If I were devious enough to conjure up a Tonkin Gulf moment to spark a rift – no, a brawl – between the U.S. and Canada, I couldn’t have done better than what a Federal Court in Canada has done.

And I quote from Canada.com, dateline Ottowa: A Canadian court has sided for the first time with a military deserter who fled to Canada seeking refugee status, ruling Friday that the U.S. soldier witnessed enough human rights abuses during a stint in Iraq that he could qualify for asylum. The decision also marked the first time that the Federal Court, which has heard a handful of cases involving deserters, concluded that military action against civilians in Iraq violates the 1949 Geneva Convention, an international prohibition against humiliating and degrading treatment.

This has to mean war. Or at least hard feelings.

How self-righteous can 33 million people get – excuse me, our neighbor to the north, which owes its security to the American nuclear/air/sea/satellite umbrella - how high on their moral horse, ready to pass judgment on our military, and our men and women in uniform?

U.S. Army private Joshua Key deserted in 2005 during a two-week leave after eight months in Iraq. Key showed up in Canada with his wife and children. Key requested political asylum, claiming he was forced to engage in actions against civilian homes, which rose to the level of violations of the Geneva Convention.

Again, from Canada.com: (The judge) ruled that the board too narrowly interpreted refugee eligibility by concluding only soldiers who seek protection from committing war crimes need apply.

"Officially condoned military misconduct falling well short of a war crime may support a claim to refugee protection," said the ruling.

(The judge) said it "cannot be seriously challenged" that some of the conduct in which Keys participated violated the Geneva Convention.

"This included the responsibility for conducting night-time raids of private Iraqi homes in search of weapons," said the decision.

"Pte. Key's role in this was to blow open the doors with explosives and then to assist in both securing the premises and detaining the adult male occupants. Mr. Key alleged that during these searches he witnessed several instances of unjustified abuse, unwarranted detention, humiliation and looting by fellow soldiers, much of which he said was ignored by his superior officers.

It would be easy enough to dismiss this as the ham-handed attempt of a self-important civil servant to make a political splash, an isolated event of no meaning. It would be easy except for one thing: A month ago, a majority of MPs in the Canadian House of Commons voted that the hundred American deserters idling in their country be allowed to permanently stay. The motion was non-binding on the government, but it did make a dramatic statement.

The cherry on top of the cake: The judge released his decision on July 4. You think that was a coincidence, or an extra poke in the eye from a sanctimonious son of a bitch?