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With the rhetoric ratcheting up from the neocons on the Iran/Syria and North Korea front it is almost unbelievable that the question I started this thread with isn't ALWAYS uttered when the subject of the all too familiar war rhetoric is reported.
We can't man it as is. Stop-gap service retentions are not enough.
Stop being afraid those of you in the media. Ask the question. There is only one answer, and frankly before we embark on more wars - there really does need to be an American dialogue on the topic.
Draft.
Politically unviable so noone mentions it (as in, of course they won't call for a draft, it is untenable).
So frightening to the population noone mentions it (as in, I am of age...; or my son/daughter is of age; or my grandson/neice/nephew/granddaughter is of age.)
However pursuing another war - would inevitably require one.
So the national dialogue has to be... is this next war (be it Iran, Syria, or North Korea) - worth sending your son/daughter/cousin/grandchild/etc. to fight?
My father quit college to enlist in WWII before there was a draft. At that point in history - he believed in the cause as did millions of others. That is when you have national support.
If there isn't that kind of support, if people do not believe the cause is great and serious enough to go themselves or send loved ones - than perhaps the war ought to be rethought.
All that said, as I read the ratched-up war rhetoric - while reading that Bush wants to lower the # of guardsmen (reportedly in order to match lower enlistments and be able to claim there is no problem meeting recruitment goals); when the army is reportedly preventing 50,000 soldiers who have met their service requirements from leaving the service (via stop-gap-loss); WHen there have bee numerous reports of lack of retentions (signing back up for more service) in both the officer ranks and the non-officer ranks; With reports coming out (with Rummy predictably denying them) that our troops are spread far too thin ("breaking point"?) With all of this happening - why are the major media folks NOT asking the simple question: Just how in the heck are we going to man one or two more wars?
I know folks fear the "draft" conversation - but I honestly do not understand why we are NOT having it here, and across the country, in light of the growing appearance of real war plans being cooked up (and implemented) by the WH? Given that the poltical mayberry machievellis in the WH think that "war" ups the GOP's political opportunities - the timing - in the midterms - isn't surprising. Thus it is all the more important to ask of anyone in earshot - the common sense question whenever a discussion of military action against another country is brought up: Okay - if the US does pursue action - How the Heck are we Going to Man It?
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