Letters to the Editor
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An illegal war
Anyone appying for refugee status in Canada in order to remain here has to go before a board to prove their claim. Claiming that you are tired of killing or seeing the killing in Iraq isn't a good enough reason to be a refugee. Claiming that you are being forced to fight in an unjust war might be true but for any governnment agency to accept that the Iraq war is unjust would open up a hornets nest.
Not that there aren't good arguments for such a claim under internaional law. The UN Charter is clear that no country can invade another unless there is an immediate threat. It is clear now that even the fragile evidence for the threat that Iraq posed was based on lies that were used to justify a preconsidered decision. Deposing a tyrant such as Hussein would be legal if carried out under the auspices of an UN resolution be no such resolution was ever passed. Koffi Annan has said that the iraq war was illegal.
The Refugee Board is well aware that to accept a claim for refugee status for deserters based on their claim that they can't fight in a illegal war would cause a huge problem for Canadian-American relations. How would the Canadian govenment respond to such a decision even if most Canadians (and the world) believe it is true.