http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/07/sb-six-questions-eli-flyerSix Questions for Eli Flyer on Military Recruiting and Abuses in Iraq
1. We've seen a series of news reports about abuses of Iraqi civilians by U.S. military personnel in Iraq. Are you surprised by this type of misconduct?
Not too much new here. I have a scrapbook of news clips collected during the 1980s and early 1990s that show members of the military committing rapes, serial murders, sabotage, and the like—in large numbers. They didn't get that much attention. Actually, the number of news clips has been declining in recent years as recruit quality has generally improved. The military services, however, still continue to bring in sizable numbers of new recruits who should have been denied enlistment. About one-third of new recruits do not complete their initial tours of duty, with most of the discharges occurring for poor behavior and performance. The culprit here is poor screening procedures in selecting new recruits. It must come as a surprise to many people that our troops commit such acts, given all the hype concerning their bravery, patriotism, and all-American-boy attributes. So there is a real letdown when a number of them are shown to be real screw-ups who should never have been enlisted in the first place.
2. Don't the military services weed out applicants with criminal offense records who are more likely to get in trouble while on active duty?
Many applicants who are accepted for service have committed serious misdemeanors, and some even have felony convictions, even though the evidence is clear that these recruits are more likely than those with "clean" records to show be behavior problems while on active duty. To enlist with a conviction for a criminal offense, an applicant must receive a "moral" waiver. The process involved in issuing a waiver—evaluating reference recommendations for enlistment—is a weak one that has little value for screening purposes. It needs to be fixed. Since recruits who enlist with a moral waiver generally have higher discharge rates than other recruits, they should certainly receive more intensive screening for enlistment than they do now. A number of the men who have been accused of abuses against civilians in Iraq had histories that should have raised red flags. For example, former soldier Steven Green, who is accused of raping and killing an Iraqi girl and her family, enlisted with a moral waiver for at least two drug- or alcohol- related offenses. He committed a third alcohol-related offense just before enlistment, which led to jail time, though this offense may not have been known to the Army when he enlisted. News accounts say Green was a high school dropout (with a GED certificate) and suggest he was a seriously maladjusted young man. A limited background check during the recruitment process would likely have provided information showing he should not receive a moral waiver.
3. Doesn't the pressure to meet recruiting quotas also affect the quality of those brought into the military?
It is widely known that some recruiters will go to extraordinary lengths to help qualify applicants for military service. Providing a fraudulent high school diploma, ignoring an arrest record or a history of mental disorder, coaching for an aptitude test or medical exam—all these unacceptable recruiting practices, and many more, will be used by some recruiters to meet their quotas. A shortage of applicants leads to an increased pressure on recruiters to disregard regulations and use unacceptable methods to meet their quotas.
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