I, like many people last night, tuned in to listen to President Bush announce the deployment of at least 20,000 more troops into Iraq. Also watching were many people of color, including Latinos, who are being agressively targeted for recruitment into to U.S. military. Just this morning I witnessed two young men of color inside a local recruiting station being chatted up to sign on that dotted line. While my personal opinion is that more troops will only serve to make a bad situation worse and cost people’s lives unjustly, according to an article in today’s El Diario/ La Prensa, Latino opinion in NYC is mixed.

Raúl Rodríguez, de 31 años quien es reservista, dijo que “para mí es mejor que sigan mandando más soldados para allá, porque hay una situación muy mala”.

“Yo creo que si mandan más soldados, estos pueden proteger a los que ya están allá. A cada rato se oye cómo los terroristas están matando gente inocente con bombas”, dijo Rodríguez.

Hoover González, otro residente de Melrose, dijo que si retiran las tropas de Irak, “la situación podría empeorar”.

“Los insurgentes explotarían los sistemas eléctricos, las plantas de petróleo, las riquezas que ellos necesitan para su país. Tiene que haber un cambio allá. Yo no sé si el envío de más tropas puede ser la solución”, dijo González.

Others noted the fact that many non-citizens were being recruited and granted that much coveted status only after losing their lives. Others noted that recruitment centers seemed to be popping up in poor, people of color neighborhoods and not in wealther, white neighborhoods.

Via/ El Diario/La Prensa

Image Via / Spacewar.com