Some soldiers of the

coalition forces ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , command ...

have refused to participate in the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

. The following is a list of the more notable military personnel who have refused to participate in the Iraq War, broadly categorized by the reasons they themselves give.

Objectors who moved to Canada

Legal and political

Pursuant to the Treaty between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United States of America on Mutual Legal assistance in Criminal Matters, US authorities can request Canadian authorities to identify, locate, and take into custody of US nationals who have committed a crime that carries a possible sentence of more than a year and subsequently extradite them back to US, pursuant to Extradition Treaty Between the United States of America and Canada. However, the government of the United States must promise those extradited will not receive the death penalty, in accordance with the ruling of ''

United States v. Burns ''United States v Burns'' 0011 S.C.R. 283, 2001 SCC 7, was a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada that found that extradition of individuals to countries in which they may face the death penalty is a breach of fundamental justice under sect ...

'' from the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to ...

. Because of the possibility that

deserters Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...

have been issued with arrest warrants back in the United States and pursuant to those two agreements above, they are liable for arrest in Canada unless they legalize their status. This can be done by pursuing a refugee claim, about which the

Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

(IRB) will hold a hearing and determine the validity of the claim. If refused, the claimant can appeal to the Federal Court,

Federal Court of Appeal The Federal Court of Appeal (french: Cour d'appel fédérale) is a Canadian appellate court that hears cases concerning federal matters. History Section 101 of the Constitution Act, 1867 empowers the Parliament of Canada to establish "ad ...

, and finally the

, if leave is granted. However, if the refugee claim is refused and subsequent appeals do not overturn the decision made by IRB, the claimant must leave Canada within 30 days under a removal order. If the claimant does not leave Canada within 30 days or failed to confirm departure details with

Canada Border Services Agency The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; french: Agence des services frontaliers du Canada, ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and c ...

, it automatically becomes a deportation order, enforceable by any peace officer in Canada.

Objectors who remain in Canada

List from these references: and public information sourced from List of Resister Profiles at "Courage to Resist" website which gives evidence that these military personnel are refusing to participate in the Iraq war. *Justin Colby *Dan Felushko (has dual citizenship with the U.S. and Canada) *Patrick Hart *Brandon Hughey (refugee status declined by IRB) *Peter Jemley *Christian Kjar *Dale Landry *Kevin Lee *Brad McCall *Phil McDowell *David Sanders * Kyle Snyder *James Stepp *Dean Walcott *Rodney Watson – On August 5, 2009 he was ordered out of Canada by August 10, 2009, but this was delayed to August 19, 2009. It was again delayed to September 11, 2009. In light of this order of deportation, he appealed to the First United Church in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

for

right of asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another enti ...

. His request was granted and he entered that church on September 18, 2009. *Chuck Wiley

Objectors granted stay of deportation pending further decisions

*Corey Glass – On July 9, 2008, the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

reported that Corey Glass "is owpermitted to remain in Canada until the Federal Court makes a decision on ... cases for judicial review." He was transferred to the IRR where he remains under Army jurisdiction until they discharge him. *

Jeremy Hinzman Jeremy Dean Hinzman (born 1979 in Rapid City, South Dakota) is an Iraq War resister who was the first American deserter to seek refugee status in Canada. He enlisted in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division and de ...

*Matt Lowell (October 27, 2008 and January 6, 2009)

Objectors granted new IRB panel to reconsider applications for permanent refugee status

("IRB" is

) *

Joshua Key Joshua Key may refer to: * Joshua Key (soldier) * Joshua Key (footballer) Joshua Myles Abraham Key is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Swansea City. Career Key started his career at Torquay United while atte ...

– On July 4, 2008, Joshua Key won a Federal Court appeal, thus forcing the Refugee Board to re-examine his claim. Joshua Key will have a new hearing in front of the

Immigration and Refugee Board Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

. The

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the governme ...

's July 4, 2008, coverage of the story said that there is now a possibility that he "could qualify as a refugee". On June 3, 2009, Key had a new hearing in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board.

Objectors deported from Canada or left because of deportation order

Objectors who had applied for legal refugee status

Robin Long Robin Long is one of several U.S. Army deserters who sought asylum in Canada because of his opposition to the Iraq War and became the first of those to be deported to the United States after being rejected for refugee status. He was deport ...

– On July 16, 2008, the

reported that Long "was ordered out of

anada Anada (russian: Анада; av, АнгӀада) is a rural locality (a selo) in Khidibsky Selsoviet, Tlyaratinsky District, Republic of Dagestan, Russia. The population was 49 as of 2010. Geography Anada is located 19 km north of Tlyarata ...

last week after he failed to comply with bail conditions imposed when he missed an immigration hearing last year. He was deported yesterday." *Chris Teske – January 23, 2009, Teske was the first war resister to be forced out of Canada who applied for legal refugee status, did not "fail to comply with bail conditions" (as Robin Long did), and yet was still issued a deportation order. *Clifford Cornell – In January 2009, Cornell experienced some legal events. On February 4, 2009 Cornell "was arrested on Wednesday after crossing the border from Canada into Washington State". On February 23, 2009, Cornell was charged with the crime of desertion with the intent to "avoid hazardous duty and shirk important service". On April 29, 2009, Clifford was convicted of desertion and sentenced to one year in prison. *

Kimberly Rivera Kimberly Rivera (born c. 1982) is an Iraq War resister and former U.S. Army Private First Class who went AWOL in February 2007 after a year of service. She was the first female U.S. military deserter to flee to Canada. She was deported from Cana ...

– On August 11, 2009, she was granted a new "Pre Removal Risk Assessment" hearing with a new officer. However, she was deported on September 20, 2012. She was sentenced to ten months' imprisonment and a bad conduct discharge.

Objectors who had not applied for legal refugee status

*Daniel Sandate – Deported at Niagara Falls, Canada on July 16, 2008, after having been in Canada for over 2 years. He was later court-martialed at Ft. Carson and given an 8-month prison sentence.Courage to Resist – Mentally ill soldier sentenced to 8 months in stockade
Daniel Sandate
War Resisters' International Sandate released a written statement in prison about his opposition to the war in Iraq. He was released on January 20, 2009, at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, and spoke publicly about his experience at a press conference in Oklahoma City on January 22, 2009."OKC peace community welcomes war resister Daniel Sandate"
''Blue Oklahoma'' *James Ashley – On December 23, 2008, the '"

'' reported the following: "A 28-year-old man accused of deserting the U.S. army has been caught by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

police and turned over to U.S. authorities in

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. James Ashley was returned to the United States on Monday at the

Blue Water Bridge The Blue Water Bridge is a twin-span international bridge across the St. Clair River that links Port Huron, Michigan, United States, and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Water Bridge connects Highway 402 in Ontario with both Interstate 6 ...

Port Huron Port Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 30,184 at the 2010 census. The city is adjacent to Port Huron Township but is administered separately. Located along the St. Clair ...

U.S. Customs The United States Customs Service was the very first federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. federal government. Established on July 31, 1789, it collected import tariffs, performed other selected border security duties, as well as conducted c ...

spokesman Ron Smith says it's not clear if police caught Ashley at the bridge or elsewhere in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. Smith says there's an arrest warrant for Ashley out of

Fort Riley Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in G ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...

." It is unclear whether or not Ashley had intended to legalize his status by pursuing a refugee claim with the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, or whether he had yet to do so. (See

Immigration and Refugee Protection Act The ''Immigration and Refugee Protection Act'' (''IRPA'') is an Act of the Parliament of Canada, administered by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), that replaced the ''Immigration Act, ...

Objectors who willingly returned to the US without deportation order

*Ivan Brobeck – Refused second tour in Iraq, USMC; returned to the USA to face court marshal for unauthorized absence and missing movement at Quantico in 2006. Ivan was given a 10 month sentence reduced to 63 days due to a pre-trial agreement. Brobeck received a

bad conduct discharge A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and the ...

. *Darrell Anderson – Fled to Canada after 7 months in Iraq. Returned to US without court-martial. * James Burmeister – Returned to US, turned himself in to authorities, was convicted of desertion July 16, 2008, and was sentenced to 9 months in prison. He was released October 28, 2008, after three months and 10 days in prison.

Objectors claiming the war is illegal

* Ben Griffin – British SAS soldier who believes the war in Iraq was illegal and that the government lied about the war's conduct. He was allowed to leave the army with no charges filed against him. *

Malcolm Kendall-Smith Malcolm Kendall-Smith (born 1968/1969) is a former medical officer in the British Royal Air Force. He was born in Australia, was raised in New Zealand and has dual British-New Zealand citizenship. He was the first British officer to face criminal ...

– A British unit medical officer for the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

who refused to deploy on the belief that the war was unlawful. He was charged with and convicted of 5 counts of refusing a lawful order. The judge in his case rejected the defense that the war was illegal, saying that the UK armed forces had full justification under United Nations resolutions to be in Iraq at the time of the charges and that a crime of aggression could not be carried out by such a junior officer. *Wilfredo Torres *

Ehren Watada Ehren Keoni Watada (born 1978) is a former first lieutenant of the United States Army, best known as the first commissioned officer in the US armed forces to refuse to deploy to Iraq.

Conscientious objectors

For purposes of this list, the determination of

conscientious objection A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objecti ...

is made by the individual, not a government. It is frequently the case that individuals and governments disagree on the status. *

Agustin Aguayo Agustín Aguayo (born ) is a veteran of the Iraq War. After several failed attempts to attain conscientious objector status, he deserted his unit in Germany in September 2006 to avoid redeployment to Iraq. He was convicted of desertion by a cour ...

( Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience) *Kevin Benderman – Served one tour in Iraq then applied for conscientious objector status before his second tour. He was acquitted of desertion and found guilty of missing a troop movement. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison, demoted to private and given a dishonorable discharge. *Former Army interrogator Ricky Clousing *Diedra Cobb *

Aidan Delgado Aidan Delgado is an American attorney, author, and war veteran. His 2007 book ''The Sutras of Abu Ghraib'' detailed his experiences during his deployment in Iraq. He graduated from Georgetown Law in 2011. Early life He is an American citizen an ...

– He applied for conscientious objector status in April 2003, which the Army eventually recognized, and he was honorably discharged in April 2004. *

Stephen Funk Stephen Funk (born June 15, 1982) is a former United States Marine Corps Landing Support Specialist and Lance Corporal reservist. He was the first person to publicly refuse to deploy in Iraq. Background Stephen Funk decided to enlist in the Unite ...

Katherine Jashinski Katherine Jashinski (born 1982) is a conscientious objector who was the first female soldier to refuse duty in American military operations following September 11, 2001. Katherine was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and enlisted in the Army Natio ...

*Clifton Hicks *

Camilo Mejía Camilo Ernesto Mejía (born August 28, 1975) is a Nicaraguan who left the United States Army during the Iraq War on conscientious objector grounds, was convicted of desertion and went on to become an anti-war activist. He is also the son of Carlos ...

*Pablo Paredes – A Navy sailor who refused to board the USS ''Bonhomme Richard'' as it deployed to the Persian Gulf on December 6, 2004. A

court martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of me ...

found him guilty of

absence without leave Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or Military base, post without permission (a Pass (military), pass, Shore leave, liberty or Leave (U.S. military), leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with u ...

. *

*Josh Stieber – Blogger and co-author of ''Letter to Iraq'' In June 2013, Josh Stieber and numerous celebrities appeared in a video showing support for

Chelsea Manning Chelsea Elizabeth Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning; December 17, 1987) is an American activist and whistleblower. She is a former United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage ...

. *Abdullah William Webster (USA Amnesty International prisoner of conscience) *

Mark Wilkerson Mark Wilkerson is an American musician, who was the lead singer and guitarist for rock band Course of Nature, previously known as COG. Wilkerson co-wrote the song "It's Not Over" which was released as a single and as the opening track on the e ...

Other

*Michael Blake *Ivan Brobeck *Peter Brown *Thomas Buanomo *James Burmeister *Jonathan Arkis Cobb *Chris Capps *Eugen Cherry *James Circello *Travis Clark *Pedro Fortunato "Kelso" *Joshua Despain *Jessica Faustner *Brad Gaskins *Chris Gorman *Abdul Henderson *Derek Hess *Clifton Hicks *Kevin Hicks *Eleonai 'Eli' Israel *Terri Johnson *Ghanim Khalil *Mohisin Khan *Joel Klemkewicz *Vincent LaVolpa *Blake Lemoine * Christopher Magaoay *Devon Marsh *Corey Martin *Jimmy Massey *Melanie McPherson *Matt Mishler *Linjamin Mull *Perry O'Brian *Ralph Padula *Korey Rowe *

André Shepherd André Shepherd is a U.S. Army Specialist and deserter who applied for asylum in Germany on November 26, 2008. He is the first Iraq War veteran to pursue refugee status in Europe and only the second U.S. soldier to ever apply for refugee status i ...

*Ross Spears *Michael Sudbury *Suzanne SwiftThe Women’s War

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, March 18, 2007 *Ronnie Tallman *Harvey Tharp *Marc Train *Jose Vasquez *Hart Viges *Carl Webb *Jason Webb *Mark Wilkerson *Robert Zabala

Punishments given to Iraq War resisters

"***" – Was in Canada as an Iraq war resister

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

"We move to Canada" Blog (Canada)Canada Border Services Agency
Conscientious objectors *