Can Bush invade and maintain Iran without a draft?

[Ignacio Upton]

One of the reasons why we should NOT invade Iran (and possibly the reason for why the Bush Administration is only floating the idea of nuclear airstrikes) is because are forces are stretched thin with obligations mostly in Iraq, and to a lesser extent Afghanistan, South Korea, the Balkans, and other places. Also, many of the Iraqi Shia are sympathetic or loyal to Iran. You think that having the Sunni Al Zarqawi blowing shit up is bad enough, wait until the Shiites turn against us because we nuked their religious comrades and allies. Would we be even able to maintain control in IRAQ and IRAN at the same time with our current troop levels? I doubt it, especially since Iran's population and land area are several times larger than Iraq's. Iran's conventional military could also put up a credible fight, although I think that we could win, but it would take a few months a minimum to defeat them before they go into the mountains and become guerillas, and then they would be more of a problem.
In my conclusion, the only way that Bush can "keep the peace" in both countries at once is to get MORE man-power, but from where? Why of course, BRING BACK THE DRAFT! Bush can't come out and support it right now because it's political suicide, but if we get engaged in a set of skirmishes with Iran, and or they invade Iraq, then Bush could milk that for all it's worth and shove draft legislation down Congress's throat. I'm old enough to be drafted, so this is a pretty scary scenario for me. There is no way in hell that if will allow myself to be shipped to Tehran to fight for his war. Any other DUers who are between 18 and 25, you should be worried.

[Tom Rinaldo]

1. Invasion isn't the military option being considered

Mostly air strikes aided by a few Special Forces units on the ground. The Air Force is the only part of the U.S. military not currently over extended. Of course once the entire region goes up in flames, that's another story. But Bush never plans beyond "Mission Accomplished", remember?

[BlueEyedSon]

2. "Regime change on the cheap"... hey, it worked great in Iraq!

[bmxeroftruth]

3. doubt it

the military is getting stretched to the limits and if we invade iran that will surely cause bush to draft

[newyawker99]

31. Hi bmxeroftruth!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Ignacio Upton]

6. You're assuming that Iran and the shiites won't fight back

Iran could react by pouring over the border into Iraq (and Afghanistan too since they are also Iran's neighbor) the Iraqi shiites, who are allies with Iran, would also turn on us, making our current mess in Iraq much much worse. Bush would be able to, for example, push for the draft for this reason, and spin Iran's reaction invasion as THEM attacking US aggressively, and the public will buy it.

[Tom Rinaldo]

25. I'm not assuming that at all

That's what I meant about Bush not planning beyond "Mission Accomplished". They deposed Hussein in just a few weeks, but that wasn't the end of conflict, it was only just beginning.

[Joe Fields]

37. I'm glad you added that second line, because at some point,

we will have to invade after the softening up from sustained air strikes. The only conclusion I am able to draw, if I am correct is a draft.

We may have a draft anyway, considering the disproportionate number of officers leaving the military, coupled with extremely low enlistment numbers.

[Poiuyt]

38. Rawstory.com is starting to get details about the ground operation

[CCBeck]

4. Wait!?!

Won't the Iranian people rise up and greet us with dates and Persian rugs? <sarcasm>

[newyawker99]

32. Hi CCBeck!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Hubert Flottz]

5. NO...

[cassiepriam]

7. They are just going to fight air wars, few US troops on the ground.

In other words just kill as many people as possible on the ground from the air.

Nuke the country then leave.

That is the latest plan I believe.

God help us.

[Vincardog]

10. 24 hours after the idiot bush makes the mistake of bombing Iran

every US Military asset in the Middle East will be dead sunk or blown up,

[cassiepriam]

11. Heck, Bush could care less. All for such a good cause, duh,

what is the cause again, I forget....

[Vincardog]

13. What do you think that will do to his poll numbers? How about GOP prospect

in the Fall?

[cassiepriam]

28. Hard to tell. Hard core freeper base, plus rigged elections?

The fall elections are anybody's guess....

[KerryOn]

26. You mean every oil port in the gulf will be...

blown up by Iran.

And then life is over!

[cassiepriam]

29. Ironic huh? Trying to steal all the oil, now maybe we will have none?

[Hobarticus]

8. Who said anything about occupying Iran?

Why else would the nuke option even be on the table?

[lostexpectation]

9. he'll bomb, no one is talking invasion

.

[paul_fromatlanta]

12. We've got 1.5 million people in the military - I don't understand why

we are having trouble keeping 130,000 in the field now.

[Vincardog]

15. 'people in the military' are not "COMBAT TROOPS"

[paul_fromatlanta]

18. Good point. But then many of the positions in Iraq are not "combat" eithe

either... For example all the women over there are not allowed in "combat."

[Neil Lisst]

14. Not invade. Attack from the air.

I think it's all going to be aircraft and navy vessels, firing missles and planting smart bombs.

[lovuian]

16. No there will be a draft

because this is going to escalate to WWIII... I HOPE I'm so wrong!!!

[FloridaPat]

17. The real plan is war with Russia & China. Once we're attacked

lots of people will join up. We really should march on DC and do a citizens arrest on our lawmakers. After all, Star Wars isn't for defense - it's for offense against Russia and China. The repubs have been plotting this for over 30 years.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m22447&hd=0&size=1&l=e

"The principal target demographic for the atrocity still on storyboards is Russia and China. The nuking of Iran will be a blockbuster remaking of the demonstration events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which announced to the Soviet Union and all comers that the American Aeon had arrived. At least that's how it will appear, and how it's being sold in the boardroom of America Inc. But the large stakeholders who are short-selling their shares in the Homeland, who supply sewage to its army for drinking water and whose loyalties are neither to that nor any other nation-state, may intend, rather, a windfall gotterdammerung that's more Springtime for Hitler.?

[4freethinking]

19. Reinstate the draft

Turn back the clocks, no, not to the 1960's turn it back another 100 years to the 1860's and the civil war draft riots.

[Ignacio Upton]

20. Don't worry, the MSM will tell us its "unpatriotic" to resist

It will be bad "etiquette" in the social sense, just like post-9/11 when it was "unpatriotic" to say that Bush isn't infallible.

[4freethinking]

21. I agree

But more than likely it will be young people that never payed any attention to current events that registered with Selective Service that get a notice in the mail and when the time is right(i.e. in numbers at a demonstration) go berserk.

[Coastie for Truth]

22. Invading Iran without a draft is a bigger pipe dream then

invading and pacifying Iraq with "only" 135,000-150,000 troops. Bushie was told to go in with three times that number - but he didn't and we are still bogged down in a quagmire.

Iran without a draft will be a total defeat of the US.

[AndyTiedye]

23. He Intends to Drag Us Into World War III

OF COURSE THEY INTEND TO HAVE A DRAFT!

Any other DUers who are between 18 and 25, you should be worried.

I'd say any DU'ers who are old enough to read and even those who might still be a
gleam in their father's eye. How long did the Crusades last?

At the more geriatric end, they have activated reservists as old as 67, so I don't
think anyone is really safe.


Their PNAC playbook calls for taking over the entire Middle East by military force.
That would require pretty much every American who is physically able to hold a weapon
(with the usual exceptions for the usual exceptions to all the rules, of course).

They would also need additional troops to enforce martial law here.

[KerryOn]

24. If we attack Iran. - We are history!

If we invade Iran or even dare to use tactical nukes we are history. Iran will retaliate by bombing the oil ports in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. If that happens life as we know it will change over night. It will be TEN times worse than the great depression.

And if Iran didn't retaliate there is no possible way to win without a draft, and it may be very difficult with one as well. The days of trench war fare are over. In todays wars you can not tell friend from the enemy. We stale matted in Korea with a draft and UN support, we lost in Vietnam with a draft, and WWII would not have been won without the bomb.

The war cries from Washington sound oh so familiar to me. I'm sure I have heard this before. The war cries claim that Iran has ties to terrorism and wants weapons of mass destruction. Hum?

It would not be political suicide for Bush if he started a draft, because he can not be re-elected. He is done and he knows it, and that is what scares me the most. I think Bush is now the scared animal backed into a corner. You don't do that to animals and expect to get out alive. He will not admit that he lied or that he made mistakes. The more people push and criticize him the more stubborn he will become. I wouldn't put it past him to do something very evil during his last days as president of our United States. I think he may do something just to get back at us.

So we must Impeach Now!

[Ignacio Upton]

27. Anything that politically-hurts Bush will hurt the Republicans

Wanna bet that a nuclear bombing and imposition of the draft will NOT lead to a Democratic Congressional takeover and possible impeachment? While our Democrats may not be doing enough to stop Bush, I ssriously doubt that they would not run his ass down if these two scenarios happen. Who the fuck will support him beyond 10%-20% of the country if the fallout (not radiation, but the political fallout in Iraq and elsewhere) from using nukes is as bad as people say it will be.

[paparush]

30. Yep...we'll watch them basking in the nuclear afterglow ...

a mixture of radiation, fallout, and cockroaches....oy veh!!

[warrens]

33. No

Not a chance. My kid may be attending Queens College in Ontario. Or McGill.

[haab]

34. The draft is around the corner

Sooner or later will have compulsory military service...!!

[ShortnFiery]

35. No way! We're stretched too thin now on Combat Capable Troops ...

It takes 5-10 years to season a quality Special Forces / Ranger / Pathfinder, etc. type Combat troop. Good Combat troops do not come out of boot camp. High learning curve, i.e., HUGE losses at first if we resort to a draft. BushCo. won't do this. IMO

[helderheid]

36. try 18-35 - you can bet they'd raise the age limit

[carolinalady]

39. No..then the rise-up will happen, but it may be too late.... n/t