Anti-war soldier defends choice to flee to Canada

TORONTO -- On the first day of 2004, Army Spc. Jeremy Hinzman fine-tuned two M-4 assault rifles that his company commander and first sergeant planned to take to Iraq in mid-January. When he was finished, the weapons specialist with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., got a pat on the back from the first sergeant, who thanked him for coming in on his day off.

Shortly before midnight that same day, Hinzman packed his wife and son into his blue 1996 Chevrolet Prizm and struck out for Canada. He had decided weeks earlier that he would cross the border rather than go to Iraq and fight in a war in which he did not believe, or go to jail for refusing to serve.

"I feel so strongly about the Iraqi war and not wanting to be a part of it that whatever the consequences, so be it," Hinzman said. "I thought it was an act of aggression based on false pretenses," he added.

Hinzman is believed to be the first American soldier to leave the United States and seek asylum in Canada because of his opposition to the Iraq war. Since his arrival, at least one other soldier has joined him, according to a Canadian Broadcasting Corp. report.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0304/23hinzman.html

for him and the other fellow who later joined him. It takes courage to not be railroaded into doing what you feel is wrong and leave your old life and begin a new one in a different country. :thumbsup: