U.S. Military Will Offer Path to Citizenship

By GottaLaff

Who will scream the loudest about this? Names! I want names:

Stretched thin in Afghanistan and Iraq, the American military will begin recruiting skilled immigrants who are living in this country with temporary visas, offering them the chance to become United States citizens in as little as six months.

Immigrants who are permanent residents, with documents commonly known as green cards, have long been eligible to enlist. But the new effort, for the first time since the Vietnam War, will open the armed forces to temporary immigrants if they have lived in the United States for a minimum of two years, according to military officials familiar with the plan.

Recruiters expect that the temporary immigrants will have more education, foreign language skills and professional expertise than many Americans who enlist, helping the military to fill shortages in medical care, language interpretation and field intelligence analysis. [...]

A preliminary Pentagon announcement of the program last year drew a stream of angry comments from officers and veterans on Military.com, a Web site they frequent. [...]

The military does not allow illegal immigrants to enlist, and that policy would not change, officers said. Recruiting officials pointed out that volunteers with temporary visas would have already passed a security screening and would have shown that they had no criminal record. [...]

Military officials want to attract immigrants who have native knowledge of languages and cultures that the Pentagon considers strategically vital. The program will also be open to students and refugees. [...]

To enlist, temporary immigrants will have to prove that they have lived in the United States for two years and have not been out of the country for longer than 90 days during that time. They will have to pass an English test. [...]

Commenters who vented their suspicions of the program on Military.com said it could be used by terrorists to penetrate the armed forces.

Why does our military hate America?

Ding dong, the war is dead

By GottaLaff

Via Think Progress:

Within 24 hours of Barack Obama’s election, an Army career counselor sent out a recruiting e-mail promising that the new president would “get us out of Iraq,” reports VetVoice’s Brandon Friedman. “What are you waiting for?” the e-mail asks, arguing the election of Obama makes now the perfect time to join up:

Though it’s not clear whether this recruiter is acting alone, it signals that President Obama might be used as a new, forceful recruiting tool. “If so, this would symbolize a stunning — if not totally rational — renunciation of the Bush administration and its handling of the military,” Friedman writes. “If this becomes an Army policy, it represents a true ‘ding-dong the witch is dead’ moment for the service.”

That would be ironic, wouldn't it? The rough, tough, bullying tactics of the War Chimpenfuhrer causes recruiting numbers to drop. The Liberal Commie Peace and Love Hippie Muslim newbie strengthens the military within 24 hours of his election.

And just now on the Rachel Maddow radio show, she said that the Iraqis, who have been resisting an agreement with Bush, are now changing their tune because of Obama. "We trust him enough to negotiate with him on this subject."

It's not even January yet.