[John H K]

The idea of a draft EVER occuring in the US again is laughable. It was a waste of time to discuss it, before the 91 Gulf War and a waste of time now.

1) The Army doesn't WANT draftees. They've gotten used to a volunteer army, comprised of troops that WANT to be there. Contrary to what one might expect Army generals don't go to bed at night dreaming of getting their hands on draftees.

2) Given the highly technological nature of warfare now, you're looking at months and months of training, FAR longer training than for WWII, Korea, or Vietnam, for a soldier to even be moderately useful. By the time any were ready, any conceivable war on the Korean peninsula would be long, long, long over. The NKs aren't going to get any logistical support from Russia or the PRC, and no PRC hordes of troops to aid them.

[ALS]

REP. KIRK: "I'll leave you with a chilling thought. The IMF projects that the Chinese economy will be larger than the U.S. economy in the 2020s.
Quiz question: When's the last time the U.S. military fought a country with an economy larger than ours?
Answer: 1813. And that military marched into Washington and burned the Capitol down."

"We are going to face a time at the end of your transformation in which China will have more resources at her command than the United States, and so this Asia focus, I think, cannot happen too quickly."

Fiscal 2003 Defense Budget Testimony – House Armed Services Committee (transcript)

The above transcript also contains current troop strenth and armament info.

Testifying before congress on Feb. 6/2002 is Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Undersecretary Zakheim and also General Richard Myers.

[fogarty]

Perhaps so, but you're seriously deluded if you think with the forces we have now we can handle both Iraq and North Korea simultaneously.

A draft may not be desirable, but it may be INEVITABLE.