By Thulasi Srikanthan, Toronto Star, 11 January 2007
A surge in the number of calls from American troops during the past week has prompted a Canadian war resistance group to ask for help in housing soldiers fleeing the U.S.
“We have noticed an uptick since the summer, but this is much more intense,” said Lee Zaslofsky, co-ordinator of the War Resisters Support Campaign, a Canada-wide organization.
Zaslofsky says the demand is being driven by President George W. Bush’s call for more troops, coupled with a waning appetite for war south of the border. The soldiers, he says, include both reserves and those returning from past deployment. Zaslofsky says the group has received calls from at least 24 concerned U.S. soldiers.
“If you have room where you can house a resister for a few days, a few weeks or longer, please get in touch with us,” the group said. The campaign has been running since 2004 and is based in cities across Canada.
Estimates on the number of U.S. soldiers who fled to Canada range from a few dozen to a few hundred.
Pentagon Abandons Active-Duty Time Limit
By Robert Burns, ABC News, 11 January 2007
WASHINGTON Jan 11, 2007 (AP)— The Pentagon has abandoned its limit on the time a citizen-soldier can be required to serve on active duty, officials said Thursday, a major change that reflects an Army stretched thin by longer-than-expected combat in Iraq.
[…]
Until now, the Pentagon’s policy on the Guard or Reserve was that members’ cumulative time on active duty for the Iraq or Afghan wars could not exceed 24 months. That cumulative limit is now lifted; the remaining limit is on the length of any single mobilization, which may not exceed 24 consecutive months, Pace said.
In other words, a citizen-soldier could be mobilized for a 24-month stretch in Iraq or Afghanistan, then demobilized and allowed to return to civilian life, only to be mobilized a second time for as much as an additional 24 months. In practice, Pace said, the Pentagon intends to limit all future mobilizations to 12 months.