Senate votes to add 20,000 troops to Army

[phantom power]

June 18, 2004 | WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defying the Bush administration, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to add 20,000 troops to an Army stretched thin by the war in Iraq and other commitments around the world.

The 93-4 vote in the Republican-led Senate -- following a similar action by the House -- reflected the anxieties lawmakers have been hearing from families of service personnel whose tours in Iraq keep getting extended and whose return to civilian life is repeatedly postponed.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the lack of troops at the end of major combat in Iraq cost the military an opportunity to stop the violence that continues today.

"We didn't have enough people on the ground, and now we are paying a very, very heavy price for that incredible mistake on the part of the civilian leadership in the Pentagon of the United States of America,'' he said.
http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2004/06/18/army/index.html

[phantom power]

1. *chirp*...*chirp*....*chirp*...

This looks like the real deal to me: they *have* to start a draft if they want to fill this quota.

Don't they?

[punpirate]

2. Not necessarily....

If this simply raises the force authorization numbers, a draft wouldn't provide any immediate relief. Wouldn't see any change in people on the ground in eight months to a year.

What this likely does is enable the Army to pull people back in from the inactive reserves. The current requirement is eight years of service, only some of which may been active duty. Someone getting out after three or four years leaves a minimum of four years to grab someone and yank them back in. Such people are already trained, and may need only brief refresher courses or "just to remind you what the military is like" training. They can be in Iraq in a few weeks.

[Warpy]

3. Yeah? What are they going to do, KNIT them?

Our volunteer military are voting with their feet. They're not reenlisting, and new enlistments have dropped off, too. Nobody wants to be involved in any of Bush's cluster*s anywhere in the world, and I can't say that I blame them.

As long as we don't have a draft, little tin Caesasrs in the Pentagon will be unable to fight many wars to extend empire. If they are able to restart a draft, prepare yourselves for more and more ruinous wars in places we should never interfere with.