We have two kinds of mercenary armies in Iraq: the professionals, who are well-paid, ex-elite US military personnel; and the desperate kids who have been promised college money and and veterans benefits. It is a grim fact of American life that tens of thousands of American teenagers are willing to enlist in an occupying Army that is inflicting serious harm on Iraq, including a death toll in the hundreds of thousands and probable war crimes. The time is long past when we could pretend that our young people are ignorant of what is happening in Iraq. YouTube and other Internet news sources have brought them extensive direct evidence of the horror of this war, and there are enough Iraq veterans speaking the truth. But they don't care. Thousands of poor young Americans simply see making money in Iraq as a good deal.
What kind of future do these young mercenaries have? What will they tell their children? I needed the money?