Military Deserters

Oh my heart bleeds for this imbecile.

An Army soldier who fled to Canada rather than redeploy to Iraq surrendered Tuesday to military officials after asking for leniency.

Spc. Darrell Anderson, 24, said he deserted the Army last year because he could no longer fight in what he believes is an illegal war.

"I feel that by resisting I made up for the things I did in Iraq," Anderson said during a press briefing shortly before he turned himself in at nearby Fort Knox. "I feel I made up for the sins I committed in this war."

Funny how he didn't consider it an illegal war when he first went to Iraq. Now he believes it's illegal and deserted and is "atoning" for his sins. Yeah, right. Funny how he somehow developed a moral objection prior to having to redeploy.

He doesn't have nearly the excuse this woman has.

The Army specialist, now 22, recalls her churning stomach. Her mother's surprise. She could not bear the idea of another year like her first. She was sexually harassed by one superior, she said, and coerced into a sexual affair with another.

"I didn't want it to happen to me again," she recalled.

Accused of going AWOL, Swift is bracing for a possible court-martial. With more than 130,000 women deployed since 2001, her case raises uncomfortable questions about how matters between the sexes play out in the military.

Arrested in June, Swift detailed three alleged sexual offenses to Army officials, who began an investigation. One incident already had been verified and the perpetrator disciplined. But Friday, the Army ruled the two other incidents could not be substantiated. It will soon decide whether to take disciplinary action against Swift for her five-month absence, spokesman Joe Hitt said.

Deserting wasn't the way to go on this one. If she had stood and fought this, then I would be more convinced. She did report the original offenses, but then suddenly coming up with a list of further offenses strikes me as seeking an excuse. Maybe she is merely a weak person, but having come forward with the original charges and seeing them through makes it apparent that she wasn't that weak.

She'll, no doubt, get off with an honorable discharge for PR reasons.

Personally, I think they should both have the book thrown at them.