This is just ridiculous.

An article in today's New York Times discusses the difficulty for some soldiers to receive their citizenship, even after a directive from President Bush to put them at the front of the line. One soldier, Abdool Habibullah, honorably discharged from the Marines after a tour in Iraq, has been waiting for years pending a "background check."

The saddest part?

In the meantime, Mr. Habibullah is working as an aircraft hydraulics mechanic in
Connecticut, though he hopes to get a better-paying job in the federal
government once he is naturalized. In October, Mr. Habibullah’s father and
grandmother became citizens in separate ceremonies, though they applied fully
two years after he did.

Mr. Habibullah has passed the citizenship test and been
interviewed, and he said he does not know what to do to move his application
through the backlog faster.

“Every time I ask about it, I get the same answer:
it’s pending the background check,” Mr. Habibullah said as he looked over his
military medals, which are displayed on a wall in the Mount Vernon, N.Y.,
apartment he shares with his wife and 1-month-old son.

Funny how his background didn't take nearly as much time to examine when he decided to sign up for the service.