Iraq as a Way to a Dream?

August 2nd, 2005 at 18:42 Björn Hallberg

If so it must be a really bad nightmare. Via MichaelMoore.com, On Farthest U.S. Shores, Iraq Is a Way to a Dream. Cosy.

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands - By jogging at sunset on the white sands of a palm-fringed beach here, 17-year-old Audrey O. Bricia is doing more than toning up for her next try in this island’s Miss Philippines contest. She is getting in shape for United States Army boot camp.

“I am scared about Iraq, but I am going to have to give something in return for those benefits I want,” said Ms. Bricia, a daughter of Filipino immigrants whose ambition is to attend nursing school in California.

There are so many things wrong with this picture I don’t know where to begin. One should perhaps note that recruitment-wise, this is nothing out of the ordinary, poor kids being lured by soldiering and benefits. But it’s just so sad reading about this girl having to put her life on the line, even kill others to be able to become a nurse. There is a deep and profound irony to the whole idea. Though one can’t blame her, only the system.

Since this is the NYT after all, it’s hard to say whether they appreciate the logic in what they present and claim. If one had no idea whatsoever about anything, i.e. essentially was a typical American, I don’t think one would even reflect over the dark side of army recruiting. The information is there. One does not need to read between the lines, but even with the delicately voiced criticism, the context is still that many enlist because they want to help the US and that this will change their lives, realize their dreams. That this is somehow happening seperately from the moral of being in Iraq and as if this is a real career opportunity, nothing out of the ordinary. Could just as well have been a job at McDonald’s.

Btw. You also find out that McDonald’s pays $3.25-an-hour.

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