given that every last one of them weren't conscripted, they only have themselves to blame if they're caught and court-martialed as pathetic deserters. My brother has PTSD from his time in Iraq, he's even tried to kill himself once from it the poor fellow, and he's still in the Army National Guard and has never once tried to get out of it (his obligations from his oath to serve the union, that is).

This grimy sack of shit who ran to Canada like a pussy, bleating for asylum, should just be put in the stocks and have garbage tossed at him.

[Óttar]

He wasn't drafted. He signed up voluntarily and then all of a sudden changed his mind. I would support him if he was drafted, but reneging on a commitment, I don't have sympathy for that. How all of a sudden did he manufacture "deeply held beliefs" ?

[Sol Invictus]

they only have themselves to blame if they're caught and court-martialed as pathetic deserters.

If Obama refuses even to come forward to confirm his birthplace thus his legitimacy as commander-in-chief, then why should a soldier accept the oath to him as valid? Folks in the military are for the most part well intentioned and only do it because they want to defend their country against terror. Well, people come back realizing they only create the terror. So you can understand my sentiment with regards to deserters.

[Cato]

If Obama refuses even to come forward to confirm his birthplace thus his legitimacy as commander-in-chief, then why should a soldier accept the oath to him as valid? Folks in the military are for the most part well intentioned and only do it because they want to defend their country against terror. Well, people come back realizing they only create the terror. So you can understand my sentiment with regards to deserters.

The oath of enlistment mentions the President, it is true, but it also mentions the the chain of command, the Constitution and the Almighty himself:

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joini...thofenlist.htm

[Debaser11]

Whenever I read about cases like this, my instinct is to think that the main cause of the problem is that the soldier did not take his oath seriously enough to begin with. I have no doubt that moral epiphanies do happen to soldiers, but I find it hard to believe that these deserting soldiers really gave their line of duty the proper moral consideration beforehand. Basically this soldier, like all the others that desert that aren't cowards, are wrestling with what Catholics call the Doctrine of Double Effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princip...ble_effect#War).

Keeping his oath would be the effect that he wants to create but that effect could also come at the cost of more civilian/innocent lives, according to the doctrine. Such moral thinking should be taught (not that I'm claiming he should be proselytized as a Catholic), but our education system is too worried about sensitivity and PC obedience to prepare young people to weigh serious moral matters properly when they become adults. If the warm and fuzzy feelings, which liberal education seeks to sustain at all times, start to evaporate around us (as they often do in adult situations), we don't know what to do!

If being a soldier did not raise serious moral concerns, the blasted oath wouldn't be so important in the first place. The damned thing ain't a formality. My sympathies are limited given how important loyalty is to an institution like the army. And as Ottar pointed out, he wasn't drafted. The "he was desperate and needed college money" line also doesn't sit well with me. The Army is not nor has it ever been the Peace Corps. And "see the world" on your own dime! You're there to do messy jobs.

[Peasant]

Invading Iraq and Afghanistan has not protected anywhere is the west. It is not in our interests apart from catching some beardy twat.