Fight in Iraq. Get American citizenship
This piece in the Washington Post is breathtaking in its audacity. Two think-tankers (one from CFR, one from Brookings) argue that the US should invite people from all over the world to serve in their military for four years with the promise of citizenship. It's obvious why; the US's all-volunteer military is unable to cope with the demands of fighting on two fronts, especially when one is all but a lost cause. Instead of coming up with ideas that insult both the rest of the world and their own military, perhaps the US would be better advised not to start unwinnable and unnecessary wars, yes? And even if you take the idea seriously, doesn't four years seem an awful long time to win a country's loyalty? What are the odds that the poor sod who signs up for this actually lasts four years in Iraq? Not great, I'd say.
2 comments:
Perhaps O'Hanlon should recall the experiences of his Irish antecedents when they the detris of the Imperial Britain first washed up on America shore in the 1830s, for a Yankee dollar, a crust of bread and a shirt on their back they enlisted in the US army to fight Mexico where upon many desert to the side of their Mexican co-religious and identified with the Mexican peasants rather than their protestant Yankee officers. Or during the American civil war were they burned down New York in protest against an unfair draft and the carnage of massed skirmish lines.
Never mind European immigration dried up during this time not withstanding the recruiting efforts of the US army’s European agents offering free passage, the promise of land and citizenship. Indeed how would future immigrant US soldier like to fight or subdue their own if they were to be send to their region of origin under a military mandate?
Lets not forget the first time the Allies i.e. the British invaded and conquered what is now Iraq they did so on the backs of the Anglo-Indian army a relatively political cost free solution, much like the use by the French use of their Foreign Legion through out their colonies .
Neo-imperialists like Max Booth disgust me, perhaps the reason the military can not recruit enough bodies is the simply fact that this war is incompatible with American virtues and Americans are citizens of the American Republic not of the American Empire.
"this war is incompatible with American virtues and Americans are citizens of the American Republic not of the American Empire"... nice.
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