Yesterday's draft dodgers help today's war resisters

War resisters or deserters? I think this is clear when one volunteers to join the military, one is not drafted. One cannot sign up to get a free education ride, then expect to have no real obligation to serve. Life is a two way street.//JW sends.

The new generation of resisters includes AWOL airborne soldier Jeremy Hinzman, 25, who seeks refuge in Canada. His Canadian immigration hearing, which begins today in Toronto, has inspired activists in the national War Resisters Support Committee to organize vigils throughout Canada.

Hinzman's fate will set the tone for a half-dozen other American soldiers seeking asylum in the face of the Iraq war. Activists are expecting a denial in Hinzman's case, and a long appeals process.

But they're in for the long run.

"The committee's focus is to make sure, if there is a mass influx of war resisters, that Canada is at least as welcoming as it was in the '60s and '70s," said Peter Prontzos, a political science instructor at Langara College in Vancouver and a Vietnam-era draft dodger.

That could be trickier this time around. Discrimination against Americans could be a problem, warns Vietnam War resister Juergen Dankwort. "We should treat them as we have treated other immigrants."

And times, and armies, have changed.

Dankwort and Prontzos were fleeing the draft when they crossed the Canadian border -- along with an estimated 30,000 to 90,000 other young Americans. The 21st-century generation of deserters volunteered to serve. Hinzman said he enlisted to get an education, not to kill people. When he got his orders for Iraq, he tried to get a non-combat job, such as medic or cook. When that failed, he packed up his family and headed north.

His position has stirred a hot debate in Canada. Government officials so far have opposed giving the new resisters refugee status, saying they are not "persecuted." Opinion writers point out that the would-be refugees are deserters, not draft dodgers refusing military conscription. Deserters face stiff penalties under U.S. laws.