ARTICLE: "Death Toll for Contractors Reaches New High in Iraq: As Military Steps Up Effort, Risks Also Rise for Drivers, Translators and Others," by John M. Broder and James Risen, New York Times, 19 May 2007, p. A1.

ARTICLE: "First Called to Duty, Then Citizenship: Immigrants Fought for the United States Before It Was Truly Their Country," By Brigid Schulte, Washington Post, May 22, 2007; Page A01

Different way of casting the headline, I suppose, but they should be recognized as "U.S. deaths" if they're serving on USG contracts, yes?

Me? I would give any foreign contractors the same rapid citizenship we offer those who join our military. Staff up the SysAdmin with the biggest risk-taking, frontier types out there.

It's how we built this nation: on the backs of immigrant wave after immigrant wave.

Since we're in another frontier age thanks to globalization's rapid expansion, I say we need to return to similar incentive structures.