HispanicVista Columnists
When enough is enough
By
Erika Robles/HispanicVista.com
May 23, 2005
On May 1, 2005, the British Sunday Times leaked a secret memo with the
minutes of a meeting dated July 23, 2002, indicating that President Bush and
Prime Minister Tony Blair had agreed to invade Iraq. The memo, written by
Mathew Rycroft –a Downing Street foreign policy aide- and obtained by
Michael Smith –a defense specialist writing for the Sunday Times of London-
was a huge story in the U.K., but went almost unreported in the U.S.
The memo, labeled "secret and strictly personal –U.K. eyes only," contains
the minutes of the meeting and begins with the head of the British
intelligence service, identified as "C", saying "C reported on his recent
talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military
action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through
military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the
intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
It goes on to say that "the Foreign Secretary said he would discuss this
with Colin Powell this week. It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind
to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the
case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD
capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work
up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons
inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of
force. The Attorney-General said that the desire for regime change was not a
legal base for military action…The Prime Minister said that it would make a
big difference politically and legally if Saddam refused to allow in the UN
inspectors…"
In the meantime, over 1,500 U.S. soldiers have been killed and more than
11,000 have been wounded for an unjustifiable war. With no exit in sight and
with recruitment shortfalls –the army is down 6 percent overall this year-
the Pentagon has been forced to implement measures to maintain and reinforce
troop levels in Iraq.
Funding for recruitment has grown to nearly $4 billion. Apart from an
intensive advertising campaign to better sell the army –in the form of
commercials, video games and partnerships with organizations-, the military
is also turning to less conventional ways aimed at kids of working-class and
low-income families, and minorities. According to department statistics,
Latinos represent about 9 percent of the enlisted personnel of the Army,
10.5 percent of the Navy, 14 percent of the Marine Corps, and 5.6 percent of
the Air Force with only 4 percent represented as officers. Overall, 17.5
percent of Latinos in the armed forces are in critical combat-related
positions.
Well aware that the economic situation for Latino youth is relatively bleak,
pushing so many students out of education, the Defense Department spends a
great percentage of its recruitment budget on bilingual personnel,
Spanish-language publications, and targeting high schools and community
college campuses where large percentages of Latinos are enrolled.
Military recruitment in schools has been possible thanks to the clause
entitled Section 9528 of the "No Child Left Behind" Act. According to this
stipulation, high schools receiving federal aid under this act must provide
military recruiters not only with access to facilities, but shall also
"provide, on a request made by military recruiters or an institution of
higher education, access to secondary school students names, addresses, and
telephone listings" or face a cutoff of all federal aid.
The promise of money for college made to those fighting this war has also
made the recruitment of Latinos a lot easier. However, only one out of
three enlistees who sign up ever sees this money. The military offers
recruits approximately $50,000 for higher education, but only about five
percent of all those who sign up actually receive that amount, another
twenty percent get about $25,000, about 25 percent receive about $5,000, and
the remaining fifty percent get no education benefits at all. Further, in
order to qualify for college money, enlistees are required to pay a
non-refundable $1,200 into a general fund.
No matter what the recruiters promise, the small print found in every
enlistment contract that all recruits sign when they enter the military
ensures that any military promise made to the enlistee can be revoked: "Law
and regulations that govern military personnel may change without notice to
me. Such changes may affect my status, pay, allowances, benefits and
responsibilities as a member of the Armed Forces regardless of the
provisions of this enlistment/re-enlistment document."
When are we going to say "enough is enough"?
____________________________________________________
Erika Robles, a contributing columnist to HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com),
is a writer and translator now living in Eugene, Oregon. She was educated in
Mexico City; London, England; and Melbourne, Australia. Contact at:
erobleswords@yahoo.com Web page:
http://www.geocities.com/oakspublishing