Fort Carson deserter sentenced to 15 months in prison

A Fort Carson deserter who holed up in Canada for nearly three years was sentenced to prison Friday after a military court hearing that the defense tried to turn into an indictment of the Iraq war.

Pfc. Robin Long, who fled rather than reporting for duty at Fort Carson in 2005, told court-martial judge Col. Debra Boudreau that he left the country because of moral objections to what he termed an "illegal war." The judge came back with a 15-month sentence after prosecutors argued that Long "abandoned his duty, his honor and his country."

Long joined the Army in 2003, after the Iraq invasion, and was assigned to Fort Carson in early 2005, but he never arrived at the post. Instead the 24-year-old first hid in his hometown of Boise, Idaho, before heading north to seek refugee status from Canadian authorities in a bid to avoid a possible deployment to Iraq.

The Canadians turned back Long's last appeal in July and sent him back to the United States, where he was taken into custody by the Army on July 15 at the border in Washington.

Long pleaded guilty to desertion at Friday's hearing, then his lawyers, in a bid for a short sentence, spent hours trying to prove that Long's decision, while illegal, was morally justified.

Among the defense witnesses was celebrated antiwar activist Ann Wright, a retired Army officer and former State Department official who has racked up more then 10 arrests with her outspoken protests, including some outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

She said the war is against the law, arguing that justified Long's fleeing to Canada.

In most court-martial sentencing hearings, defendants try to show that they're good soldiers and lean heavily on character to mitigate their actions. Typical witnesses include family members and fellow troops.

The lone character witness called to speak for Long was Peter Haney with the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission. He had met the soldier three times while Long was awaiting trial in the El Paso County lockup.

"I've observed Mr. Long in situations that would be trying to just about anyone," Haney said. "He seemed to me to be extremely poised and lucid."

Prosecutors called no witnesses to disparage Long's character. Instead, they showed a six-minute video of Long, sporting dreadlocks and a beard, telling a Canadian news reporter "I think I was lied to by my president."

In his testimony, Long talked about his life in Canada and attacked the war in Iraq.

"I feel the war on terror is a war on peace," Long testified, saying he plans to move back to Canada, where he has a girlfriend and a son born while he was on the run. In Nelson, British Columbia, Long said he perfected his organic gardening skills and converted his Volkswagen to run on recycled cooking oil.

Long told the judge he wanted to serve little or no jail time, but he would take a bad conduct discharge as punishment.

He wrapped up his time on the stand by telling the judge, "Peace, love and light."

Long's civilian attorney, James Branam, closed his part of the sentencing hearing by comparing Long to Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr.

"The morality of what he did should lessen the punishment," Branam said.

If it were up to Boudreau, Long would have gotten double the amount of time he was sentenced to.

The judge said she wanted Long behind bars for 30 months, but she was forced to cut that in half because of a plea agreement.

Afterward, Branam said Long's sentence was a penalty for his outspoken stance on the war.

"It was on the upper end of the scale," he said.

But the prison time did make Long a martyr who was lauded by more than a dozen anti-war activists during the proceedings.

As Long, handcuffed and shackled, was hauled away in a Humvee, the crowd clapped and cheered.

"Robin Long you are a hero," one of them shouted.

-

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0240 or tom.roeder@gazette.com