If there had been a peacetime draft in the US in 2003, would the US have invaded Iraq?

[raccoon]

I don't think so, myself. I think most Americans would have balked.

Then, OTOH, a lot of people might've believed it would be over quickly, like Gulf War Part I.

[SteelPenguin]

1. We still would have gone

I don't think that would have stopped us from going. People were lied to. They thought that Saddam was developing nukes to give to osama so he could blow up the shopping mall in waupaca, WI.

By the same token though, we'd already be gone.

[Crazy Dave]

3. I agree

I think the decision to go to war was made in November of 2000. 9/11 just made it easier to get the uninformed public's support.

[Crazy Dave]

2. The US is already getting pissed off at Maliki

Soon we'll pull the troops out of Iraq, then re-invade it to do another regine change and re-liberate the Iraqi people again.

[Darth_Ole]

4. Yes, we were going in...

Even with a draft, the administration would still find a way to sell this war, the mainstream media would have still acted like stenographers rather than journalists, and Congress would have still refused to ask hard questions before authorizing this catastrofuck... Bush/Cheney and company were hellbent on tying Iraq to 9/11, and nobody was going to stop them. Besides, Americans are balking at this war right now, and Bush is showing no signs of letting up...

A draft didn't keep us out of Vietnam, and in fact, it took Vietnam to get rid of the draft...

[BOSSHOG]

5. There would have been a lot less flag waving and chest thumping

by fake patriot chickenshit chickenhawks if they thought they would have to actually walk the walk instead of just babbling on incoherently. That they would actually have to put skin in the game they so love.

[pocoloco]

6. You bet! And we would have gotten our oil back by now.

Plus the pipeline to Israel would have been completed!!

[damntexdem]

7. Had there been a peacetime draft in 2003 and thereafter, ...

I think that the U.S. would have already invaded Iran, and Syria, and who-knows-where else.

[LiberalAndProud]

8. Undoubtedly. The majority believed it *would* be a cake walk.