Given that our jihadi enemies recruit even the citizens of our allies, why must we be limited to recruiting allied nations? Why can't we recruit individuals abroad who may wish to fight more resolutely in defense of civilization than their own government is willing to do?
Max Boot is happy that we are starting a pilot program to recruit from this pool:
The Department of Defense announced today a long-overdue initiative to enroll foreigners to fill critical needs in the U.S. armed forces. Under a pilot program, the armed forces will be authorized over the next 12 months to recruit 1,000 individuals who do not currently have American citizenship or permanent resident status.
This is something I have long argued for, because I believe that there are lots of high-quality recruits around the world who would gladly serve in return for expedited citizenship. They would bring with them the kind of linguistic and cultural know-how that is lacking in our forces today but is a vital prerequisite for success on battlefields such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Even those who do not necessarily speak a “strategic” language could be a valuable asset, as so many immigrant soldiers were in our past wars.
If there is one criticism to be made of the new proposal, it is that it is so small. It is limited to a tiny number of foreigners who speak one of three dozen “critical” languages (ranging from Albanian to Yoruba) and have lived in the U.S. legally for two years or more on certain types of visas. One third of the total must be medical professionals because of a current shortfall of doctors and nurses. That’s all fine and good, but it slights the needs of the U.S. Special Operations Command, which is eager to recruit more foreigners as was previously done under the Lodge Act in the 1950’s. And it slights needs of the regular army which could use more high-quality recruits, even if enlistments are increasing in these trying economic times.
I called for just this close to three years ago, calling it a Liberty Corps:
If we can't get full commitment to fight at our side by more nations, lets get their willing citizens to join us. We already are moving toward seeing our enemies and potential enemies as sub-national entities rather than relying on the the outlook of the old Westphalian system of nation-states as the basic unit of international relations. Why not see our allies and potential allies that way, too?
Since Americans purportedly flee abroad (though our Hollywood types annoyingly remain despite promises) to live in a country more in tune with their beliefs, couldn't we host foreigners who wish to fight for our common freedoms and civilization despite their home governments' disinclination to fight?
This would also be a nice counter to the UN worship that some "citizens of the world" are prone to. Let's welcome Citizens of the West to our shores--and our military. We are in an ideological struggle and it isn't just for the hearts and minds of the Moslem world as we struggle to keep the jihadis from having the Moslem world's support. We need to struggle for the hearts and minds of Westerners so we will defend our common Western heritage.
We'd get people willing to defend our freedoms as new citizens after their commitment to serve in the military is completed.
Heck, maybe some of our allies who won't fight would be shamed into action if their own citizens join our military to defend the West.
