For Reluctant GI's, Canada Remains the Great White Hope

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=28200

TORONTO, Apr 7 (IPS) - So far, only a trickle of U.S. soldiers are heading north to Canada to avoid serving in the U.S. military campaign in Iraq.

It is still relatively early in the conflict, which has not reached the level of the equally controversial U.S. military involvement in Vietnam three decades ago, says John Hagan, a professor of law and sociology at Northwestern University near Chicago.

”The scale of the American commitment in Iraq in terms of manpower is much smaller and the numbers of deaths are far smaller,” he told IPS.

But if U.S. President George W. Bush decides to bring back compulsory military service as the Pentagon finds it increasingly difficult to recruit volunteers, there could be a repeat of the exodus that occurred starting in the late 1960s, he added.

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[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Hmm Prof is it not a qusetion of IF, but rather WHEN

[TwentyFive]

2. Wait'll the draft starts. It's still early.

So many of the enlisted members now come from poor families. They are young and live paycheck to paycheck...perhaps they can't afford to take off to a strange land with no hope of a job.

Also, maybe there is a lack of information and support for them. During the Veitnam war, there was a big support network.

[AndyTiedye]

3. A "Special Skills" Draft Would Cause an Even Bigger Exodus

They would be trying to draft educated people with valuable skills and experience.
Almost every other country would be all too happy to have these people.

We would lose our best and brightest overnight.

[Voltaire99]

4. Good sign: anti-war spirit surviving in Fayetteville, NC

Let us take heart, fellow DUers, even in this black hour, from the fact that peace is breaking out even in the heart of the empire:

At the moment, anti-war sentiment appears surprisingly strong in Fayetteville, a traditional military community populated by 131,000, where at least 60 soldiers have been killed in Iraq.

Jones interviewed women living on the Fort Bragg military base who are open about their peace sympathies even as their husbands serve in Iraq. ”The women are actually going around and speaking to different groups against the war,” Jones said. ”I asked one of them how the other wives (on the base) treated her. And she said they treated her fine.”

[AnneD]

5. Got news for you...

My daughter goes to a nationally recognized arts school...a bastion of 'liberal bastard spawn' (ie many campaigned for Kerry). The big talk is the upcoming draft. She says that so many are planning to bug out overseas or Canada upon graduation. She paraphrased Kermit...Sometimes it's hard to be Blue.