The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq

Key, Joshua; Hill, Lawrence [Contributor]

ISBN 10: 0802143458 / ISBN 13: 9780802143457

Published by Grove Press, 2007

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 0802143458-3-30079351

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802143458
• ISBN 13: 9780802143457
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Good
• Weight: 9 ounces

About this title

Synopsis

 “Destined to become part of the literature of the Iraq war . . . A substantial contribution to history.”—Los Angeles Times

Now in paperback, The Deserter’s Tale is the first memoir from a soldier who deserted from the war in Iraq, and a vivid and damning indictment of the American military campaign. In spring 2003, young Oklahoman Joshua Key was sent to Ramadi as part of a combat engineer company. It was not the campaign against terrorists and evildoers he had expected. Key saw Iraqi civilians beaten, shot, and killed, or maimed for little or no provocation. After seven months in Iraq, Key was home on leave and knew he could not return. So he took his family and went underground in the United States, finally seeking asylum in Canada after fourteen months in hiding. Detailing the grinding horrors of life as part of an occupying force, The Deserter’s Tale is the story of a conservative-minded family man and patriot who went to war believing unquestioningly in his government’s commitment to integrity and justice, and how what he saw in Iraq transformed him into someone who could no longer serve his country.

Review

"The case of Joshua Key . . . is unique. He is the first U.S. soldier who actually served in Iraq to claim sanctuary from the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, based on his 'personal experience with atrocities' in Iraq. . . . Combatant Key will be able to raise the question of the war's legality as a defense." -- Michael Roberts

"The American Army is having a lot of trouble attracting new recruits, in part because of the war in Iraq--its horrors, the lies, and the sixteen hundred Gls who are dead. Joshua Key enlisted. But after eight months in Ramadi and Fallujah, taking advantage of home leave, he deserted. . . . He left behind the hardship of war, the blood, the lies. Like thousands of others."

"If anybody invaded America and did to us what we did to the Iraqi people, I'd be right up there with the rebels and insurgents, trying to blow up the occupiers. I would hole up in my hometown in Oklahoma and rig mines in trees (they kill more people when they go off overhead) and set them to explode when tanks passed below. I'd lob all the mortars and rocket-propelled grenades that I could get my hands on. No doubt about it, if somebody ripped apart my home and my family in the United States, I'd be a force to be reckoned with, and I'd keep giving the occupiers hell until I was dead and gone, twice over."