that's WAY... above his pay grade!!!
Posted on 08/10/2007 4:12:40 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Sure. If you want every young person under 25 to hate the Republican Party for the rest of his life, go right ahead and start up the draft...
I was drafted at the age of 22 by JFK in 1961 after that wall was constructed in Berlin in 1961. I was far from happy about it at the time as I had other plans. But I must say that the discipline in basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood (little Korea) did wonders for my crappy attitude and my eventual service with the Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery gave me excellent preparation for later life. I highly recommend a few years of military service for every young American, voluntarily or involuntarily as a mighty fine life experience. The GI Bill paid for my college education and now VA is providing me with the best medical care I have ever received.
Lute and the Bush staffers didn’t bring out this cultural third rail without planning through it beforehand. This is a diversionary media tactic, to keep the media away from asking about Lute’s other dossiers or some other military problem that the media is building a story on... (Remember, this guy was supposed to partially take over Rumsfeld position of the front man who beat the media over it’s collective heads with big Clue Sticks)... The Bush White House is playing the same game Rangel has been playing with the idea. Neither are being honest, both hope to stir things up and keep constituents in a frenzy, and both wave it around to beat up on ideological enemies.
It’s not believable to assume that Lute brought this out without consultation with the Bush media PR teams, which means Bush is doing another round of “beat the crap out of your core Constituency to promote Republican failure during the 2008 general election” campaign again. This is Amensty Bill Redux for the elitist cliques that control the Bush White House and GOP Senators.
However, they did not have predators, they didn't have tanks that looked like spaceships.
AND, they had a clear enemy.
As a friend of mine who is going back for the third time soon, said to me: “The first time I was there the enemy was in front of me, and the troops were behind me. The second time, it wasn’t that clear.”
And he digs this stuff.
I cannot imagine some of the dopey guys in my daughters’ classes making it through boot camp. Of course, it would do them some good, but they would need to get the crap kicked out them a couple of times.
Finally, just talking about a draft is going to drive the campuses nuts this fall. Nothing like a couple hundred thousand braless protesters to get congresses attention.
Can’t you just feel the sixty-something boomers getting the tie-dye shirts and bell bottoms out of the closet for a good ole Viet Nam moratorium bash?
It is an idea, but political suicide.
They do it every time.
that's WAY... above his pay grade!!!
The draft is constitutional in that the our constitution gives the Congress authority to call out the “militia.” At such a time, the president is the Cdr in Chief of all forces, to include the militia.
As many of us gun advocates have painstakingly pointed out over the years, the militia is NOT the organized military of the US, whether active or reserve. It is “every able-bodied citizen.”
The purpose of such a call by Congress would be in response to all-out war declared by Congress. It would be a dire circumstance.
The trouble, imho, with this war is that it is not prosecuted as vigorously as it should be, certainly not as single-mindedly as we prosecuted WWII. In WWII we mobilized the nation. If you weren’t in the military, then you were part of the war effort.
The goals of WWII were clear, the nation was 100% focused on them, and this nation fought a 2 theater war and brought two of the world’s major powers to their knees inside of 4 years. It was a phenomenal accomplishment.
Aided by the draft (calling forth of the militia), our military subjugated our enemies. Any serious state must reserve the power to defend itself in extraordinary ways in extraordinary times.
Is this an extraordinary time?
If you believe that the Islamic goal is an Islamic Caliphate stretching from Algeria to Indonesia and thence to world domination, then it is such a time.
Our government, on the other hand, is not prepared to execute such a clearly focused war. In the same way they were not prepared to allow Patton to attack the Soviets. Patton was correct in his assessment of communism. They were not prepared to allow MacArthur to attack the Chinese. MacArthur was correct in his assessment of Chinese communism.
We are not prepared to take down Iran, Saudia Arabia, Pakistan, and Islamic Africa. Therefore, we have no need of a draft.
An Idiotic idea that is the very antithesis of a free people. Either increase the standing size of the force or reduce military committments that’s stretching said force.
Watch the moonbats go absolutely bugf*&k over this.
Oh,its ok if Charlie Rangel proposes a draft. But if ChimpyHitler suggests it, watch the LW blogs and nutroots go bananas.
You’re right of course... I’d rather see us double the military budget, pay the troops better, and attract many more recruits with enlistment (and reenlistment) bonuses. People who don’t understand technology always seem to overestimate the technology vis a vis the individual human being. You can’t eliminate the human... without the human there IS no technology. Tech can be made to perform amazing things, but it’s always complicated, always difficult, and always prone to failure. It’s the prudent combination of human and technical that can make us invincible. But nothing will ever replace a will to win.
I think this story at least slightly misrepresents what he said. Of ~course~ a draft always has to be considered. It needs to be there as an arrow in the quiver for the time it is truly necessary. But even in this interview he said it wasn’t necessary or desirable now.
I had this same discussion with a group of dems last week. They wanted the draft because, and I use their own words, “It would weaken the military so much that Bush would have to stop his insane war.” I responded with a question, “So you support weakening our military in the time of war?” I never got another response from any of the 4 dems in the email discussion. They quickly changed the subject.
Obviously you don’t think stopping communism is a worthy cause for which to go to war. You reveal yourself, sir.
Re-instituting the draft would severely increase the number of liberals serving in the Armed Forces, and I can’t see how that makes us stronger as a nation...unless we use them strictly as cannon fodder on the front lines.
The OPTION is always “on the table” — so what?? It is just that - an option.
There is nothing to even suggest that it will be used. Remember the big draft scare and the results of the vote back in 2004
Could you please explain what our inovlvement in Viet Nam did to stop, or even slow the advancement of communism?
Stopping communism would require flushing the communists out of the State Department, and the covert operatives from the CIA.
You should do a bit of research, rather than swallowing the kool-aid put forth by the media, and the government propagandists.
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