Thursday, August 03, 2006

Ex-patriots?

What about the Americans? There is no real way to find out how many U.S. citizens are fighting in Lebanon and Gaza right now. 2400 of the soldiers are so keen on Israel that they came there especially for the purpose of joining Israel's army - 120 of them from the U.S. and Canada. In the article, the soldiers from the U.S. are described as "the most patriotic, the most 'poisoned'". Poisoned? Are we talking toxins? Of sorts. Israeli military slang refers to people who take their roles seriously as "poisoned soldiers" - perhaps because they're the ones who really drank the [famous trademarked drink]?

Now, I fully realize that Israel requires military service from all Jews living in it (actually, all non-Arabs), so that if you happen to be an American living there, you can't really get out of the service. But wouldn't you think that going to a foreign country expressly for the purpose of volunteering for a foreign army - to which the soldiers swear their allegiance - would be an expatriating act?

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