On March 21, near the Iraqi port town of Umm Qasr, 28-year-old Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez was one of several U.S. soldiers who, as required by the Geneva Convention, motioned to accept the surrender of a group of Iraqi “soldiers” who had just raised a white flag. When Gutierrez and several other comrades were exposed, the Iraqis suddenly opened fire, killing him and several comrades.
On March 27, near the Iraqi city of An Nasiriyah, 21-year-old Marine Corps Cpl. Jose Angel Garibay also motioned to accept the surrender of Iraqis. But what had happened to Lance Cpl. Gutierrez now happened to Cpl. Garibay. It was no surrender, but an ambush, and Cpl. Garibay lost his life.
The sacrifice of these young men is no different than that made by any of the other young Americans who have given “the last full measure” in this or any other war, except in one, very noteworthy respect – at the time they died, neither was an American. Gutierrez was born in Guatemala and when he was 14, entered this country as an illegal immigrant. Garibay was born in Mexico and moved here as a child. Neither man was a citizen at the time of their deaths.
Surprised? Don’t be. According to the Department of Defense, some 37,000 men and women – or about 3 percent of the total active-duty force are non-citizens. And about one-third of these are Latinos. But it’s more than just this. Consider these sad but telling statistics: Of the first 71 soldiers killed in Iraq, eight of the dead were immigrants. Of seven POW and seven listed as MIAs, four were immigrants. Surprisingly, one of our best, Lance Cpl. Jesus Suarez del Solar, who also gave his life in Iraq, wasn’t even “ours” if one defines these matters by a piece of paper. Cpl. del Solar had been offered the opportunity to become a U.S. citizen but declined. According to his father, he was proud of being a Mexican and didn’t want to cut “ties to his family.”
Such are the young men who died for the rest of us “documented workers.”
What really upsets me are all those so-called patriots who’ve made their bones (not to mention a fortune in book royalties) bashing immigrants. At the moment, the right-wing in this country is having a field day, declaiming “I-told-you-so” and sticking their tongues out at all the liberals who opposed this war.
As I write this, I’m looking at pictures of Cpls. Gutierrez and Garibay. They cut handsome figures in their uniforms. Less handsome are two books on my shelf: “Death of the West” by Pat Buchanan and “Invasion” by Michelle Malkin. The burden of Buchanan’s tome (surprise, surprise) is that somehow, all these foreigners – especially those that aren’t well, you know, like “us” – aren’t fit to be here. They’re ethnic pollutants (so to speak) that drag down American culture and values. And Malkin demands that we “Stop the Revolving Door” and that we “Protect our Birthright” from the host of “foreign menaces” that threaten our … our what? Our United States Marine Corps?
Excuse me? Menaces like who? Gutierrez? Garibay? Del Solar? Gutierrez wanted to get here so badly as a teen-ager, he played the hobo on trains between Guatemala and Mexico before sneaking into California. He slept on park benches, took the worst jobs and then managed to find a foster family before enlisting in the Marines. And Garibay’s sister said of her brother that, “He thought he was an American. He probably thought he was more an American than a Mexican.” Garibay didn’t know how right he was. In fact, he was more American than many Americans I know.
I’m sorry I never knew Cpls. Gutierrez and Garibay, because I think they could have taught me a lot about what it means to be an American. You know, the kinds of things us “legals” pay lip service to – hard work, ambition, courage, selflessness – when we’re not whining about all the” welfare cheats” from Mexico, Haiti and Puerto Rico. The same “welfare cheats” that Buchanan and Malkin make their money talking and writing about.
The military did right by these young men. By every account they were proud of their service, and after their deaths, they were granted citizenship posthumously. But this much I’ll tell you – whether you think the Iraq War was caused by Republican Bush the Elder’s failure to finish the job back in ’91 or whether you believe that Democrat Clinton didn’t dump Saddam when he reportedly had the chance in ’96, or if you feel the war is a total mistake, it’s the young men like Gutierrez and Garibay who put their lives on the line for America.
So the next time somebody you know starts to bash immigrants, treat them like blasphemers. And remember Gutierrez, Garibay and del Solar.
