The Deserter's Tale

The memoir of an Oklahoma-born soldier who enlisted to help his family and was deployed to Iraq describes the horrific conditions to which Iraqi civilians were subjected, his forced participation in raids on accused terrorists he believes were innocent, and his decision to seek asylum in Canada. 50,000 first printing.

"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."