On Andre Shepherd

Andre should be posting here sooner or later, and from what he has told me has been very happy to receive a lot of support for his decision from all kinds of people. His first hearing will be coming in January, and Germany's position on the Iraq war will be clarified.

The recent news resurfacing here of the BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst, the German equivalent of the CIA) providing invaluable intelligence on the location of Iraqi ground forces to American forces during the invasion has definitely raised some eyebrows on the supposed neutrality of Germany during the invasion. It seems that this was done with the full complicity and support of the same SPD (Social Democrats, pretty much the same as American Democrats) politicians who publicly denounced the Iraq war from its inception.

Andre has a precedent supporting him from the Federal Administrative Court in Germany declaring the Iraq War to be illegal (and therefore the right to refuse to participate is protected under international law).

On the 20th of March 2003 Florian Pfaff, an officer inside the German military refused to work on programs that were going to be used by their NATO allies (primarily the United States) in Iraq. A series of Court cases followed after the German Military tried to prosecute him for disobedience and refusal to obey, and after several cases he was exonerated before the Federal Administrative Court in Germany, with the Federal Administrative Court setting a precedent for Iraq to be an illegal war.

Will Germany set a double standard, and say that our soldiers may not participate, but American Soldiers in Germany must be prosecuted by the US military if they refuse to participate? Article 15 of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights states quite clearly that Asylum should be granted, regardless of the political implications such a move may have.

Please support Andre, go to Connection's Website to see what you can do about supporting Andre's case. (http://www.connection-ev.de/z.php?ID=369)

-Chris