This interview, with Corey Glass, was originally broadcast on Canadian Television, July 10, 2008
THOMSON: It's a decision that may set a precedent for US war resisters in Canada. A federal court has granted Corey Glass a stay of deportation while his case is reconsidered. Corey came to Canada after serving in Iraq. He was scheduled to be deported today.
He joins us now in studio, along with Lee Zaslofsky of the War Resisters Support Campaign.
Thank you both for coming in.
So, your reaction when you got word that for now you can stay?
COREY GLASS: I was really excited. But it's really bittersweet because Robin Long is sitting in jail right now, awaiting deportation on Monday.
THOMSON: There are I think 13 listed war resisters that are living in Canada -- that we know about. Tell me about Robin Long.
LEE ZASLOFSKY: Robin Long came to Canada a few years ago. He lives in Nelson, BC. And he got picked up on the fourth of July by the Nelson police because he supposedly broke some bail conditions that he had from a previous immigration thing.
THOMSON: Which was that he was supposed to call and let people know where he was going to reside.
LEE ZASLOFSKY: Yeah, but he did call. So, I'm hoping that the court on Tuesday will release him. I think it's scandalous that Inderjit Singh Reyat gets out while Robin Long sits in jail. I think it's crazy.
THOMSON: Corey, tell me about your reasons for deserting.
COREY GLASS: Well, there's a lot of violations of human rights over there.
THOMSON: In Iraq.
COREY GLASS: Yeah. I can't really get into detail about anything over there because of the nature of my trial. I could face things like treason charges and so on. Desertion charges.
THOMSON: But when you signed up for the military what was it that you thought that you'd be doing?
COREY GLASS: They told me I wouldn't fight -- because we were in Afghanistan at that point -- that I wouldn't fight wars in Afghanistan. That wouldn't be an option. And I would be there to help during floods and hurricanes and tornadoes and things like that.
THOMSON: So, is that realistic when you join the military, that you can I guess choose not to serve in a conflict area?
COREY GLASS: I was under the assumption from my recruiter that the only way we went to war was if there was troops on the ground in America. Because it was the National Guard. So, we were there for the defence of the homeland.
THOMSON: So, you go to Iraq, you serve six months, and you decide probably when you were over there that you wanted out?
COREY GLASS: Yeah.
THOMSON: And then what?
COREY GLASS: I walked in and tried to quit my job. They said: You can't quit, and you're just stressed out because you're doing a job you weren't trained to do and --
THOMSON: Because was it communications you were going to be involved in when you were over there?
COREY GLASS: Yeah, do telephones. I was supposed to do like telephone services and stuff. And I ended up doing military intelligence and battle [inaudible] ... and getting promoted without training to be in charge of soldiers. So, yeah, in worse circumstances --
THOMSON: And without that training did you let your superiors know that you weren't trained for this position?
COREY GLASS: They knew I wasn't trained for it. They knew when they promoted me.
THOMSON: So, why come to Canada?
COREY GLASS: Um, well, I stayed in the States for eight months before I finally decided to do research on desertion and came up with stuff about Vietnam and the 50,000 that came up then. I found out Canada didn't go to Iraq. And I decided -- well, and a few other war resisters were up here at that point.
THOMSON: Lee, you're wearing the T-shirt. And there are some events planned across the country today?
LEE ZASLOFSKY: Yes. Today we're going to have demonstrations both to celebrate the decision in Corey's case and in another case, Joshua Key's case. But also to call on the authorities to release Robin Long immediately. He doesn't deserve to be in jail. He's a gentle, kind fellow. It just seems crazy to me that he's sitting in jail while this Air India guy is walking around.
So, I'm hoping that that will be straightened out on Tuesday when his lawyer goes to court. And in the meantime, we are going to try to put pressure on the government to resolve this whole thing about the war resisters across the board, rather than one court case after another.
THOMSON: Okay.
LEE ZASLOFSKY: And we really think it's up to the government to do that.
THOMSON: Lee and Corey, thank you both for coming in.
LEE ZASLOFSKY: Well, thank you.
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