Draft Dodgers in Dukhbour Country

This reunion of Viet Nam Draft Dodgers who came to Canada seems to have Faux News all up in arms, as well as some Blogging Tories.

Too bad, so sad. It was an illegal war, in fact it was an undeclared war.

One that until the last American left in a truly cowardly rushed, tail between their legs exit was called a 'polic action'.

Contrary to the comments on Faux News that they are coewards that some how forced others to take their place in the draft, well gee no they left in protest , the guys that cowardly avoided the draft were guys like Clinton and Bush.

Appropriately the reunion is in hippie country around Nelson B.C. where the original anti-war draft dodgers came from Russia during WWI, the Doukhbours And our tradition of harbouring draft dodgers from Imperialist regimes engaged in legal or illegal wars is one to be proud of thank you very much. On the other hand our internment of WWI draft dodgers in Canada is not.

U.S. deserter asks Canadians for support for fleeing war in Iraq

The reunion has drawn dozens of draft dodgers from Canada and the U.S. Many of the men and women remained in Canada but thousands of others returned to the U.S. and travelled back from as far as Tennessee for the event.

The reunion is being held in this West Kootenay city, where hundreds settled about 600 kilometres east of Vancouver.

Almost 50,000 Americans of draft age avoided the call in the late 1960s and early '70s by going to Canada, where for the most part they were welcomed.

Many returned after President Jimmy Carter granted an amnesty in 1977. It's believed that about half the original number chose to remain in Canada.

George McGovern, former U.S. senator and defeated presidential candidate, is the keynote speaker and will speak Saturday about the comparisons between Vietnam and the current war in Iraq.

Arun Ghandi, the grandson of Mahatma Ghandi, will speak on non-violence and the path of war resistance.

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