US Soldier Seeks Political Asylum in Germany
www.spiegel.de
 André Shepherd is the first American GI to have applied for political asylum in Germany. Shepherd, who deserted to avoid going back to fight
in Iraq, argues that the war there is in violation of international law. (visit the link for the full news article)
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It is good to see dissent among soldiers on the evil and illegal war of iraq . hopefully , the american Gestapo(NSA/CIA) of the american fourth reich
doesn't murder him
To understand André Shepherd's story, it is helpful to know how the US military recruits its soldiers. Because there are far too few volunteers,
recruiters target their efforts in schools in troubled neighborhoods, among the unemployed and in urban ghettoes. The recruiters' linguistic
repertoire includes sentences like this: "You look like someone who likes to help other people." The ploy worked with Shepherd.
He was 26 at the time, and only one course shy of a college degree in computer science, but he needed several thousand dollars to complete the course.
He tried everything he could to raise the necessary funds, from flipping hamburgers to selling vacuum cleaners, and he even slept in his car for a few
weeks to avoid being a burden on his parent and siblings. But then Shepherd gave up on the idea of finishing college, knowing full well that without a
degree his job prospects were slim, and that without a job he would be unable to afford a place to live.
On Jan. 27, 2004, Shepherd enlisted in the army. Joining the military got him training, a well-paid job as a helicopter mechanic, health insurance and
his father's approval. He wanted to see the world beyond Cleveland. And he dreamed of a day when, instead of digging the sand out of the engines of
Apache helicopters, he would be flying them. The friendly recruiter assured him that becoming a pilot was certainly "an option."
www.spiegel.de...
'No Longer Help America Murder Innocent People'
Shepherd soon began having doubts about the war. He noticed that no one, "not even the guys who were out on patrol every day, the pilots who
risked their lives with each mission, had an answer to the question of what exactly we were doing in this foreign country," says Shepherd, "not to
mention for what and whom we were fighting."
Back in Germany, in February 2005, he searched the Internet for the information that hardly any American newspapers were reporting at the time: about
the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, the numbers of Iraqi civilians that were victims of the war, and
Guantanamo. Watching YouTube videos, he witnessed for the first time the bloody nature of the so-called collateral damage considered par for the
course during Apache missions. "What was a puzzle at first became an increasingly clear picture," says Shepherd. "That was when I realized that I
didn't want to have anything to do with this war anymore."
When he received his orders to redeploy to Iraq, in the spring of 2007, Shepherd knew that he could "no longer help America murder innocent people."
On the evening of April 21, 2007, he withdrew all of his savings from his bank account and cleared out his apartment on Philipp Zorn Street in the
Bavarian town of Ansbach: two plastic bags full of clothing, a dartboard, a television and a new video console. A German friend helped Shepherd load
his few belongings into a waiting car.
I am happy to see that SOME american soldiers have a conscience and are not willing to murder the poor ,weak AND Innocent . most other american
soldiers are automatons who love murdering people
www.spiegel.de
(visit the link for the full news article)
[edit on 4-12-2008 by sadchild01]
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I am happy to see that SOME american soldiers have a conscience and are not willing to murder the poor ,weak AND Innocent . most other american
soldiers are automatons who love murdering people
www.spiegel.de
(visit the link for the full news article)
Have you known many soldiers in your life? To say that most of them are bloody murderers is not right. Are all business men all the same? Please do
not generalise
Having been in the army before I can tell you that you are trained not to think about morale all the time and carry out your orders. Most of the
people I knew in there had to risk their life, make snap decision that affect everyone around them. Its just like in anything in this life. Youve got
good and youve got bad.
I hope for the defectors sake, that the U.S does'nt hold any information that could be used to get him back from germany. Army doesn't like
deserters. They tend to make an example.
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I am happy to see that SOME american soldiers have a conscience and are not willing to murder the poor ,weak AND Innocent . most other
american soldiers are automatons who love murdering people
I have to politely disagree with you. Most other American soldiers are NOTautomatons who love murdering people. They are
soldiers who took an oath to defend the Constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic. Whether the war is legit or not is another issue. What is
an an issue is war itself. It is kill or get killed. It is not because Marines like myself or soldiers like to murder people. If we wanted to murder
people why travel halfway across the world when he have many targets within our own community. As far as this guy, there is more than meets the eye.
This guy was 26 when he joined. If he was man enough to sign up then he ought to do his job. He could have done research on the military before he
went in to see if there were things he wasn't willing to do. Nobody forced him to join.
Please pass this around to everyone you know that are thinking about joining the military:
The military is about war, not college, getting drunk, serving your country, GI bill, easy pension, benefits, or job skills. The bottom line is that
they are preparing you to go to war. If you don't believe in war or have no desire to go to war then don't join. Keep flipping burgers or go to
college. At least then you won't have to worry about running off to Canada, Germany, or some other place seeking Asylum.
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