A small profile of who is being killed in IraqAnother day, and another two or three American soldiers are killed in Iraq. The body count still hasn’t hit critical mass yet, a number that will start to turn the public more actively against the White House as during the Vietnam War. Usually this number is around a thousand, for three zeros at the end somehow conveys a sense of largess. Coupled with this, another year or so and people in the US will get fed up; Americans like their wars short and sweet, not more than a few months or couple of years at the most, coupled with a clear and concise victory. In Iraq, it has been anything but that. But more important than this, is the profile of those being killed. As the nature of wars change, so too do the types of soldiers being asked to kill and be killed. No doubt nationalism plays a part (or as Americans like to call their particular brand, “patriotism”), but this is less so than in the past. Most look to the armed forces as a “career”, that is, a quick and easy way to make a living, usually because they can’t find a job doing anything else. As a result, many ethnic groups who don’t fit the WASP (White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant) profile find themselves on the front lines defending American capitalism from Islamic fundamentalism. Some make the choice of their own free will; others are cajoled my recruitment officers. And many of them aren’t even American. Recruting Native North Americans from Canada There is no level to which American authorities would stoop in order to enlist cannon fodder for Uncle Sam’s misadventures. This includes duping native North Americans from Canada into joining the US army. The lengths to which some recruiters would go got so bad that the Pentagon at the end of last year had to make a promise to the Canadian government that they would stop recruiting aboriginal Canadians. Subsequently, senior Pentagon officials warned their recruiters to stay out of Canada. It’s not unusual to have native people from Canada serve in the US military. In the past many have joined up, in particular with the marines. This is because what is on offer is very tempting for a native person whose options and prospects are often limited. For instance, one recruit was promised a sign-up bonus of $20,000 and another $28,000 after his term of service to continue his education (that is, if he survived). Moreover, while in the army the military also promised to pay for whatever schooling was needed. While all this may not seem out of the ordinary, what is different is that American recruiters have actually travelled to Canada in search of recruits as opposed to recruits crossing the border from Canada in search of the US military. They first appeared last January on reserves in Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, and at a number of native communities in the West. The justification often used to recruit natives in Canada is based on a treaty signed in 1794 between the US and Britain known as the Jay Treaty. Canada doesn’t recognise the treaty, foremost since it was concluded between Britain and the US and not with an independent Canada. American recruiters are also under the impression that many aboriginal people automatically hold dual citizenship, which thus allows them to recruit Canadian native Indians for the military. This over-zealous attempt to find new recruits on Canadian soil eventually sparked high-level meetings last February in where the Canadian government let their counterparts in the US know that they didn’t support such efforts. A letter was also sent from the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington to the vice-chiefs of the US military services telling them that their recruiters were to refrain from entering Canadian territory. The prohibition covers all activities in Canada, including recruiting at high school and university job fairs and on Indian reserves. In response, the US embassy gave assurances that there isn’t and won’t be a policy of active recruitment in Canada. Yet with combat missions continuing in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has found itself in need of more troops. Thus, the recruitment offensive continues, albeit not as blatant as before. Green-Card Soldiers Aside from using native Americans as cannon fodder, another method being used to increase the ranks of the US military has been to recruit so-called “green-card soldiers,” individuals who are legal permanent residents of the US but who don’t yet have citizenship. This is not a new concept, but one that goes back for centuries – all the way to the days of Rome. Those who joined the Roman army and served their term of 25 years were then automatically given coveted Roman citizenship. No doubt, the US is now using the same sort of trick, as many look for an easy way to get into the “land of the free”, not realising that they first must make it through the land of the dead and dying. Hence, in anticipation of a shortfall in numbers, Bush signed an order prior to the war significantly reducing the time that such military members have to wait before becoming American citizens. Such moves have not only caught the attention of Canadian officials but have also sparked concern in the Hispanic communities of the US as well, prompting complaints that overzealous recruiters have been specifically targeting Latinos holding green cards. At present, there are over 37,000 non-American citizens serving in the US armed forces. Previously, the US didn’t have as much trouble to find those willing to die for an unknown cause. Yet an aging population and strong economy have contributed to problems in attracting homegrown recruits. What is more, the US is facing a major problem finding enough personnel for duty in Iraq specifically. As a result, some units which originally took part in the invasion and have since returned to the US are now being told they are heading back. This has led to a rise in the number of soldiers going AWOL (Absent Without Leave) after having seen first hand what duty in Iraq really entails. Some estimates put the number of AWOL American soldiers as high as 1,700. Meanwhile, the psychological cost of the war grows. Last year there were 21 official suicides by US soldiers in Iraq,18 of them from the army. Another 2,500 who have returned have been put in medical facilities for “medical extension”, a euphemism for psychiatric problems, with an additional 7,000 who left Iraq prematurely due to stress. And all this doesn’t take into account the number who have difficulties readjusting to life back in the “land of the free”. Indubitably many green-card soldiers are now asking themselves whether such a price is worth paying for measly citizenship. Links Telepolis Artikel-URL:
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