More Criminals Recruited to Fight in Iraq

The shortage of troops needed to fight all the Bush wars, or military commitments worldwide, have led to the lowering of recruiting standards:

Army and Defense Department officials defended the waiver program as a way to admit young people who may have made a mistake early in life but have overcome past behavior. And they said about two-thirds of the waivers granted by the Marines are for drug use, because they — unlike the other services — require a waiver if someone has been convicted once for marijuana use.

Lawmakers and other observers say they are concerned that the struggle to fill the military ranks in this time of war has forced the services to lower their moral standards.

In some cases drug gang members have been known to join the military eventually taking back to their community military skills which they use to commit violence:

U.S. criminal gangs have gained a foothold in the U.S. military and are using overseas deployments to spread tentacles around the globe, according to the FBI.