Are You a Criminal? Then the U.S. Army Wants You!

This post, written by GottaLaff, originally appeared on Cliff Schecter's Brave New Films Blog

The Army has met its recruiting numbers. Why? Because ex-cons and high school drop outs are welcomed in more than ever:

The U.S. Army met its recruiting goals for the last year but enlisted thousands of new soldiers with criminal records and fewer who have earned high school diplomas, according to figures released Wednesday.

The spike of new enlistees given "character" waivers for fiscal 2007 continues a steady upward trend in the number of recruits with past arrests and convictions allowed into the Army since the start of the war in Iraq.

But back to numbers: More than 11% of the recruits needed waivers for problems with the law, up nearly 8% from the previous year, and double what it was in 2003.

Epiphany! Maybe the Iraq fiasco has something to do with it! Not that being an unprotected target of suicide bombers and IEDs would be a deterrent. Or knowing that it's an illegal war. Or that Blackwater employees would be getting paid a lot more than you.

Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank, said the data indicate that the Army has lowered the bar on whom it allows into the service while providing further evidence signaling Americans' disenchantment with the war in Iraq. "This is a recipe for disaster," said Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense during the Reagan administration. "In the long term this can be a serious problem for the military."