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Joshua Key
Born 1978 (age 31–32)
Place of birth	Guthrie, Oklahoma
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army (now deserted)
Years of service	2003 -
Rank	Private
Battles/wars	Iraq War
Other work	various

Joshua Key is a United States Army deserter, who fled while on leave from the Iraq War, and is a current resident of Canada. He is the author, with Lawrence Hill, of The Deserter's Tale,^[1][2] a book chronicling his service in Iraq and his subsequent departure from military life.^[3]

Contents 1 Biography 2 Military service and desertion 3 Life in Canada 3.1 Canada's Federal Court Ruling of July 4, 2008 3.2 June 3, 2009 Hearing 4 Controversy 5 See also 6 References 7 External links 7.1 Video Links 8 Notes

Biography

Joshua Key was born in 1978 in Guthrie, Oklahoma, which is located just outside of Oklahoma City.

At age 20, he married Brandi Johnston and they have four children; she has divorced him since his desertion and returned to the US with their children.

Military service and desertion

In 2002 Key enlisted in the United States Army. He attended basic training and was stationed in Fort Carson, Colorado. He was deployed to the Middle East in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

"Key served as a combat engineer for eight months in Iraq 2003." ^[4] "Mr. Key had told the IRB that while in Iraq with a unit of combat engineers, he took part in at least 70 raids on civilian homes."^[5] When he returned home on leave, he deserted the Army in November, 2003.^[4]

Key states he holds no regrets about deserting the US Army, as illustrated on the back cover of The Deserters Tale. In the book Key gives a short summary of his own life prior, during and after his tour of duty and subsequent desertion. In the book Key claims to have witnessed many troubling acts: systematic vandalism of Iraqi homes during house raids, murder of an Iraqi child, and sexual abuse of innocent women, all purportedly committed by American Soldiers and officers.

Life in Canada

He fled to Toronto, Canada on March 8, 2005,^[6] and made a claim for asylum as a conscientious objector seeking refugee status.^[4]He had a hearing at Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board, represented by Jeffry House, but the Board rendered a negative decision on Oct 20, 2006.^[6] He appealed to the Federal Court.

Canada's Federal Court Ruling of July 4, 2008

On July 4, 2008, Joshua Key won a Federal Court appeal thus forcing the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada to re-examine his claim for refugee status in Canada.^[4][5][7][8][2]

Canada's refugee board was ordered to take another look at Key's failed bid for asylum in an unprecedented court ruling that could affect scores of other U.S. soldiers, now in Canada, who have refused to fight in Iraq. In the decision the Federal Court found the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada made mistakes in turning down Joshua Key's claim for asylum.

While the earlier board deemed him credible, it nixed his claim for refugee status on the grounds he was not required to systematically commit war crimes. The earlier board rulings deemed that it was not important enough that he had to violate the Geneva Conventions. Federal Court Justice Robert Barnes disagreed with that earlier analysis. "Officially condoned military misconduct falling well short of a war crime may support a claim to refugee protection," Barnes wrote. Military action that "systematically degrades, abuses or humiliates" either combatants or non-combatants could provide such support, he said.^[4][6]

Previous to Justice Barnes ruling, and after turning down several similar asylum claims, the refugee board had consistently held that the United States is a democracy, which affords deserters due judicial process. However, the Federal Court said the board should hear evidence on whether deserters can rely on the American government to treat them fairly --regardless of its status as a democracy.^[4][6]

On July 14, 2008, a Los Angeles Times editorial referred to the July 4 ruling from Canada's Federal Court with these words:

"...we should take a second look at our procedures for dealing with soldiers who allege human rights violations -- before they become deserters…[If] we would prefer not to hear shameful allegations from our own deserters and be judged by our neighbors, we cannot lightly dismiss expressions of moral outrage..."^[9]

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's July 4, 2008 coverage of the story said that there is now a possibility that he "could qualify as a refugee."^[10] (See Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Canadian immigration and refugee law)

June 3, 2009 Hearing

On June 3, 2009, Joshua Key had a new hearing in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board.^{[11][12][13][14]} Ken Atkinson,^[12] the immigration board member who heard Key's case, reserved his decision.^[15] (It will be forthcoming.) Lawrence Hill was present at this hearing,^[12] while supporters held a vigil outside.^[16] He was represented by attorney Alyssa Manning.

Controversy

Together with author Lawrence Hill, Joshua Key co-authored the book, The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq.^[2][17] Then, on March 27, 2007, Key's claims in that book were challenged by anonymous blog writer "GI Korea" (pseudonym).^[18] That challenge set up a credibility match between "GI Korea" and Joshua Key. That credibility match is important because the anonymous "GI Korea" blog posting is used by many as a source of information that Key's claims have been widely disputed by other members of his unit, as well as many other soldiers who served in units near Key's in Iraq.^[18]

In the anonymous blog posting, "GI Korea" claimed that Key "became the first US soldier to flee to Canada and seek refugee status there since the Vietnam War." ^[18] However, the Toronto Star, stated that Jeremy Hinzman, not Joshua Key, was "the first American Iraq war resister to seek refugee status in Canada...in January, 2004."^[19] Information about Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey coming to Canada was already publicly available to "GI Korea," and already known worldwide (including Britain) on July 6, 2004, almost three years before "GI Korea" published his erroneous information;^[20] and much press coverage of Hinzman being in Canada occurred within those years.^[21][22][23] This casts doubt on the quality of research done by "GI Korea".

On the other hand, Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board "deemed [Key] credible."^[4][24]

See also

References

• Key, Joshua; Hill, Lawrence (June 2007), [Expression error: Missing operand for > The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq], Atlantic Monthly, ISBN 0-87113-954-5 

• Key, Joshua; Hill, Lawrence (June 2007), [Expression error: Missing operand for > The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq], House of Anansi Press, ISBN 0-88784-208-9 

See Lawrence Hill's Writings page for The Deserter's Tale [3]

External links

• Co-Author of The Deserter's Tale, Lawrence Hill's website [4]
• The Deserter’s Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq [5]
• War Resisters Support Campaign
• Nov 24, 2007 article on Joshua Key by Lawrence Hill^[3]

Video Links

• Joshua Key being interviewed on June 2, 2009, by Janette Luu, the host for CANOE Live, a local TV program on Sun TV in Toronto, Ontario, Canada [6]

Notes