Military Deserters Flee To Canada
About 6,000 Soldiers Deserted From Iraq War; 150 Fled To Canada
POSTED: 10:24 am EDT May 26, 2005
UPDATED: 11:07 am EDT May 26, 2005

TORONTO -- Thirty-five years after Vietnam, Canada is still a safe haven for those fleeing service in the U.S. military.

WESH 2 News's Raoul Martinez went to Canada to track down military deserters.
"I did it for the best of my family, for the best of my conscience," said Pfc. Joshua Key, of the U.S. Army.

The Keys are a typical, young, all-American family with four beautiful children.

"I felt like we (were) the most wanted family in America because you know everybody's eyes are looking for you," Key said.

Key and his family fled to Toronto.

"Now, we're technically refugees in Canada," his wife, Brandi, said.

"I know that I'll never be able to go home," Joshua Key said.

Key is a deserter from the Army.

"If you do get apprehended, if you do get caught, you're always going to be considered a coward, you're always going to be considered a deserter and that's going to follow you for the rest of your life," Key said.

He served eight months in Iraq's volatile Sunni triangle with the 43rd combat engineer company. He raided homes and flushed out terrorists. As a soldier, he decided the war in Iraq was unjustified.

"It's wrong, it's very immoral. We're there under lies and different pretenses that were fabricated," Key said.

To the Army, he's a wanted criminal.

"I went to fight for my country. To me, the Army, they lied to me from the beginning," Key said.
"My husband is not a coward for he went and fought," Brandi said.

During a two-week leave in 2003, Key abandoned his unit.

"I know I'm a deserter. I deserted my fellow comrades and everything," Key said.

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