About book The Deserter's Tale: The Story Of An Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away From The War In Iraq (2007)
Canada has always been a destination of choice for men and women wanting to escape military service, especially for citizens of the USA. I used to wonder why in hell we didn't send them back, especially during the 'nam era. Nowadays, looking back from the high hill of my advanced age I regard everything more in shades of grey, and I can see that all of those tens of thousands of people on both sides of the Vietnam conflict needn't have died. I am in sympathy with those who evaded being unwillingly drafted to fight in a conflict that was unnecessary and unjust.None of the foregoing means that I support anyone dodging their obligation to defend their country in time of attack; that's cowardice and those found guilty are deserving of some serious punishment. But what if the conflict you are dodging is one in which your country is an unjust aggressor? If you are truly morally opposed to the war, and if your country is not endangered by your departure, are you wrong in taking off at the high port?Joshua Key booked it to Canada after initially serving part of a tour of duty in Iraq. After making it across the border he applied for refugee status and related his story to author Lawrence Hill, resulting in the publication of this book. Mr Key does not pretend to be a nice guy: he readily admits to theft, assault, and all manner of juvenile idiocy. He is definitely not the type of fellow you want your daughter bringing home to meet the parents. I could identify with his background: rural, little education, joined the Army because it was his only shot at a decent career. Being a naïf, he joins the Army that doesn't get sent out of CONUS (wink,wink) and sure enough, next thing you know he's in Iraq.Soon, his unit is detailed to search houses of Iraqi citizens. The searches were invariably unopposed by the occupants but they blow the doors open anyway and storm in:Inside the houses, we knocked over wardrobes, kicked in doors, ripped through mattresses, and threw bookshelves to the floor. We busted locks, threw over refrigerators, and broke lanterns and lamps. Radios and televisions were thrown around and smashed.In the first raid, the second, the third, and the fourth, I wondered why we never managed to find anything. We tore hell out of those places, blasting apart doors, ripping up mattresses, breaking locks off furniture, and ripping drawers from dressers. With all of our ransacking, we never found anything other than the ordinary goods that ordinary people keep in their houses. (p.72,73)The troops take the logical step from B&E to theft on Page 74:I stole whatever I wanted in the initial raids, but I stopped doing that after my first few weeks in Iraq. The more uneasy I felt about what we were doing there, the less I wanted to make matters worse. Others in my platoon looted to their hearts' content. One fellow collected gold jewelry and mailed it home to his wife. Another lugged a television straight out of an Iraqi house. Others took ornate knives, and I saw one soldier make off with a beautiful rug. Who was going to stop us? We were the army of the United States of America, and we would do whatever we pleased.As his tour progresses, Key notices that the citizens are becoming less friendly, and that they take fire from unseen shooters more frequently. His unit is unsuccessful in coming to grips with the shooters, so their frustration is vented on the populace. The result is predictable. Key eventually comes to the conclusion:It struck me then that we, the American soldiers, were the terrorists. We were terrorizing Iraqis. Intimidating them. Beating them. Destroying their homes. Probably raping them. The ones we didn't kill had all the reasons in the world to become terrorists themselves. Given what we were doing to them, who could blame them for wanting to kill us, and all Americans? A sick realization lodged like a cancer in my gut. It grew and festered, and troubled me more with every passing day. We, the Americans, had become the terrorists in Iraq. (P138/139)I know some milbloggers scoff at Key's claims and have branded him a liar. The point out his apparent lack of familiarity with military rank and weaponry to support their suspicions, and it's true that he makes a few mistakes from time to time. For example, on page 20 he mentions shooting a four inch bullet from a "Remington seven-millimeter rifle" into the neck of a deer. This is the second mention of the four inch bullet in the book, so it's likely not a misprint. Now the cartridge designed to be chambered in a 7mm Rem Mag is usually something under four inches in its entirety, and the actual projectile would be roughly 1/4 of that length, so I can see someone calling bullshit on that. He also claims not to have read anything about the Geneva Convention before disembarking in Iraq, but I have a hard time believing that soldiers of any modern industrialized nation have not been schooled in the Geneva convention...but I think of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay and I wonder.....?I believe most of what I read in this book, because Key names people and mentions specific incidents, and I have heard too many similar accounts not to know that soldiers went apeshit in Iraq. Key himself is not the quickest of cats and has confessed to too many acts of idiocy for me to list here. Suffice it to say that I am completely convinced that he is thick enough not to know the difference between four inches and one inch and that it is easily within his capacity to confuse USMC ranks with US Army ranks. The book is reasonably well-written, obviously not by Key, and I will leave it to the reader to decide if his actions were justified. Welcome to Canada, eh?
The deserter's tale (A Story of an Ordinary Soldier who walked away from the war in Iraq), by Joshua Key as told to Lawrence Hill http://lawrencehill.com/the-deserters... I read his book (written by Lawrence Hill) from the library in October 2013 and found it very moving, and sad. Whether accuracy (i.e. the precise details) is 100% is not really important to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_KeyAs I was reading it, this review of another book (Thank You For Your Service) showed up: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts... This is the last paragraph, that really says it all: "Books like this aren't likely to bring an end to war anytime soon, but Thank You For Your Service should be mandatory reading, especially for young people who naively believe all those advertisements promising an exciting career in the armed forces".As Canadian Forces used to say: There's no life like it. http://www.forces.ca/en/page/lifeinth... Now that is an understatement. This is where I learned about this book - in a reference in a twitter I was skimming - http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/let...I recommend reading the book, though it depends on one`s perspective, and not everyone supports what he has said or that he has written/spoken about his experiences.Joshua and his second family currently live in Canada http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/loca...
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The Deserter’s Tale: the story of an ordinary soldier who walked away from the war in Iraq is an unadorned yet honest and compelling account of the Iraq war as told to author Lawrence Hill by a man who changed from patriot to deserter in just seven months. Overburdened as we are by official spin on this war, Joshua Key’s vision into Iraq under American occupation makes essential if disturbing reading. This uneducated, conservative husband and father from Oklahoma entered the army at the age of 25 to lift his family out of poverty. However, the war he experienced was not waged against the ‘evildoers’ and terrorists he had been told to expect. Instead he saw Iraqi civilians being beaten, maimed and shot for very little justification. Returning to American on leave, Key realised he could not morally defend his return to Iraq and so went underground, seeking asylum with his family in Canada. His case is still pending in the Canadian courts. Key proclaims ‘I will never apologise for deserting the American army. I deserted an injustice and leaving was the right thing to do.’ This is a book with far greater moral authority than President George W. Bush could ever summon.
—John Bartlett
This man's story, in his own words, echoes out of history. This should be required reading in high school history classes along side People's History, a narrative that's obscured or erased by the aggrandizement of the feats of generals and presidents, the elite. His is the story of every soldier since time immemorable ever forced (by the violence of conscription or the violence of poverty) to enlist, to be trained to kill and hate one's fellow human beings for often ulterior motives. He tells it plain, his hopes and fears, disappointment, and lingering pain. I hope he and his family, now seeking asylum in Canada, can come back some day. And I hope this history will be told and retold, ALL the history.
—Jabari
I found this book after an article in the Nashville Scene and am glad I bought it. I may choose it as a book club book, as long as no one will be offended....UPDATE: I probably will not choose this is a book club book because I am certain that someone will be offended. However, I HIGHLY recommend this book and think every American should read it. Even though it's only one man's account and should be "taken with a grain of salt" I think there are truths in the book that bring up concepts most American's never think of... such as the idea that maybe we're not always the hero, but that we too could be seen as terrorists...
—Michelle
