Re: "Off you go, soldier," Sept. 4.
In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper finally admitted during the election that the Iraq war was "absolutely an error" - on national television, no less.
If the Iraq war was absolutely an error, and Canada chose not to send its own soldiers into the illegal and immoral quagmire that ensued, why should we now be doing the dirty work of the previous Bush administration in deporting Kimberly Rivera, her husband and four kids?
Canada needs to be consistent in its opposition to the Iraq War, a war that was not sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council and has caused global instability and thousands upon thousands of civilian deaths.
The Harper government has no mandate to help punish soldiers who refused illegal orders to deploy or redeploy since opinion polls show almost two-thirds of Canadians back U.S. Iraq War resisters.
Rivera should be given a fair hearing in Canada because she experienced the war first-hand and refused to kill innocent children, women and men in Iraq. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney should immediately stop interfering in these cases and respect the decisions of the federal courts, stop the deportation orders and allow those of conscience to live with their young families in peace in Canada.
Alexander D.C. Lisman
Saanich
