When President Bush visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center last week to witness three U.S. soldiers seriously wounded in Iraq become U.S. citizens, he said that "if somebody's willing to risk their lives for our country, they ought to be full participants in our country." It was an executive order signed by Bush four years ago that allowed this trio, and 35,000 like them, to petition for U.S. citizenship as soon as they donned a U.S. military uniform, instead of waiting the customary three years. So far, 26,000 of them have achieved that goal. Since 9/11, the government has also waived the $330 application fee for active-duty troops and allows the troops to take the oath of citizenship outside the U.S., as 176 did on July 4th in Afghanistan and Iraq. Given the way the wars in those places are going, a speedy, cut-rate route to U.S. citizenship is could be another enticement to keep fresh troops flowing to the war zone.

[link to www.time.com]