VANCOUVER – The first Iraqi war deserter to seek sanctuary in a Canadian church is staying in the Downtown Eastside, an organization supporting war resisters said Monday.
Sarah Bjorknas, Vancouver coordinator for the War Resisters Support Campaign, said about 50 war resisters have sought refugee status in Canada over the last five years, but Rodney Watson is the first to seek safe haven in a church.
Watson, 31, of Kansas City, Kan., was denied refugee status this summer and was ordered to leave the country by Sept. 11. A week later, he said Monday, he moved into an apartment at First United Church on East Hastings Street. He cannot go outside.
After coming here in 2006, Watson fathered a son who is now 10 months old. Watson is now seeking to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
Watson said he decided to leave the army after his deployment in Iraq was going to extend beyond his original commitment.
He said an army recruiter had promised him a job as a cook but he ended up checking vehicles for car bombs. Each day, he wondered: “Is this the day I’m going to get blown up?” he said.
Lt.-Col. Nathan Banks, an Army spokesman for the Pentagon, said, “If he wanted to be a cook, he should have made sure that it was in writing.” But he added: “You’re a soldier first. You always got to be ready to pick up your rifle.”
Banks said Watson would likely be arrested upon entering the U.S. Watson’s commander could then choose a penalty of discharge, jail time of three months to six years, or death, Banks said. But the military doesn’t seek the death penalty, he added.
Watson said: “Why should I spend one month or more or a year in prison while the people who led us into the war by saying they [Iraqis] had weapons of mass destruction are walking around free? No one’s going after them. The main culprits behind the Iraq war are walking free.”
rdalton@vancouversun.com
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