By David Hambling

By Steve Mraz, Stars and Stripes

LANDSTUHL, Germany — More money should go to the U.S. State Department for U.S. efforts in Africa rather than to the military’s U.S. Africa Command, said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.

The chairman of the House of Representatives’ defense appropriations subcommittee made his comments Thursday at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center after visiting wounded troops and having Thanksgiving dinner with top U.S. military leaders in Europe.

“They should use diplomacy in Africa rather than military,” Murtha said. “We can’t win these wars militarily. Nobody wants us over there. I think Liberia wants us. Nobody else.

“You can’t just throw money at it, and you can’t win it militarily. It has to be done diplomatically. So I’ve been trying to shift money and convince the people that make the decision on where the money goes that more money should go to the State Department for those kind of things.”

President Bush requested $389 million for AFRICOM for fiscal 2009. Earlier this year during the budgetary process, the subcommittee Murtha chairs recommended providing AFRICOM only $80.6 million in funding for fiscal 2009. In the end, AFRICOM’s budget was approved at $266 million.

Vince Crawley, a spokesman for AFRICOM, noted that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has already spoken about the need for the State Department to get a bigger share of the funding.

However, “It would be inappropriate for us to comment on what members of Congress are saying,” Crawley said Friday.

AFRICOM, which stood up Oct. 1 in Stuttgart, as a unified combatant command, brings all Defense Department programs on the continent under one umbrella.

Missions range from anti-terrorism programs in the Horn of Africa to maritime security initiatives and military-to-military training exercises in numerous countries.

In July, Refugees International released a report called U.S. Civil-Military Imbalance for Global Engagement: Lessons from the Operational Level in Africa, detailing policy and funding disparities between the Defense Department and the State Department. The report argues that the Pentagon controls an increasing share of foreign aid that used to be directed by civilian agencies and that priorities on the African continent do not reflect need.

Murtha, a retired Marine colonel, was at Landstuhl during a stopover on the way to Afghanistan “to find out what the problems are there.” Murtha is well-known for accusing Marines of “cold-blooded murder and war crimes” for the deaths of Iraqi civilians in 2005 in Haditha.

Four enlisted Marines were charged for their roles in the deaths, and four officers were charged in relation to the investigation. One officer was acquitted and charges have since been dropped against everyone else except a staff sergeant, who is suing Murtha for defamation, according to the Associated Press.

“Haditha’s an entirely different situation,” Murtha said. “I have the highest regard for the troops in the field, but in this case, these people didn’t die of a heart attack. They didn’t die of natural causes. (The Marines) used excessive force, obviously. And I point out to the troops: Look, in a guerrilla war you can’t just go in and knock down doors. We’ve changed that completely.”

While Murtha agrees with President-elect Barack Obama’s plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq over the next 16 months, he is “very nervous” about a troop surge in Afghanistan.

Obama has said he would send two or three more brigades to Afghanistan in 2009. Last week, Gates said he supported a troop buildup in Afghanistan that’s been estimated at more than 20,000 American troops over the next 12 to 18 months, according to the Washington Post.

“I’ve warned the Obama people, and I’ve also warned my leadership on the Democrat side in the House,” Murtha said. “Let’s not be pushing ourselves into Afghanistan. Let’s see what the plan is. What is the plan? How are we going to solve this problem now? … I’m going to come back and report to them what I think should be done.”

Kevin Dougherty / Stripes
U.S. Army Spc. Andrè L. Shepherd

By Kevin Dougherty, Stars and Stripes

MUNICH, Germany — A U.S. soldier who deserted the Army 18 months ago to avoid a second tour to Iraq has asked the German government for political asylum, making him the first U.S. servicemember to take that legal and political step in Germany over the war on terrorism.

Army Spc. André L. Shepherd submitted his petition Wednesday to a German federal office in Giessen that handles migration and refugee issues. Worried the Army might attempt to arrest him, Shepherd didn’t publicly disclose the time and place of his filing until he held a press conference Thursday in Frankfurt.

In a seven-page letter written earlier this year for his attorney, Shepherd stated he wanted "to walk away from the Army and, more to the point, my country." The Apache helicopter mechanic from Cleveland wrote of not wanting to be "an instrument of destruction" and of the "imperial actions of an America gone horribly wrong."

The press conference went smoothly for Shepherd who was not apprehended.

"This is not against the U.S. military. My problem is with Washington," Shepherd said. "The U.S. military has been manipulated. They were lied to."

At a gut level, Shepherd said, it’s difficult to ask another nation to protect you from your homeland.

The petition sets the Status of Forces Agreement between the United States and Germany on a collision course with various laws and agreements involving NATO, the European Union and the Geneva Conventions, according to Reinhard Marx, a Frankfurt-based asylum lawyer representing Shepherd.

Because of his petition for political asylum, Shepherd "enjoys the protection of the Geneva Convention," Marx said at the news conference.

A spokesman for U.S. Army Europe said late Wednesday the command had just learned of the asylum case hours earlier.

"We know nothing about it," other than a news release that came out announcing the press conference, said Bruce Anderson. "We’re waiting for the facts."

Uncharted waters

Shepherd’s request for political asylum puts the United States and Germany in uncharted waters. The countries have much in common in the cultural, business and military arenas, but Germany has been a steadfast critic of the Iraq war. While German lawmakers in recent years have made it harder for an Ausländer — or foreigner — to seek asylum, the threshold isn’t insurmountable.

"No one knows how the German government will handle the case," Marx said earlier this week.

The asylum request, the first of its kind since the Vietnam War according to Marx, is fraught with military and diplomatic land mines. For one, Germany is home to dozens of Army and Air Force installations, from which tens of thousands of servicemembers funnel through en route to Afghanistan or Iraq every year.

Historically, Canada has been the most likely destination for a U.S. servicemember contemplating political asylum while looking to avoid a deployment. That was especially the case during the Vietnam War, when thousands of draftees headed north. But the door to Canada doesn’t swing like it used to, and it no longer is the only primary option for those of Shepherd’s persuasion.

Instead, servicemembers of the current combat era are just as likely to apply to the Army for conscientious objector status. In fiscal 2007, 4,698 soldiers deserted the Army, according to Maj. Nathan Banks, a Pentagon Army spokesman. The latest figures for fiscal 2008, show a decrease, down to 3,559.

In a recent interview, Shepherd said he didn’t want to go the route of a conscientious objector because it would have meant renouncing all wars, something he refuses to do. His beef is with the so-called war on terrorism, particularly in Iraq.

Shepherd was slated to deploy to Iraq in 2007 as a member of the 412th Aviation Support Battalion, headquartered in Katterbach, Germany. The 31-year-old joined the Army in January 2004 and served six months in Iraq, from September 2004 to February 2005. As a helicopter mechanic, Shepherd didn’t regularly step outside the wire at Forward Operating Base Speicher, near the city of Tikrit in northern Iraq.

Upon his return, Shepherd said he began researching the lead-up to and execution of the war. He concluded the war was "a fraud," but figured that with his unit in a period of reorganization he might be able to fulfill his enlistment without returning downrange.

But on April 11, 2007, with deployment orders to Iraq looming, Shepherd left for "vacation" in the dead of night and didn’t return, except once to pick up a few belongings. His unit left without him a couple of months later.

Shepherd decided to surface now because his battalion is back in Katterbach after a 15-month tour.

Before his company deployed, Shepherd "worked in the orderly room, and he was OK," said Maj. Harold Demby, the soldier’s company commander. From what Demby observed, Shepherd was "a quiet soldier who didn’t say a lot," though he sensed there may have been some maturity issues.

Shepherd was "not sure what he wanted to do" with his life, Demby said in a brief phone interview.

Through intermediaries, Stars and Stripes interviewed Shepherd several days before he filed for political asylum. The meeting occurred in an isolated house in the Bavarian countryside, not far from the Austrian border.

"Welcome to the Outback," said a man named Dieter, the homeowner.

At the behest of two reporters, Shepherd donned his camouflage uniform for pictures. It was a loose fit.

"Nobody knows how America will react," Shepherd said of his upcoming petition for political asylum. "Nobody knows what will happen."

The start of the process

Shepherd had begun to pack his bags, figuring that like any other asylum-seeker in Germany he would be sent to one of several refugee reception centers.

On Wednesday, as Shepherd was being processed at the facility in Giessen, Marx would not disclose which reception center his client had been assigned. Marx later furnished a copy of the 29-page brief that he submitted to the Giessen office, which serves as Germany’s clearinghouse for political asylum requests.

Filing such a petition, Marx said, "does not automatically mean you give up your citizenship."

In the legal brief, written in German, it stated that Shepherd "does not want to participate in a war that is against international law," citing Article 2.4 of the U.N. charter. It also invoked the possibility of him being accused of "war crimes," which he did not want to be a party to.

"For the decision he made, he would have to face charges by a military court with authority over him," the brief continued. Additionally, "the applicant for political asylum is afraid of prosecution under the Geneva Convention."

Shepherd suspects his case could take a few years to sort out, based on what Marx has told him. But the case also could be dispatched within short order, which probably wouldn’t bode well for him.

"I don’t want to be punished for making the right decision, or standing up for what I believe in," Shepherd said as he sat at a pinewood table in the sparsely furnished kitchen.

"It will be a protracted battle because America has a lot to lose, and Germany will have a ticking time bomb on their hands."

Such inflammatory comments aren’t at all unusual for Shepherd, not at this stage in his life. While his old company commander was reluctant to go into details about the soldier’s post-deployment problems, Shepherd wasn’t.

After he returned from Iraq in 2005, Shepherd said his "entire personality took a massive, massive nose dive." He drank heavily and argued with his superiors. In August of that year he received an Article 15, a form of nonjudicial punishment.

Unit leaders "didn’t know what was wrong with me," Shepherd said, "but they wanted to help me all the same."

Life in the shadows hasn’t been all that gloomy for Shepherd. He has a German girlfriend, several friends and a day-to-day existence, that, at least until this week, seems normal on the surface. He got out, shopped and even took in an occasional movie in a nearby theater. Only twice did he have to talk his way past the local police.

Glimpsing at his military ID, which has yet to expire, it’s clear Shepherd has dropped weight, at least 15 pounds by his estimate. He attributed the loss to eating less and walking more. Driving a car, he said, is a rare treat because to do so leaves him exposed, particularly if he is involved in an accident. So he walks just about everywhere.

"This is a life-changing moment," Shepherd said. "We know the risk we face."

Shepherd has a polite, passive demeanor. He’s quick with a smile, but his dull staccato laugh seems like a nervous tic. The habit predates his enlistment, Shepherd said.

Prior to enlisting in the Army, Shepherd attended college but had to drop out his last year because he had no money. He has worked several different jobs, from being a courier and a fast-food restaurant manager to landscaping and selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door.

"I didn’t sell anything," Shepherd said. "I’m not a salesman."

Shepherd was also homeless a couple of times, sleeping in the backseat of his car at night.

When he joined the Army, his mother worried but his father was proud. He’s not sure what their reaction will be to his request for political asylum.

"It’s a difficult situation for my family," Shepherd said.

By Sam Hemingway, Free Press Staff Writer  

Vermont — Bill Stenger stood on a patch of muddy ground and waved at the operator inside the bucket loader as it rumbled across the construction site for Jay Peak’s new hotel just west of the ski resort’s existing base lodge.

“You can’t see it right now, but we’re standing on top of a $1 million, state-of-the-art stormwater-retention system,” Stenger, 60, shouted over the roar of the machinery.

Stenger, co-owner and president of the 53-year-old resort, nodded at a labyrinth of cement footings poking through a recently arrived coat of snow.

“There it is,” he said, grinning and gesturing at what eventually will be a 78,000-square-foot, $17 million slope-side hotel with 57 bedroom suites.

Welcome to Phase I of Jay Peak’s plan to make itself into a year-round recreation destination. Coming soon: Phase II, which will include two more condominium hotels, a huge indoor water park encased in thermopane glass, an indoor ice skating and curling rink, a bowling/nightclub area, plus a slew of new trails and lifts.

Total cost of Phase I and II: Almost $100 million.

And Jay Peak doesn’t plan to borrow a dime to pay for any of it.

Instead, the money will come from close to 200 foreign investors willing to plunk down $500,000 apiece so they can obtain a “green card” visa from the U.S government that will allow them and their families to live full-time in the United States — forever.

The money-for-green-card arrangement is permitted under what’s known as the EB-5 program administered by Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency formerly known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The program is designed to provide green cards to foreigners who provide at least $500,000 in investment capital for projects in high unemployment areas of the country. With each $500,000 investment, the program requires the creation of 10 jobs.

“It’s a win-win-win thing,” Stenger said. He reasons that, when the resort’s expansion work is done, Jay Peak will be bigger and better and that 2,000 or more permanent jobs will be available in and around Orleans County.

“I’m excited,” Stenger said. “This is a rural community with the highest unemployment rate in the state. It is going to see $100 million in a strategic investment that is going to change the character and lives of thousands of people.”

James Candido, a state economic-development specialist who monitors EB-5 projects for Vermont, said anyone who thinks EB-5 is just a way for rich foreigners to buy their way into the United States misses the point.

“This is a pure job-creation visa program,” Candido said. “The only goal of this program is to create American jobs with foreign dollars.”

Only Jay Peak and Sugarbush Resort have used the EB-5 program in Vermont. Sugarbush Resort is raising $20 million through EB-5 to pay for an expansion of hotel and lodge facilities scheduled for construction in 2009.

Stenger, the first Vermont business leader to figure out how to make use of EB-5, thinks the program could provide needed investment capital to Vermont businesses of all kinds — especially at a time when most other sources of money and credit have dried up.

“The opportunity is enormous,” he said. “We’re plowing the field for the rest of Vermont … . I want it to go beyond Jay Peak. I want it to go to other parts of the state. I want it to be used for other things than just the travel industry.”

EB-5’s beginnings

The origins of EB-5 go back to the mid-1980s, a time when the Canadian city of Vancouver was undergoing a dramatic facelift financed by capital from foreigners — mostly from Hong Kong — in return for permission to emigrate to Canada.

The initiative caught the attention of Congress, and legislation to create a similar program in the states was introduced in 1986.

“This one provision will generate over $8 billion annually in new investments in small and independent U.S. businesses, and provide up to 100,000 new jobs for Americans,” the late Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., told colleagues during a 1986 Senate debate on the proposal.

The 1986 bill failed, but in 1990 a similar measure was added to an immigration-reform law signed into law by President George H.W. Bush. One of the bill’s prime sponsors was Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.

“Kennedy was for it because he was getting criticism galore from Irish citizens in Boston,” Stenger said. “They were saying, ‘Why are our relatives having to move to Canada to get into the United States?’”

The early years of EB-5 were troubled by allegations that investors were getting green cards despite paying only a fraction of the required $500,000 investment, after which the programs they supposedly had funded were scrapped.

That and a heavy-handed INS crackdown that followed gave EB-5 a bad name and scared away potential investors for a time, but the program has begun to draw more interest over the past five years.

Today, there are 32 EB-5 projects in the country, involving investment in everything from inner-city redevelopment projects to almond nut farms to Hollywood movies. About 1,000 foreign investors are expected to gain green cards via EB-5 this year.

“It’s getting stronger,” Bill Wright, a spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Services said of the program. “We’re confident that the program is positive and beneficial to the nation.”

Stenger said he first heard of EB-5 in 1997 from Dale Ellis, a Montreal businessman and Jay Peak season-ticket holder.

“Dale said Canada was seeing hundreds of millions of dollars of investment and asked ‘Why don’t you people do that?’” Stenger said.

Stenger took the advice and later met with William Shouldice, the commerce secretary for then-Gov. Howard Dean, to see if the state would help establish an EB-5 regional center in Orleans County.

“Bill asked me, ‘Do you have a problem if we apply for all of Vermont to be a regional center?’” Stenger said. “So, using Jay Peak as the example, the entire state was submitted.”

INS agreed to make the entire state a regional center under EB-5, except for the Burlington area, because of its lower unemployment levels.

Implementation of EB-5 in Vermont then stalled when Stenger learned that program rules required him to have all his project’s potential investors prepared to make their money available to Jay Peak at exactly the same time.

“That was like herding cats,” he said. “We kind of went into neutral for quite a few years.”

A 2003 revision of the program rules loosened up that requirement and Stenger moved ahead with design work for the Phase I expansion. In 2006, he started nailing down investors. Since then, he has attracted the 35 investors needed for the Phase I hotel project and almost 100 of the 150 he needs for the Phase II expansion.

A majority of the investors are from the United Kingdom, but they include people from Canada, France, India, Ireland, Mexico and parts of Scandinavia. Earlier this month, a Vermont trade mission led by Stenger, state government officials and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., spent a weekend in Ireland talking up EB-5 with potential Irish investors.

“Let’s face it,” said Leahy, an enthusiastic booster of the state’s EB-5 program. “How many people, including in the state of Vermont, are rushing to invest large amounts of money in the Jay area right now? By using this program, we can attract the money and create jobs.”

Down the road

Candido, the state economic-development specialist, said the success of Jay Peak and Sugarbush with EB-5 could open the door to more widespread use of the program as a tool for economic development.

“We’ve gotten calls from a bunch of different types of industries, including movie studios, real estate projects, office buildings, laboratories,” Candido said. In addition, three other ski resorts are exploring the possibility of using EB-5.

He said the state has been hesitant recently to promote EB-5 possibilities too much because the program has not yet been re-authorized by Congress. Leahy said he’s confident that will happen early in 2009.

Stenger, who speaks around the state about the virtues of EB-5, said he recommends that participants in the program — both investors and the recipient companies — get to know each other as part of the decision-making process.

“I tell them I want them all to come here,” he said of the Jay Peak investors. “In fact, I insist that they come. I want them to see what’s here and get excited about what we’re doing. And every one of them are.”

He also tells them that they will eventually share in the profits from their investment in Jay Peak, even though under the EB-5 rules they are advised that their investment is “at risk,” meaning there is no guarantee of a payback.

After all, he said, their investment is why the expansion project is such a can’t-lose proposition.

“I don’t have a mortgage on the bricks and mortar,” he said. “I have no debt. The only expense I have is the operation of it and the utilities to run it. I’m going to be successful. I’ve been able to defer and, in large part, eliminate the biggest cost of development, which is capital.”