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Grrrrrrrr ..... I want to kick anyone who suggests we need to reinstitute the draft. THEN we really will be on the way to another VietNam. The draft is a BAD idea in a free country. It violates the principles we fight for. Let the leaders convince volunteers of the necessity of the fight and the resolve to win. Take that level of direct appeal and accountability out of the chain of command, and you put the troops at increased risk and the fight itself in jeopardy of being abandoned rather than WON.

Yes, but....I have to say that it might be a necessary in this war on terrorism...a long long war, as even Bush says.

Valerie, we have the National Guard and Reservists strung pretty thin, as it is now. These folks did not choose regular military for a reason. They expected to be trained and paid and be deployed for short periods as backup to regular military. Now, they are finding themselves on the front line of combat with deployments of over two years. I mean, I have a neighbor who is a little long in the tooth at forty-five years old, fighting in Iraq and will probably be entended in his tour. When a part time job becomes full time with mandatory overtime...you will see more choosing not to re-up. And when they do not re-up, we will see a draft.

I don't like Rummy's cavalier attitude to the guard and reservists at all. And no, I am not saying that the guard and reservists should not pull the the duty that they are paid. But, sometimes, the regular military gets rotated out before reservists.

This will come to haunt the POTUS if he does not address this issue. Already, the dems are mentioning the dreaded D word, and I don't want them to have this issue.

You got it right big time about the draft.

The media would have a field day with draft card burnings, etc, showing how many were against "war".

With a truth oriented media, and a normal or sane world the draft could be re-instated easily and the dead beat libs who won't put their lives on the line would be ostracized, laughed at and shamed. Unfortunately in our present world, they would be lionized instead of marginaalized.

"The draft is a BAD idea in a free country"

I'm inclined to agree with you. While military service might build men, it can also breed contempt in those who don't want to be there and whose hearts are not in it as well as in their families as well. I just don't think that is the best way to build a quality army.