Coalition of the Willing?
Coalition of the Willing?
Date: Thursday, April 10, 2003 3:19 PM
H-1B and JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER
www.ZaZona.com
The major news media constantly refer to the "coalition forces" that
are fighting the war in Iraq. Perhaps they were talking about the
immigrants that man our front lines and the Indians who have been hired
to man the kitchens in Kuwait.
There are approximately 31,000 active-duty military personnel who are
legal residents but not U.S. citizens:
Non-U.S. citizens Percent of total
Navy 15,880 4.2%
Marine Corps 6,440 3.8%
Army 5,596 1.2%
Air Force 3,056 0.8%
Source: Defense Department
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=42804439
The Economic Times Online
Printed from economictimes.indiatimes.com >Politics/Nation
US forces succumb to Indian BPO skills
ANTO T JOSEPH
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 09, 2003 01:48:16 AM ]
MUMBAI: The government may be opposed to the US-led attack on Iraq but
many individual Indians have decided, at least indirectly, to be part
of US President George W Bush's 'coalition of the willing'.
India has suddenly become a major supplier of manpower for back-end and
supply functions for US military forces in Kuwait call it another form
of business process outsourcing! Mass recruiting is currently on in
Mumbai for a whole range of military support staff chefs, kitchen
assistants, service assistants, camp supervisors, mess supervisors,
accountants, financial supervisors, bus drivers (with Kuwaiti licences)
and bus boys. The assignments are gen-erally for three months.
For those reluctant to travel to the war-zone, there is an attrac-tive
package in the form of free visa, free air-tickets, and free food and
boarding.
However, potential recruits need to shell out Rs 1,200 for a medical
test. Those recruited have been told that they will have to work in
Kuwait, mostly on the Kuwait-Iraq border. It's not clear whether they
will have to travel to Iraq as well.
Industry officials said the offer of free visa and a good salary have
drawn many youngsters and Gulf returnees to the jobs on offer.
Recruitment are being done by Mumbai-based Royal Consultants on behalf
of Kuwait Catering Company.
KCC is part of a Kuwait-based in-vestment firm, Kuwait Invest-ment
Projects Company, which has been given the outsourcing contract.
At least 1,000 people are being flown immediately to aug-ment the
already-overstretched military support systems in Kuwait.
Sources said the unexpected length of the war in Iraq has forced the US
to bring in additional troops for the ground battle, which together
with the advance towards Baghdad, has placed a massive strain on the
supply chain.
Since the jobs are being offered for three months, people are being
taken on a visiting visa, which could be extended if required. An
official said that at least two senior US officials were in Mumbai for
client interviews, and have already air-lifted around 500 people (part
of the 1,000 recruited).
The salary ranges from 300 Kuwait dinars (around Rs 45,000) to 100 KD
(Rs 15,000), which is "quite comparable" with the salaries offered for
similar short-term assignments abroad.
This new vista has opened at a time when compa-nies from the Middle
East have slowed down recruitment from India because of the war in
Iraq. More than 5,000 Indians work-ing in Kuwait have returned home in
the past couple of weeks because of war fears.
Industry officials said KCC is already providing catering serv-ices to
both the government and the private sector, including the military.
KCC is a market leader among food service providers in Kuwait, with a
customer base that includes military bases, schools, hospitals and
government departments.
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/5547867.htm
Posted on Thu, Apr. 03, 2003
Non-citizen patriots deserve better
IMMIGRANTS HAVE FOUGHT FOR AMERICA IN EVERY WAR; WHEN THEY SEEK
CITIZENSHIP, THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD NOT GIVE THEM A RUNAROUND
YOU don't have to be a citizen to be a patriot. Joseph Menusa,
Francisco Martinez, Jose Gutierrez, Jesus Suarez del Solar and Jose
Garibay died showing that.
The five Californians, all immigrants, were among the first U.S.
casualties in Iraq. Congress has decreed that they and other
non-citizens pose too much of a security risk to inspect bags at
airports. Yet they willingly sacrificed their lives for their new
country. Immigrants have done this in every war since the Revolution.
An estimated 37,000 non-citizens are serving in the U.S. military --
between 4 and 5 percent of enlistees. A third are from California.
Some, like Menusa, wanted to become citizens, only to be frustrated by
a three-year wait, compounded by paperwork and bureaucracy.
Eliminating delays to citizenship is the least the government can do
for those in uniform.
A 33-year-old native of the Philippines, Menusa grew up in San Jose and
made the military his career. His widow, Stacy, said her husband's
application for citizenship had been in the works for seven years.
After he paid his application fee, it took 18 months to get an
appointment in Sacramento for an interview that he couldn't make while
in recruiter school in Hawaii. Her husband discussed his desire for
citizenship again not long before he shipped off to Iraq.
``There's something wrong here,'' she said. ``He died for the country
he loved.''
Only immigrants who have green cards, granting permanent residency, can
enlist in the service. And without citizenship, immigrants can advance
only so far. They can't become a commissioned officer or a Navy SEAL,
or get high-security promotions.
Immigrants sign up for the same reasons as other Americans: career
opportunities, educational benefits, adventure, devotion to country.
Jose Gutierrez, a 21-year-old Marine from Lomita, enlisted to earn
tuition to study architecture. Francisco Martinez, 21, of Duarte, near
Los Angeles, wanted to become a stock broker or detective.
Last July, President Bush cited the war on terror when he added a big
inducement to enlistment. He ordered that citizenship applications of
those on active duty be pushed to the top of the pile.
It's already had an impact; the requests for applications have
quadrupled. The government also supposedly established a team to
expedite the processing of applications, though that would have been
news to Menusa.
Immigrant soldiers would get one more benefit under a bill by Rep.
Martin Frost, D-Texas. It would waive citizenship fees and expenses
that can add up to more than $1,000.
The Marines, an organization of Philippine vets and U.S. Rep. Lois
Capps are working hard to have Joseph Menusa's citizenship awarded
posthumously, Stacy Menusa said. Her husband would have appreciated
that honor.
It shouldn't take death, though, to get the government's attention.
Citizenship should be enjoyed by the living.
FOLLOWUP: A fund has been established to honor Joseph Menusa, the
33-year-old graduate of Silver Creek High School in San Jose who died
in combat in Iraq. Contributions can be sent to the Gunnery Sgt. Joseph
Menusa Memorial, in care of the Mid-State Bank, 1110 East Clark Ave.,
Santa Maria, CA 93455.
http://projectusa.org/Ezine/03-01-03-06.html#030406
Illegal aliens, loyalty, and the U.S. military
Issue 148: Apr 06, 2003
+== TIME-OUT PROJECT ==+
In Mexico, where anti-American sentiment is raging, Mexicans are
nevertheless contacting the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City offering to
join the American military in return for citizenship. But, since
soldiering is not yet a "job Americans won't do," Mexican hopefuls are
being turned away. For now, they are being told, only non-citizens who
are legal residents in the United States may exchange a stint in the
military for citizenship.
ProjectUSA's March 24 ezine on this topic generated an unusually high
response from our readers, and several reporters contacted us looking
for information on whether these non-citizens were, in fact, illegal
aliens. The answer is, technically, no.
Technically, an illegal alien may not serve in the U.S. military. But
then again, technically, an illegal alien may not work in the United
States, either.
After the issue was raised in the Washington Times column, "Inside the
Beltway" on March 26, ProjectUSA director, Craig Nelsen, was asked to
discuss the issue on the Rob Douglas program on WBAL, a Baltimore talk
radio station. Several military recruiters called the show to give
details about the military's policy on inducting non-citizens into the
military. Each recruiter said, truthfully, that the United States does
not officially include illegal aliens among such inductees (though,
interestingly, each found the growing number of non-citizens in the
military worrisome).
But, as Nelsen noted on WBAL, if one clicks on the Spanish-language
link (!) on the U.S. Army's recruitment page (linked below), a personal
information form comes up asking prospective recruits to describe
themselves under the following three choices: ciudadano (citizen),
residente legal (legal resident), or extranjero (alien).
One has to wonder what need there is for that third category if indeed
it is true that the U.S. Army only recruits from the first two
categories: citizens and legal residents. Suspicions are increased even
more by anecdotal evidence that suggests there is a "flexible"
relationship between the INS (now BICE) and the military.
If in any way we are enticing foreign nationals to cross our border
illegally with the hope of one day securing citizenship through serving
in the Army, then such a policy is partly responsible for the hundreds
of gruesome deaths along our borders every year, and it must be
stopped.
Furthermore, if America's military needs cannot be met adequately from
among our own citizens, perhaps we need to wonder whether our nation is
over-extending itself.
____________________________
U.S. Army's Spanish-language recruitment page
https://www.goarmy.com/spanish/spanform.htm
Why Is Mexico Meddling In Our Military? (Allan Wall in VDARE)
http://www.vdare.com/awall/mexican_census.htm
Migrant GIs get citizenship after dying in combat
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0403war-latinsoldiers.html
'Dual loyalties' my, uh, foot (O. Ricardo Pimentel)
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0330pimentel30.html
Hundreds of anti-war protesters hurl paint bombs, cow dung at U.S.
buildings in Mexico City
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/04/02/international2144EST6926.DTL
Mexico Rife with U.S. Citizenship Rumors (Associated Press)
http://news.findlaw.com/ap_stories/i/1102/3-28-2003/20030328230004_3.html
Non-citizen patriots (huh? -ed.) deserve better
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/5547867.htm
+== TAKE POSITIVE ACTION ==+
DeTocqueville wrote that the "characteristics of the American
journalist consist in an open and coarse appeal to the passions of his
readers." In mainstream reporting on immigration, we see this
characteristic take the form of stories that begin, "Maria sobbed as
she recounted her difficulties as a hard-working, but undocumented
taxpayer." (For a good example of this kind of coarse journalism, see:
"Fighting for your nation, just 2 all-American boys,"
http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news03/040503_news_kate.shtml).
Since our March 24 ezine, at least a dozen mainstream news stories and
opinion pieces have emerged on the issue of non-citizens serving in the
U.S. military. All have been tug-at-the-heartstrings stories of the
patriotism and sacrifices of the non-citizens who were among the first
"U.S." casualties in Iraq.
With the exception of an article by Mexico resident Allan Wall in the
rapidly growing webzine, VDARE.com, no story that we have seen has
addressed the long-term consequences of the "world's policeman"
policing an enormously resentful world with a military force
increasingly comprised of the citizens of that world. None has wondered
at what percentage of the armed forces is the presence of non-citizens
too much. Most negligently (and with typical democratic fixation on the
present), none has drawn on the lessons of the past to shed light on
the future (cf. Rome).
For some, of course, the whole issue boils down to a narrow racial
agenda and ethnic parochialism. Arizona Republic columnist, O. Ricardo
Pimentel, in whose writings the terms "illegal alien," "non-citizen,"
and "Latino" are synonyms, took issue with our raising the "knotty
question of dual loyalty" in our last ezine.
In a piece entitled, "Dual loyalties my, uh, foot," Pimental gripes,
"This is getting really old. To have our loyalty questioned is often
part and parcel of the Latino experience in the United States."
C'mon, Mr. Pimental, no one is questioning the loyalties of Latinos per
se. What are questionable, however, are the loyalties of dual citizens.
Obviously.
A free and democratic people have a right -- a duty, in fact -- to
wonder about the implications of the phenomenon of dual citizenship now
sweeping the globe. Americans in particular have this right and this
duty given that millions, probably hundreds of millions, from around
the world intend to make our country their home.
Our Oath of Citizenship makes it explicit: "I absolutely and entirely
renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince,
potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore
been a subject or citizen."
Is it really out-of-bounds, Mr. Pimental, is it really "odious," to
express alarm that this oath, in our multi-ethnic, multi-racial,
rapidly growing country -- a country increasingly populated by dual
citizens, has come to mean nothing?
Those who would deny the right of a democratic people to ask this
important question of itself, who would subordinate the interests and
well-being of the country to the narrow ethnocentrism of a few, do a
disservice to their fellow Americans. They thereby call into question
their own loyalties, and, probably without realizing it, prove our
point.
O. Ricardo Pimentel
ricardo.pimentel@arizonarepublic.com
(602) 444-8210
+== QUOTE OF THE WEEK ==+
"The corruption of the age is produced by the individual contribution
of each one of us; some contribute treachery"
--Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)
+== EMAILS OF THE WEEK ==+
The people of the United States need to remember the Mexicans in Mexico
cheering at the broadcasts of aircraft exploding into the World Trade
Center.
Dave Stoddard
Five miles north of the border near
Sierra Vista, AZ
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