Robin Long, AP journalist held, White House

That's a video on war resistance in Canada. C.I. notes Robin Long has been told he will be deported and includes this press release from the War Resisters Support Campaign:


On July 4, former US soldier Robin Long was arrested by police in Nelson, BC, where he is legally residing, on a warrant issued by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA). A hearing is scheduled in Vancouver tomorrow (Tuesday, July 8).
The CBSA is claiming that Long did not report as required to its Kelowna office by phone last Thursday and that he was staying with various friends in Nelson without reporting a change of address. Long has denied the allegations and the CBSA does not dispute that he reported in on schedule on July 3.
Long has lived openly in Nelson after coming to Canada rather than deploy to Iraq with his armored unit. He is well known by Nelson residents, and by the RCMP, who had no trouble locating him on Friday.
On June 3 this year the House of Commons passed a resolution supporting US war resisters remaining in Canada and called on the government to cease any removal orders against them. Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley has so far refused to implement the will of Parliament.
Meanwhile, on July 4 an appeal court sent the case of Joshua Key, another ex-US serviceman, back to the Immigration and Refugee Board. The court instructed the board, which had originally denied Keyes' refugee claim, to re-examine his application based on its failure to consider the brutality and illegality of activities in which American soldiers in Iraq are forced to
participate.
Polls show that a majority of Canadians support the war resisters being granted permanent residence.
"The actions of the CBSA amounts to harassment," says Lee Zaslofsky, spokesperson for the War Resisters Support Campaign. "This young man has complied with his requirements and his whereabouts were well-known. The Harper government is ignoring the will of the House of Commons and the Canadian people. It is doing the bidding of the Bush administration in seeking to remove these soldiers of conscience to face persecution in the US."
Bob Ages, of the Vancouver War Resisters Support Campaign said, "Our legal counsel will be asking that Robin Long be immediately released and members of Parliament will be taking up this matter with the government and the Canadian public."
For further information: Lee Zaslofsky, (416) 598-1222; Bob Ages, (604)
760-6786

If a 'video artiste' hadn't acted like an ass (a threatening one), that would probably be noted by all. As it is . . .

C.I. also notes: "A new journalist is being held prisoner. 38 year-old AP camera journalist Ahmed Nouri Raziak has been held by the US military since last month and AP has been informed he will be held for at least six weeks. He has worked for AP Television for five years and was stopped by the US military (or rounded up, let's be honest) in Tikrit."

And I'll raid C.I. one more time, here talking about the press conference by 'traveling' White House (they're in Japan) held this morning, Perino is White House spokesperson, Dana Perino:

Perino state that Bully Boy has not spoken to al-Maliki since embarking on the current trip (Bush arrived in Japan July 6th) but that "he just spoke to him right before we left. I can't remember what day we left, but the President had a secure videoteleconfrence" with al-Maliki. She stated US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker "checks in with the President daily. Almost." She tried to spin the Iraqi's talk of a US withdrawal positively ("how far they've come in a year") and said "we want that, too" (responsibility) once they 'prove' they're ready. (The same old song & dance.)
Pressed as to whether the end of July was still a target for the treaty (not all that long ago the White House was stating that they would have it before July 4th), Perino stated that "we don't have timetables for troop withdrawals, we don't have timetables for negotiations." Well thank goodness there's a timetable for Bully Boy's exit (January 2009) or he might hang around in quagmire status as well.