DRAFT: Would a Second Bush Term Mean a Return to Conscription?

WillyT

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Tue Nov-11-03 01:59 PM
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DRAFT: Would a Second Bush Term Mean a Return to Conscription?

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So now that occupation "ifs" have become reality, concerns that the US military is stretched too thin are being voiced regularly. And news that the Pentagon is advertising for personnel to staff draft boards has notched up speculation. "This is significant," Dartmouth presidential scholar and former professor of strategy at the National War College in Washington Ned Lebow said. "What the department of defense is doing is creating the infrastructure to make the draft a viable option should the administration wish to go this route." Meanwhile, the Guardian openly wondered "why the Pentagon decided at this time it was necessary to fill staff bodies which had played no function since the early 1980s."

As early as last November, however, red flags were being raised. The Journal News in New York state, for example, featured an article regarding New York's Selective Service System need for draft board members in case "a military draft would ever become necessary." And Rep. Charles B. Rangel's Dec. 31 op-ed piece in The New York Times entitled "Bring Back the Draft" caused considerable uproar, especially as it was accompanied by legislation introduced by Rangel and Sen. Fritz Hollings to do just that.

"The experts are all saying we're going to have to beef up our presence in Iraq," Rangel said in the Nov. 3, 2003 edition of Salon.com. "We've failed to convince our allies to send troops, we've extended deployments so morale is sinking, and the president is saying we can't cut and run. So what's left? The draft is a very sensitive subject, but at some point, we're going to need more troops, and at that point the only way to get them will be a return to the draft."

As most point out, however, any mention of conscription would be ill-advised before the 2004 election. "A number of analysts said yesterday that while any public suggestion of a draft would be politically suicidal for U.S. President George W. Bush in an election year, he could find himself with few other options if he is returned for a second term and the fighting in Iraq is still raging," the Toronto Star recently reported. "I don't think a presidential candidate would seriously propose a draft," the Cato Institute's Charles Pena added. "But an incumbent, safely in for a second term -- that might be a different story."

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Link: http://www.buzzflash.com/farrell/03/11/far03001.html

Question: Why aren't we using this possibility to our own advantage?

We should raise the spectre of the draft (Lottery, anyone?) becoming a reality if * gets a second term and does not have to worry about pissing off the voters any longer. If we were to make a large enough stink right now, we might force * to make one of those infamous 'Read My Lips' statements. "No New Draft!!!"

Of course with these lying sleaze-buckets, and no future political campaigns to worry about, they could pretty much do whatever they please, no?

:shrug:

Plus, I think we need Rangel and other Dems to back off of this. We need the reinstatement of Conscription to be a wholly owned Republican venture. Unfortunately, we screwed that pooch back when some Dems helped authorize this war in the first place.

:mad: