Draft: To all MoveOn/MMoore/"undying faith in Washington politics" folks:

[clem_c_rock]

I regret the last source I posted information regarding the draft. The content of the article was worthy of discussion, the site was in complete poor taste and I should have investigated it more thoroughly.

I would like to make up for it by posting these links and questions:

For all MoveOn/MMoore/"undying faith in Washington politics" folks w/ the "Draft would be political suicide" arguments. Please help me answer the following questions:

1.Where are these troops going to come from?
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/11/06/number_of_troops_in_iraq_to_expand/

2. Tell me what this is all about:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3242923.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1077906,00.html
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/10625260.htm

3. Are these people saying this because of political motivations?:
http://www.yubanet.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/10/13568
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/vnews/display.v?TARGET=printable&article_id=417dc4f39c1c8

4. We've been running out options for a long time:
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/politics/8696975.htm

5. And with actions like these, where are the troops to support the
outcome going to come from?
http://www.nysun.com/article/7680
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7337636
http://www.investors.com/editorial/issues.asp

[TreasonousBastard]

1. MIssed the other post, but I can answer some of these...

First, the realignment of the draft boards is hogwash that has been going on for over a year. Draft boards have terms limited by law and I believe the term is 20 years, but I would have to check. At any rate, that time has come and old draft boards are being retired and new ones appointed, so the call for volunteers is simply an administrative matter and not a signal that they will actually be doing anything. Note that there has been little call to actually train the new draft boards, or fund them in any other or new way.

As far as stretching our troops and starting new fools' errands with them, that is a potential problem. As near as anyone who is actually in Washington talking to Congress and the DoD knows, the White House is dreaming. They seem to actually believe that they can continue with a volunteer military no matter what it costs in recruitment and retention bonuses.

The Pentagon would prefer not to have a draft. They didn't like the lack of motivation of Vietnam era draftees and blame pissed-off draftees for many of the morale problems suffered back then. Even though most of them did the job, they did it with a short-timer's attitude. They're having morale problems now, and it wouldn't get any better with a draft. Some Pentagon flack got nailed for saying this publicly once so don't expect to hear it again, but no Marine wants to go into battle with a bunch of draftees. That's just a fact-- ask one.

Rumsfeld's theories about superior and massive armament replacing boots on the ground still hold, and even though real generals beg to disagree they have little say in the matter any more.

Instituting a draft would put other White House priorites on hold, and may even kill them. Tax reform and Social Security privatization are dead meat if they call for a draft. These and other whacky proposals from those clowns will be difficult enough for them to get through without a major distraction over a draft.

Having said all that, though, anything can happen. These people are living on another planet where the rules of physics and logic simply don't apply. Nor does common decency or the curious concept of doing the job they were actually elected to do.

There are multiple possible scenarios where a draft might be plausible, and all of them are ugly. Best bet would be another national emergency-- a contrived one of a real one doesn't show up conveniently. These people are amazing at inventing and exploiting crises, and they could very easily try to use the next one to get a draft through if they see the need for it.

[clem_c_rock]

2. Thanks for your reply. About these possible scenarios...

and the fact that these people are living on another planet scares me to death.

They don't seem to have any reserverations about pushing things to the limit w/ Iran and Syria.

A nice black ops, er uh, terrorist attack on our soil would move things quickly ahead.