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

"...a story worth telling: how a good man became lost in an immoral system..." -- Quill & Quire, March 2007

"The Deserter's Tale is a very slim book, but it never pretends to be more than one man's account. Key does the math, as should the reader: If this is what one soldier saw in seven months, imagine the sum total of the inhumanity being perpetuated in Iraq." -- Toronto Star, February 11, 2007

"The case of Joshua Key . . . is unique. He is the first US 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. . . .Key will be able to raise the question of the war's legality as a defense." -- -- Michael Roberts, The Province

"The writing is fluid, crisp and compelling. The story is shocking... [told] with unflinching frankness..." -- The Gazette, February 3, 2007

"What's most engaging about this book is its essential honesty... The Deserter's Tale ought to be required reading for soldiers heading overseas..." -- The Globe and Mail, February 10, 2007

In this first-ever memoir from a young US soldier who participated for eight months in the war in Iraq and then fled to Canada, Joshua Key offers a vivid and damning indictment of how the war is being waged. Joshua Key is a husband and father from a conservative background who enlisted in the army to lift his family out of poverty. A year later, President George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq and Key was sent to Ramadi. The war he found there was not the campaign against terrorists and "evildoers" he had been told to expect. Key saw Iraqi civilians beaten, maimed, and shot for little or no provocation. He witnessed the killing of a seven-year-old girl who was scrounging leftover army rations, and watched while the dead bodies of Iraqis provided sport for US soldiers. When Key was sent home on leave he knew he could not return to the war. He went underground, finally seeking asylum in Canada. His case is now before the Canadian courts. In clear-eyed, compelling prose crafted with the help of award-winning Canadian novelist and journalist Lawrence Hill, The Deserter's Tale tells the story of a man who went into the war believing unquestioningly in his government and who was transformed into a person who ethically, morally, and physically could no longer serve his country.

When I was still being recruited in Oklahoma City in 2002, I had to sign a paper to the effect that I had read and understood a warning from the military: Desertion in the time of war means death by a firing squad. That just about sums it up. We could do whatever we wanted to Iraqis. But if we ran from duty, there would be hell to pay. I will never apologize for deserting the American army. I deserted an injustice and leaving was the only right thing to do. I owe one apology and one apology only, and that is to the people of Iraq. -- Joshua Key

JOSHUA KEY was raised in Guthrie, Oklahoma (outside of Oklahoma City) and now lives in Canada. This is his first book.

LAWRENCE HILL, former Globe and Mail staff reporter and acclaimed author, has long been active in human rights. He is the author of several novels and works of nonfiction, including Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada; Any Known Blood; Some Great Thing; and the soon to-be-released The Book of Negroes (HarperCollins, February 2006). Lawrence Hill lives in Burlington, Ontario.