by James Glaser
January 7, 2004

That title was from a Vietnam era anti-war movie starring Tony Curtis and Suzanne Pleshette. If George Bush keeps attacking small third world nations like Iraq and Afghanistan we might see that title used on the front pages of our newspapers.

There has been talk of how thin our line of defense has become with our current wars and now we are seeing just how true that is. Not only is the United States Army expanding the program called "stop loss" but we are now claiming that a treaty signed in 1794 gives us the right to recruit aboriginal Canadians for military service.

You know, I’m not making this up and if it wasn't such a serious subject it would be just hilarious. In an article by Mando Washington in the Village Voice, he writes how last winter Canadian military officials were startled to discover Pentagon recruiters roaming through their nation's native population reserves trying to persuade Inuit and others to enlist in the US Military.

Canada is not a State or any part of our nation and the Canadian Minister of Justice had to write to our Joint Chiefs of Staff reminding them that their recruiters are to refrain from entering Canadian territory.

"A Canadian Defense Ministries report said that the US claimed that under the 1794 Jay Treaty it had the right to recruit Canadian native inhabitants for its military because aboriginal Canadians held dual US-Canadian citizenship."

And Americans wonder why much of the rest of the world hates us. We sent military recruiters to Canada's Atlantic coast, the Sault Sainte Marie area of Ontario, and Western Canada. They went to high schools, university job fairs, and native reserves. The US Embassy confirmed that it would stop active recruiting in such places in Canada. If Canadians want to join the US military they will have to cross the border to do so.

We didn't even ask! We just sent the recruiters into Canada and pulled out this over two hundred year old treaty and said we didn't need to ask. Remember, Canada is one of the countries that like us. What do you think we do to countries that don't like us?

Just how desperate are we to get people to join up? The Army is stretched real thin now. Right now if you have a Green Card, but are not an American citizen, Uncle Sam wants you. Today 37,000 of our troops are citizens of some foreign country. Washington keeps touting how great it is to have an all volunteer military. The only problem with that is they can't get enough volunteers, so the have to employ mercenaries.

Our country is now employing mercenaries to defend our nation. Another clue that tells us that we can't get enough troops for another war is the fact that we have increased the "stop loss" program. This temporarily prohibits soldiers from retiring or quitting when their enlistment is up.

It doesn't matter if you have been planning your retirement for years; this is a "fine print" clause that keeps you in. Washington is so desperate to retain troops that it is now offering a $10,000 signing bonuses for soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait who are willing to reenlist for three more years, regardless of what your military specialty is.

This is great news for anyone that is against President Bush starting any more wars. This lack of troops makes it certain that Bush will have to at least finish one war before starting another. It should be telling him that he should be looking for other ways to "help" the world.

The United States has every available man and women under arms killing other people, keeping a presence around the globe, learning how to kill, or getting ready to go kill. All of our available troops are in use,

The truth is we would be hard pressed if someone else started a war that involved a country we have a treaty with. Like if North Korea attacked the South or heaven forbid if our own country was attacked. We really don't have the troops to do "jack" and would have to pull out of Iraq or Germany to fight a war in Korea. We already have been using the National Guard and the Reserves, the very troops we are suppose to save for an emergency.

In the Marine Corps, they had this crude saying, "Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance". We are lacking in Proper Prior Planning.