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| Foreign-born US soldiers take citizenship oath in Iraq |
| 2005-07-25 |
| A total of 147 foreign-born US military personnel serving in Iraq gathered inside a former Saddam Hussein palace to be granted US citizenship. In a mass ceremony the soldiers, sailors, and airmen, along with one marine and a navy medic, simultaneously raised their right hands and swore to "support and defend the constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic." Those sworn in as US citizens came from 46 countries, with the single largest group born in Mexico (27), followed by the Philippines (15), Jamaica (nine) and Nicaragua (eight) and Nigeria (five). Other nations of origin included China, India, Taiwan and Vietnam. There was even one Iraqi-born soldier. The ceremony, in the giant indoor rotunda of the Al-Faw palace, in Baghdad's Camp Victory military base, was led by Lieutenant General John Vines, the commander of the Multinational Corps in Iraq. Three officials from the naturalization branch of the US Department of Homeland Security were also present. "Welcome into that exclusive club called American citizenship," Vines told the group. Army Specialist Maridel Cardona-Herrera, 31, who was born in the Philippines, could only find one word to describe both the event and the giant rotunda inside ornate palace where the event took place: "fantastic." The event was the largest such ceremony overseas since citizenship rules were modified in November 2003 to make it easier for US military personnel to become citizens in times of war. Military officials require recruits to be permanent US residents to join the military, but citizenship is not a requirement. There are 45,000 non-US citizens currently serving in the US military, said Linda Dougherty, one of the US government civilian officials at the event. |
| Posted by:too true |
| #12 But, but we are bad! Dont they realize that the U.S. is the bad guy in the world? Good show Citizens WELCOME HOME! Wonder why this didn;t get more play inte the MSM, oh yea thats why. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2005-07-25 22:59 |
| #11 Max Boot has been suggesting offering a quicker route to citizenshiop through the military in order to make the recruitment goals. Seems like a good idea to me. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2005-07-25 22:44 |
| #10 I would go for the Kennedy foxhole, and report he had been killed by a sniper. Welcome, my fellow Americans! We are proud to now call you our countrymen. |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-07-25 21:36 |
| #9 Talk about merit-based, these folks rock. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-07-25 21:27 |
| #8 The former, if your last name's Kopechne... |
| Posted by: Raj 2005-07-25 21:22 |
| #7 Lemme see: I'm running for a foxhole and in one is a Marine named Gutierrez and in the other is a Senator named Kennedy. Which one do I go for? |
| Posted by: Matt 2005-07-25 20:44 |
| #6 There are 45,000 non-US citizens currently serving in the US military Gee, that's a lot of 'worthless bastards', eh, bigjim? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-07-25 20:18 |
| #5 Article: Military officials require recruits to be permanent US residents to join the military, but citizenship is not a requirement. And for US permanent residents (i.e. green card holders), military service is not a requirement for citizenship*, even though the media strives to give the erroneous impression that these people are signing up so that they can become citizens. Permanent residents also do not require citizenship for employment in the US. These folks are becoming citizens because they want to be citizens. * 5 years of residence on American soil is all that's required. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-07-25 20:15 |
| #4 I quite agree -- "Fabulous" indeed! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-07-25 20:07 |
| #3 Welcome, new citizens-- and thank you for your service to your country. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2005-07-25 20:07 |
| #2 Welcome HOME, fellow citizens. You were born Americans, even though you weren't born in America; now that technicality has been corrected. Each of you offsets at least 50 native-born moonbats. Thank you. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-07-25 20:05 |
| #1 non-US citizen military. Why do they love us? |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-07-25 20:02 |