An American Deserter in Germany

Written by Sean Linnane on Sunday July 5, 2009

The United States has had traitors and deserters in every war we have been in - Andre Shepherd is the latest to don the Yellow Badge of Cowardice.

Meet Andre Shepherd, span>American Deserter<:

He has chosen to live the good life in Europe, via a legal loophole, while better men and women than him stand by their obligations.

This worthless piece of human debris apparently brainwashed himself, seduced by members of the German punk rock / anti-war movement.

I lived in Germany and observed this crowd - they are the same long-haired, maggot-infested bunch one finds in any country of the Free World; Che T-shirts, Arab keffiya's, et cetera. Nothing original about them, never had an original thought in their lives; they glorify totalitarian dictators like Fidel Castro and terrorist scum like Yasser Arafat. In 2003, they marched in support of Saddam Hussein - the guy who operated a national level torture machine that included rape rooms, people fed into wood chippers and acid showers.

The deserter Andre Shepherd is currently supported by Ulli Thiel, a 65-year-old peace activist in Karlsruhe. Mr. Thiel and his wife set up a bank account in the soldier's name, and they deposit about $262 a month so he has spending money. Mr. Shepherd says he hopes to finish his university degree in Karlsruhe if he wins asylum and that he could happily spend the rest of his life in Germany. "It's just amazing here," he said one morning recently in Mr. Thiel's living room as his German host poured him a cup of coffee.

The United States has had traitors and deserters in every war we have been in - Andre Shepherd is the latest to don the Yellow Badge of Cowardice.

span>Situation Update<: German immigration authorities heard Mr. Shepherd's case, and are currently examining his eligibility for asylum. A decision should be reached within the next few months. If asylum is knocked back, Mr. Shepherd will appeal to the courts, a process which could take up to five years.

In the meantime, Mr. Shepherd can legally stay in Germany, but cannot return to the United States. The decision to desert was not an easy one, Mr. Shepherd says. "Your home country will always think you are a traitor, whether you were justified or not," he explained.

YOU THINK?

There is no honor in what you do, Andre Shepherd. You enlisted in the middle of two wars and THEN you decided what you are doing is wrong? Let me tell you what you did: you turned your back on your country and your comrades in time of war. For the rest of your life, every morning as you look in the mirror, a little voice will be going in the back of your throat as you try to convince yourself that what you did was OK . . .

Every day, for the rest of your miserable life, you will have to justify your actions to yourself, to your friends and family, and to your children and grandchildren when they ask, "Daddy, what did you do in the big Iraq War?"

"War is an ugly thing, but it is not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." – John Stuart Mill


Originally posted at STORMBRINGER.

Category: News