"All the men I knew and trained with have been killed, " the deserter told Gray.

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The deserter, whose name has not been disclosed, will be given a new identity in accordance with Colombia's guerrilla demobilisation plan.

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The fifth abductee, Hitomi Soga, married an American who is listed as a deserter from the US army.

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Although the Uruguayan public reviled Passarella as a deserter, some of the senior players made little secret of their preference for the Argentine.

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Earlier this month, a Canadian court ordered the country's refugee board to re-examine the case of another deserter, Joshua Key, whose application for asylum in Canada had been rejected.

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He added that the group was headed by an Army deserter who joined "La Familia" a few years ago.

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His administration's decision to deport Hamas deserter and Israeli counter-terror operative Mosab Hassan Yousef to the Palestinian Authority where he will be killed is the latest sign of their support for radical Islam.

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But whatever the merits, it helps put the Slovik execution in some perspective to mention that during the course of the eleven-month campaign in Northwest Europe, when Eisenhower had one deserter put to death, Hitler had 50, 000 executed for desertion or cowardice.

CNN: Private Ryan was a hero, but there were bums, too