GERMANY DENIES ASYLUM TO AMERICAN DESERTER

Remember THIS guy?

April 05, 2011 Agence France-Presse

Germany has denied asylum to Andre Shepherd, a former US Soldier who deserted his unit in Iraq citing opposition to the war, a spokesman for the federal office for migration and refugees said on Tuesday.

"The asylum claim was rejected because there is no evidence to suggest that the asylum seeker could have been involved in war crimes or other crimes during another posting to Iraq," the office said in a statement.

"He could not cite any concrete crimes his unit committed during his first tour. In addition, as a helicopter mechanic, he was not in danger of becoming involved in fighting and therefore in possible crimes," added the office.

Shepherd, 33, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, walked off his base in southern Germany in 2007 and spent 19 months on the run before applying for asylum.

Before then, he had completed a five-month stint in Iraq between September 2004 and February 2005 where he serviced Apache helicopters as part of the 412th Aviation Support Battalion.

When ordered back to Iraq, he felt he could not continue to take part in what he said was a "completely illegal war" and became the first US Soldier to claim asylum in Germany.

His lawyer, Reinhard Marx, said his client would likely contest the decision but that a forced return to the United States was "out of the question."

"He has married a woman with German nationality, so he has a residence permit. This is about whether the German authorities accept his status as a refugee," Marx told AFP.


This is a good first step - too bad it took two years. Now, for our laws and our oaths of military obligation to have any meaning whatsoever, Andre Shepard must be tried for desertion during wartime. American forces defended Germany for over fifty years - we stared down the Soviet Red Army at Checkpoint Charlie, we did the Berlin Airlift, and we called out the Communists at the Wall, provided moral support and more, until at last that wall came down and Germany was unified once more - and all the while Germany's economy benefited from not having to maintain a huge defense budget. The least Germany can do now is to extradite this piece of excrement so he can face the consequences of his actions. Otherwise, NATO is a joke and Germany will share the same shameful status as Canada during the Vietnam conflict - refuge for deserters.

- SEAN LINNANE SENDS

"Footprint of the American Chicken"

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AMERICAN DESERTER IN GERMANY

Meet Andre Shepherd, American Deserter:


He has chosen to live the good life in Europe, via a legal loophole, while better men and women than him stand by their obligations.

This worthless piece of human debris apparently brainwashed himself, seduced by members of the German punk rock / anti-war movement.

These are your friends, Andre Shepherd. You have thrown in your lot with them.

I lived in Germany and observed this crowd - they are the same long-haired, maggot-infested bunch one finds in any country of the Free World; Che T-shirts, Arab keffiya's, etcetera. Nothing original about them, never had an original thought in their lives; they glorify totalitarian dictators like Fidel Castro and terrorist scum like Yasser Arafat. In 2003 they marched in support of Saddam Hussein - the guy who operated a national level torture machine that included rape rooms, people fed into wood chippers and acid showers.

The deserter Andre Shepherd is currently supported by Ulli Thiel, a 65-year-old peace activist in Karlsruhe. Mr. Thiel and his wife set up a bank account in the soldier's name, and they deposit about $262 a month so he has spending money. Mr. Shepherd says he hopes to finish his university degree in Karlsruhe if he wins asylum and that he could happily spend the rest of his life in Germany. "It's just amazing here," he said one morning recently in Mr. Thiel's living room as his German host poured him a cup of coffee.

The United States has had traitors and deserters in every war we have been in - Andre Shepherd is the latest to don the Yellow Badge of Cowardice.

FOOTPRINT OF THE AMERICAN CHICKEN

Situation Update: German immigration authorities heard Mr Shepherd's case, and are currently examining his eligibility for asylum. A decision should be reached within the next few months. If asylum is knocked back, Mr Shepherd will appeal to the courts, a process which could take up to five years.

In the meantime, Mr Shepherd can legally stay in Germany, but cannot return to the United States. The decision to desert was not an easy one, Mr Shepherd says. "Your home country will always think you are a traitor, whether you were justified or not," he explained.

YOU THINK?

There is no honor in what you do, Andre Shepherd. You enlisted in the middle of two wars and THEN you decided what you are doing is wrong? Let me tell you what you did: you turned your back on your country and your comrades in time of war. For the rest of your life, every morning as you look in the mirror, a little voice will be going in the back of your throat as you try to convince yourself that what you did was OK . . .

Every day, for the rest of your miserable life, you will have to justify your actions to yourself, to your friends and family, and to your children and grandchildren when they ask, "Daddy, what did you do in the big Iraq War?"

"WAR IS AN UGLY THING, BUT IT IS NOT THE UGLIEST OF THINGS. THE DECAYED AND DEGRADED STATE OF MORAL AND PATRIOTIC FEELING WHICH THINKS THAT NOTHING IS WORTH WAR IS MUCH WORSE. THE PERSON WHO HAS NOTHING FOR WHICH HE IS WILLING TO FIGHT, NOTHING WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN HIS OWN PERSONAL SAFETY, IS A MISERABLE CREATURE AND HAS NOT CHANCE OF BEING FREE UNLESS MADE AND KEPT SO BY THE EXERTIONS OF BETTER MEN THAN HIMSELF." - John Stewart Mill