Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thanks for watching us tonight. We'll get to the war action in a moment.
OAS_AD('Middle');But first, Canada is harboring American military deserters. That is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo." Out of 1.5 million Americans currently serving in the military, just two have deserted as far as we know. Army Privates
Jeremy Hinzman (
search) and
Brandon Huey (
search) have bolted to Canada, where they apparently are being well received. According to Ron Adamson, who broke the story in "
The Christian Science Monitor (
search)," the Canadian media generally speaking has embraced the deserters.
The Canadian Broadcasting Company said, "For more than 200 years, Americans have been escaping war and strife by heading north."
Columnists in "The Toronto Globe and Mail" wrote this: "These young men...are different from the Vietnam lot in that they weren't drafted. The United States itself is different in that it's worse. Such is a huge divide between rich and poor that these young people signed up so they could go to college.
Little did they know that the man who stole the 2000 election would boast with that unnerving, uncertain grin that he was a 'wartime president.'"
The "Globe and Mail" columnist goes on to glorify the two deserters who have now established Web sites and have publicists so in demand they are in Canada.
And guess whose letter appears on the Hinzman Web site? Hey, there Susan Sarandon. Here's what she wrote.
"In times of war there have always been soldiers who have drawn the line, and have refused to follow orders they feel in their hearts to be immoral."
That's right, Susan. They're called conscientious objectors, not a deserter.
Hinzman and Huey have applied for asylum in Canada, which by law can only be granted if a person can prove they'll be killed or persecuted in their homeland.
Since the Iraq war is undeclared, they could not be executed by the military in the USA. And they probably will be sentenced to five years in prison under the general court-martial law if they come back here. That's a prosecution, not a persecution.
If Canada grants these two asylum, that would obviously be a slap in the face to America. Harboring deserters is a serious business.
There's no question that the Canadian press has become rabidly anti-American. "The Toronto Globe and Mail," the CBC and others delight in insulting us. That, of course, is their right.
But if the Canadian government joins in and gives these deserters a home, then "Talking Points" will call for a boycott of Canada. They will join France. Enough's enough.
We respect honest disagreement, but undermining our military in the middle of the war on terror by providing sanctuary for deserters, lawbreakers is a hostile act.
Canada is totally dependent on the USA for its economic well-being. It
best remember that in this very serious situation.
And that's "The Memo."
