A U.S. army deserter who has been living in Toronto for the past two years says he plans to go home and turn himself in next month.

Darrell Anderson, who is legally entitled to stay in Canada, said Friday that he wants to return to the United States to draw attention to war crimes allegedly committed by American soldiers in Iraq.

"I know people that killed prisoners. I know people that killed innocent people. I was ordered to kill innocent people," Anderson told CNN.

He claims he was once ordered to fire on a car filled with innocent civilians when it pulled up to a roadblock. He said he refused, and was later told he did the wrong thing.

Anderson served seven months on the front lines of Baghdad and Najaf, and was awarded a Purple Heart after being wounded by shrapnel.

If he had done another tour in Iraq, Anderson says, he believes he would have committed war crimes himself. "It's the evil that builds inside you," he said.

While home on leave, Anderson fled to Toronto. He got a job and got married to a Canadian, giving him the legal right to stay in Canada.

However, he now says he will surrender to the U.S. military in September. Anderson said he hopes the army will be lenient and consider his record as a soldier and the fact he was wounded.

He also thinks the timing is right to return because of growing anti-war sentiment in the U.S., and because charges have now been laid against American troops who allegedly killed Iraqi civilians. 

"I should have done something in Iraq. I should have done something when I got back," he said.

"You can't call me a coward because I fought in the war. You can't call me a coward now because I'm going to prison."