Army deserter begins West Coast speaking tour against Iraq war

By: THOMAS WATKINS - Associated Press

SAN DIEGO -- For a wanted man, Pfc. Kyle Snyder is keeping a remarkably high profile.

The 23-year-old Army deserter, who has been absent without leave since April 2005, has embarked on a West Coast speaking tour in which he, and others like him, are expressing opposition to the war in Iraq.

"Seeing children begging for food and water after two years of occupation, you really start to question if you are the good guy," Snyder said Monday night. He was speaking to about 30 people at the first of his California appearances, in a church hall in San Diego.

A warrant is out for his arrest, but the former combat engineer from Colorado Springs, Colo., has been traveling the country by plane and by road, and his speaking dates are publicized ahead of time. Among the cities he plans to visit on this tour are San Jose, San Francisco, Seattle.

The Army says it typically does not actively seek deserters and instead waits for law enforcement agencies to catch up with them, usually after a traffic stop, at a border crossing or when an employer runs a background check.

"The Army doesn't have someone looking on a continual basis," said Army spokeswoman Gini Sinclair. "Normally they are arrested for something else."

Snyder, who was with the 94th Engineer Battalion, disappeared when he was on leave from a combat tour in Mosul, where he was a .50-caliber gunner on escorts.

It was on such a mission that Snyder began to turn against the war, when he said he saw an innocent Iraqi man shot and seriously wounded by American gunfire.

"I requested an investigation and they told me no," Snyder said.

He fled to Canada and applied for political asylum, but gave that up to come back to the United States and turn himself in. Snyder said he had made a deal with the Army by which he would be discharged without a court-martial, but after appearing at Fort Knox in Kentucky in October, he went missing again because he said the Army would not guarantee he would not be sent back to Iraq.

Army spokeswoman Sinclair was not authorized to comment on an individual cases, or confirm Snyder's account, but she said soldiers who request discharge are generally referred to their company commander, who investigates the case and makes a recommendation.

According to the Army, more than 18,000 soldiers have been reported AWOL since 2001. After 30 days, a soldier is deemed a deserter and a warrant is issued; many AWOL troops return to their bases before then. The number of troops disappearing dipped considerably after the start of the war in Iraq, but rose again in the past year.

The Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force have seen some 19,000 troops total go AWOL since 2001. But the rate at which troops have gone missing has dropped steadily each year since then.

Joining Snyder in San Diego was a mobile chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War, who are traveling the country in an aging Ford bus. The group recently spent a week in New Orleans, where they gutted houses belonging to veterans and musicians that were flooded more than a year ago by Hurricane Katrina.

Former Army specialist Darrell Anderson, who was on the bus, also went AWOL and hid in Canada. After returning to the United States, he served three days confinement and was given a less-than-honorable discharge.

"All we are doing is fighting to stay alive and in the process we are killing innocent people," said Anderson of the situation in Iraq.

Snyder and Anderson said generally they are met with support wherever they speak, but some have suggested "I should be shot," Snyder said.

"In Iraq, I'm a hero, but the minute I switch my mind and I can't do it anymore, I'm a traitor and a coward," Snyder said. "That really hurts me."

On the Net:

Kyle Snyder: www.soldiersayno.blogspot.com

Ellie