No Other Choice
by matt at 5:00 am on August 5th, 2005 in Best Of: Matt, Bush Man Date, Economy, Iraq WarAs the war in Iraq drags on, and the death toll mounts, the challenge faced by military recruiters becomes increasingly difficult.
In our Memorial Day post, we took a look at “green card soldiers” who enlisted in the military in exchange for citizenship:
The most heartbreaking sight at the rally was Fernando Suarez del Solar stoically holding a photograph and a handwritten poster memorializing his son Jesus, a U.S. Marine who died in the first week of the war in Iraq. He and other parents of fallen soldiers patiently answered questions from reporters for much of the day, but apparently there was bigger news the next day because there was no mention of Suarez del Solar or Veterans For Peace. In fact, it was only recently that I learned about how Jesus came to be a Marine in a story about his father’s activism against the creation of ‘green card Marines:’
Three years ago, President Bush offered accelerated citizenship to any green card holder who has served in the military since Sept. 11, 2001.
[...]
“Immigrants are generally the first on the front lines,” Suarez said. “They should know where they’ll end up.”
Then, a month later, it was MTV’s True Life “I’m Dead Broke†following 19-year-old DeMarlon trying to pass a basic literacy test in order to escape the abject poverty in which he and his family lived. He wasn’t able to pass.
On Sunday, the New York Times ran a feature focusing on the search for recruits in the poverty-stricken U.S. Pacific territories:
From Pago Pago in American Samoa to Yap in Micronesia, 4,000 miles to the west, Army recruiters are scouring the Pacific, looking for high school graduates to enlist at a time when the Iraq war is turning off many candidates in the States.
The Army has found fertile ground in the poverty pockets of the Pacific. The per capita income is $8,000 in American Samoa, $12,500 in the Northern Marianas and $21,000 in Guam, all United States territories. In the Marshalls and Micronesia, former trust territories, per capita incomes are about $2,000.
Since the United States went to an all-volunteer Army in 1973, no one can say that they’ve been forced to join the military (though soldiers subject to stop-loss orders and post-discharge call-ups have a case). But with the jobs situation barely back to pre-recession levels after four years, and employee compensation stagnant, Americans at the low end of the workforce who have few options available may see little difference between “volunteering” and being drafted. That the poor are choosing the Army is not necessarily a new phenomenon, but the combination of an adverse economy and a Commander-in-Chief whose motto is “Bring it On” is unique. There’s a reason why Congressman Charlie Rangel introduced a bill reinstating the draft: He was sick of seeing poor young black men coming home in boxes while the children of his fellow Congressmen sat out the fighting.
But it was the dateline of the Times feature that really drove home the problem: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands. In the continuing investigation into lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s criminal activities, it was revealed that the government of the Northern Mariana Islands paid Abramoff millions of dollars to lobby Tom DeLay. The purpose of such an intense lobbying effort? Fighting off labor laws in an effort to keep the Northern Marianas a haven for sweatshops, and not subject to a minimum wage, humane conditions or union activity.
DeLay fully approved of the working and living conditions…”You are a shining light for what is happening to the Republican Party, and you represent everything that is good about what we are trying to do in America and leading the world in the free-market system”
Later, DeLay would tell the Washington Post’s Juliet Eilperin that the low-wage, anti-union conditions of the Marianas constituted “a perfect petri dish of capitalism. It’s like my Galapagos Island.”
DeLay’s disgusting words and deeds mock the reality faced by young people in the Northern Mariana Islands. There’s nothing “perfect” about their situation, and capitalism has failed them to the point that the possibility of becoming one of the 1800-and-counting dead has become an attractive option. The United States isn’t doing right by our soldiers or our poor. The fact that it’s the same elected officials that misuse the military and mistreat the least fortunate among us isn’t a coincidence. It’s just how they do.
GI Joe wrote:
You can’t seriously be trying to tie sweat shops in the Mariana Islands to “misuse” of the military, and you also can’t seriously believe that people join the military because they are so poor that there is no other option. I am a Marine in charge of 34 other Marines and less than 10% of those would have struggled to go to college to get an education and do something different. None of these guys joined because they were out of options and they all joined knowing that they could die. Furthermore, all of you bleeding hearts cry “woe, woe, woe” about the death toll in Iraq when the death toll in a single month and in some cases in single battles in every major conflict that this coutry has been involved in other than the first Gulf War has been greater than what we have experienced in just over 7 years since the start of the “War on Terror.” Additionally, I have lost a number of Marines in combat and none of them were “poor young black men (I really can’t believe you tried to bring race into it as well).” You really need to check your demographics, too. The majority of the front line infantrymen are actually caucasion, not that that matters. Of course, you, on your high throne would probably refer to them as poor white trash, clearly in need of coddeling and thirsting for your benevolent welfare, though they would probably knock you unconscious if you said it to their face. I cried my eyes out for every one of my Marines that have died, but they sacrificed willingly. You are so off base, with all of your statements, that I can hardly even believe you even figured out how to get out of bed to check your rediculous blog site this morning.
Oh, and I’ll bet the son of Fernando Suarez del Solar is rolling over in his grave, along with every other immigrant who has proven his loyalty to the country by joining the military. He, along with others who have gone the same route are well aware that you don’t just join the military so that they U.S. government will give you a pay check and benefits while you sit around and do nothing. They joined because they want, more than anything to be Americans, and they know that being a productive part of any society requires service and sacrifice. You don’t get to join and do nothing.
Continue to bash the military and assume that we are all poor stupid simplton’s who have been coaxed in to some deranged form of indentured servitude, and continue to bash the efforts in the middle east, but one day, God willing, you will manage to figure out how to prevent your misguided passion from ruling your ability to reason and use logic, you will understand the strategic implications of what we are doing there and realize that the last major source of instability in the world (other than eastern and central africa) is the Middle East, and that our efforts to stabalize the Middle East have been long overdue and have probably saved future generations no end of hardship and difficulty. Actually, you will probably never realize this, but that’s ok. Those of us willing to sacrifice will drag you to safety kicking and screaming, regardless of how adled your mind is.
Stop insulting us with your arrogant condescension.
Posted 27 Jan 2009 at 2:50 pm ¶
GI Joe wrote:
Oh, and one little small factoid for you. In October 2007, during the height of the surge, 18 Marines died. Any idea where those Marines were when they died?
Bingo! You’re right! in the United States! Not in the Middle East.
I’m actually more safe on patrol in Iraq than I am driving home from work, and I still get to earn tax free income and if I’m an immigrant, even my citizenship!
Posted 27 Jan 2009 at 3:15 pm ¶
GI Joe wrote:
I also can’t believe that this topic has been sitting in your “Best Of” section for over 3 years, and people have let you get away with it.
Posted 27 Jan 2009 at 3:24 pm ¶
matt wrote:
you’re pushing your luck.
Posted 27 Jan 2009 at 3:29 pm ¶
GI Joe wrote:
enlighten me
Posted 27 Jan 2009 at 3:45 pm ¶
matt wrote:
you’ve had your say. i feel no urge to respond, now just shut the fuck up.
Posted 27 Jan 2009 at 3:49 pm ¶
GI Joe wrote:
Aye, aye, Sir.
Posted 27 Jan 2009 at 3:56 pm ¶