Outsourcing Military Gets Shot Down
Re “Uncle Sam Wants Tu,” Commentary, Feb. 24: Well, I guess Max Boot is at it again. Does he honestly think so little of his country and is he so dedicated to a long time of war that he would seriously consider this the answer to the problem of enlisting more troops in the United States Army and Marine Corps? Namely, to recruit foreigners from the four corners of the Earth?
Does he really think the answer to this ill-fated war in Iraq, and expanding it to who knows where else, is to bring more and more people to this country and promise them U.S. citizenship to boot? Are we not already in deep trouble with so many people flooding into our country illegally? I can only hope that he wrote this article with tongue in cheek, as a joke. Or is it that he shares the president’s plan of controlling the entire world in the name of bringing democracy to others?
Coral Norton
Port Hueneme
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Boot’s idea that the U.S. should hire mercenaries who would fight America’s wars for either money or citizenship is appalling. If American citizens are unwilling to fight and die in American wars, then the wars themselves are not worth fighting.
The hiring of foreign-born mercenaries was a favorite technique of the British during the Revolutionary War. Mercenaries were resented then, and would certainly be resented now, no matter where they might fight. Or for what benefit.
Carl W. Goss
Los Angeles
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It would be easy for Uncle Sam to lessen the need for foreign troops. All he has to do is stop discharging gays and lesbians and follow the British model, which has begun active recruitment of my younger cohorts.
Gene Touchet
Cathedral City
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Even though Boot has been exhorting Americans to support our war in Iraq, the Army, Marine Corps and Reserves forces are unable to meet their recruiting goals. Now he thinks we should form units of foreigners to serve in our armed forces. One would think that with 51% of our current population voting for Bush, we could meet the requirement with U.S. citizens. Am I the only one that sees a major contradiction here?
Mike Cornforth
Del Mar
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So Boot thinks the way to solve manpower shortage problem in the Army and the Marines is to outsource it to foreigners willing to “work” for less pay and a promise of U.S. citizenship later? The whole thing sounds like a state-sponsored lottery designed by Kafka: Join the U.S. Army, and should you survive your stint, you get to vote for Jeb Bush in 2008. If you do not, well, thank you for playing the game.
Soo Lee
Irvine