During Vietnam the deserters were drafted and had not volunteered. That makes deserting to Canada a more difficult decision for everyone. Having to return for the third or fourth time to the mental tortures of Iraq would test anyone. Therefore, I don't think I have any real basis for judging their personal decision. However, they have to be willing to accept the consequences of that decision.

As a Candain who thanks god that our former PM Chretien refused to go along with this folly, I have noticed a peculiar trait in the Canadian political psyche.

It seems that any strident criticism of US foreign policy by Canadians is met with charges of "reflexive anti-Americanism" by our political right, which adores all things on the American right. Yet, when I log onto Salon, I am heartened by the edge of the commentary. I wonder what the Canadian right would think of such commentary?

When my family visited frends in Arizona in August 2003, I was struck by the vigour of the debate in the Arizona Republic. It was far greater than anything I had read in Canada. To read that of debate in Canada would have had our right wing writing letters of apology to Bush himself. Indeed, in 2003, our currant PM publicly apologized to the US because "our government has failed to stand with our American friends".

It is not "reflexive anti-Americanism" that we in Canada suffer from, but a "reflexive anti-Canadianism" that allows our right wing to bash its own country as well as acting as apologists for the worst elements of our friends from the south.

I keep reading these stories in Salon that say -- oh major shock, oh big surprise -- look at what despicable tactics our government is using now!!!!

Well guess where and when and how that behavior started?

Medical marijuana activists learned about the American law enforcement incursion into Canada years ago. A lot of medpot growers have tried fleeing to Canada, but it's only worked out for one of them, and that's because she married a Canadian citizen and had his child, and wasn't really a grower to begin with.

The DEA went into Canada and snatched one medical marijuana activist from the hospital and took him into American custody with his urinary catheter still attached. The doctors had him on morphine and the DEA made him go cold turkey in jail with his catheter still attached.

Does anything Salon uncovers about how badly our government and media are behaving over Iraq surprise me one bit?

No, nothing Salon uncovers surprises or shocks me one bit. That's because I've SEEN IT ALL BEFORE as a medical marijuana activist.

People who read Salon get the impression that all of this bad behavior is really centered around and caused by the Iraq War, but I've got news for you -- this is how America works these days, and it has nothing special to do with Iraq.

This is how America works these days, and it has nothing special to do with Iraq.

I just wanted to say that again, because it's true.

I'm an American who legally immigrated (emigrated?) because of this war, and to raise my daughter in a country that will honor her reproductive rights.

I've had some time (8 mos.) to think a lot about the country I've moved to, and the country I've left behind.

Politcal discourse in Canada is generally polite and reasoned, and despite disagreements and a few backward viewpoints, the best policies seem to prevail.

In the U.S., it seems our system of counties and states only makes it really easy for us to hold on to petty grievances, and as the pace of technology picks up, it gums up our ability to respond to changing conditions.

We come to America to shop, because for puzzling reasons the Canadian government has mysterious duties and quotas on what can come into the country (but really, doesn't it all come from China?). The upside is that Canada maintains a certain unique identity. It's kind of cool.

Finally, I have learned that as an American, I really was racist, as liberal and progressive as I am. I've had the opportunity to join an immigrant women's assistance center (something we would never have in the U.S.), and as I meet highly skilled working mothers from India, South America, the UK, I am coming to appreciate the value of foreigners, as I am now one of them.

Godspeed fellow deserters, in the end, we might teach our country how to heal.

I just want to say one more thing.

For whatever reason, Salon chose not to report on American DEA agents dragging a medical marijuana activist out of a Canadian hospital in handcuffs, while he was delirious from prescribed morphine, and had a urinary catheter still hanging out of his penis.

But if you had reported on that, you would have already gotten a big head start on your soldier story.

But hey, I guess this all off topic, right? Oh well.

But to make it relevant to soldiering -- the guy was a veteran -- in fact he needed medical marijuana because he had chronic pain from a crippling spine injury that occurred when his parachute failed to open during a training exercise.

So the American DEA dragged a crippled veteran from his hospital bed in Canada while Canadian officals did nothing.

If they can do that, then of course American law enforcement is going to get away with going after soldiers.

If you're in the marijuana movement long enough, NOTHING this country does is a surprise.

All the nasty tactics employed in the War on Pot eventually find their way into other government wars.

You don't do your article any favors by putting a picture of Mr Slacker Coverboy up there. You might think I'm merciless but the change in the law was common public knowledge and openly discussed 4 years ago. We all chatted up the reality that it was no longer legal or cool to escape to the land of powerful weed. Anyone who's doing it now is probably high all the time or just plain stupid.

Maybe Americans need to learn a second language so they can flee to most of the rest of the world, not just the places that are easy and convenient.