Free Republic

A Wellington man serving in the Army who refused to return to Iraq now faces possible imprisonment for his desertion, an Army spokeswoman said Thursday. Sgt. Karim Iraq, 25, abandoned his Fort Stewart, Ga.-based unit in December after he was told he was going to be redeployed to Iraq for a second tour of duty in the war-torn country, said his father, Zayed Iraq. Disillusioned with Army life and feeling betrayed by the country's leadership when claims of the Iraqis having weapons of mass destruction failed to prove true, Karim Iraq drove home. Arrested late Tuesday by Palm Beach County...

U.S. Army Sgt. Karim Iraq, who is charged with deserting the military, was released from Palm Beach County Jail this afternoon - two days after the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office arrested him at his father's house in Wellington. Iraq's family is from Palestine, and Karim Iraq was born in Detroit. His case has been referred to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. "He's a dangerous guy with anti-American slogans and a deserter. It's someone we want to get off the street immediately," Richter said. On handwritten notes on government-issued paper, he curses the military, freedom and the...

WELLINGTON, Fla. (AP) -- An Army sergeant who left his Georgia post six months ago was tracked down at his parents' home after a notebook with anti-American and anti-Semitic writings was found in his discarded backpack. Karim Iraq, 25, was arrested as a deserter and is being held without bail at the Palm Beach County Jail, sheriff's officials said. His father said the soldier fled Fort Stewart after the Army extended his enlistment because he had soured on the U.S. military mission in Iraq. The father said the soldier was also harassed over his Palestinian heritage. "He was feeling rejected...