Well, the Times (of London) sent a journalist to track down some of the 40,000 deserters the Pentagon has recorded since 2000.
The reporter found and spoke with 4 of them, in Toronto (posted at RawStory).
They seem to be your basic combat-vets-turned-conscientious-objectors. Some have earned combat decorations. They each remarked on the same key points: mama didn't raise no wanton murderer, hated to see friends turn into agents of evil, if I was Iraqi I would resist this insanity...
more on flip
This man's statements are typical:
On security duty in the Iraqi streets, Key found himself talking to the locals. He was surprised by how many spoke English, and he was frustrated by the military regulations that forbade him to accept dinner invitations in their homes. "I'm not your perfect killing machine," he admits. "That's where I broke the rules. I broke the rules by having a conscience." And the more time he spent in Iraq, the more his conscience developed. "I was trained to be a total killer. I was trained in booby traps, explosives, landmines." He pauses. "Hell, if you want to get technical about it, I was made to be an American terrorist. I was trained in everything that a terrorist is trained to do." In case I might have missed his point, he says it again. "I mean terrorist." Deserting seemed the only viable alternative, Key says. He did it, he insists, because he was lied to "by my president". Iraq - it was obvious to him - was no threat to the US.
So, how do we support these troops?
Some of them are looking to return to the U.S., where they expect to be arrested, and they are preparing to become grains of sand in the war machine.
The marched to duty in Iraq, came home as scheduled, then decided to say "No" when their numbers came up again. The price of this decision: to leave behind their homes, their extended families, their communities.
Exile was considered a fate worse than death in the birthplace of democracy, ancient Greece.
The "deserter" troops today might seek help and advice from the War Resisters League and Iraq Veterans Against the War and certainly from Gold Star Families For Peace and they will get some quality support.
But what about the Democratic Party? If we mean to support the troops, what should the Democratic policy be when it comes to Conscientious Objectors? Especially those who actually went to Iraq and did their duty in the first place!?
We know what the Republican policy is: swiftboating, shaming, shunning, stockading.
How will the Democrats stand?