NEWS: U.S. war resister fights to remain in B.C.

It’s been a tense two weeks since 28-year-old Iraq war resister Cliff Cornell received a deportation notice demanding that he leave Canada by December 24 or face “removal by force.” By the end of last week, however, Cornell’s notice was extended to January 22, allowing him some relief over the holidays, which he will spend at his adopted home on Gabriola Island.

Originally from Arkansas, Cornell joined the U.S. military when he was 22, banking on a promise from a military recruiter that he would receive $9,000 as a sign-up bonus, plus job training and better employment prospects after serving in the army. Cornell’s unit was to be deployed to Iraq just after Christmas 2004. In January 2005, Cornell escaped to Toronto and drove to Victoria with fellow war resister Ryan Johnson. “I did not want to kill innocent people,” says Cornell. “The hardest thing was leaving my friends; I felt like I betrayed them. But I know I did the right thing. I am not killing women or children. If that makes me a chicken, so be it.”

Upon arrival at Gabriola Island, Cornell did odd jobs until landing a position at a grocery store. “They were really supportive of my choice, and I’ve been there every day since — two and a half years,” Cornell says. “I love it here.”

It was at the grocery store that Cornell met Mickey McDonald, who was working in the meat department at the time and is now retired. “He was going from place to place; he just needed some roots,” McDonald recalls. He offered him a spare room in his house; Cornell has been renting a room there for the past seven months. “He’s been a great roommate. I’ve got nothing but good to say about him,” McDonald says. “When I was younger, I said, ‘War is war,’ but when you get older, you realize it’s just such a stupid thing.”

When and if Cornell is sent back to the U.S., he will be arrested and likely sent to military prison. For now, he will continue to work at the grocery store as well as work with a lawyer on fighting his deportation. “We grew up with the propaganda that the U.S. was great and it never did anything wrong,” says Cornell. “I joined the army to do what I could to help my country, but I did not join to kill innocent people. If I knew that, I would never have joined.”