More talk of a military draft

[January 30, 2005]

“While our ultimate objectives are very ambitious we will never achieve democracy and stability [in Iraq] without being willing to commit 500,000 troops, spend $200 billion a year, probably have a draft, and have some form of war compensation,” Zbigniew Brzezinski told the New America Foundation. For Brzezinski, the United States faces either a “moment of wisdom” —the willingness to fight endlessly against an “insurgency” that logic dictates cannot be defeated, so long as the Iraqi people view the United States as a foreign occupier—or “resign” itself to “cultural decay” and a “loss of credibility,” that is to say abandon its role as hegemon and imperialist, the overriding goal of U.S. foreign policy for more than a hundred years.

“Sometime soon Rep. Rangel is preparing to reintroduce legislation to reinstitute the military draft since he strongly feels everyone should share the burden of war,” Emile Milne, Rangel’s press representative and legislative director, said last week. “He is essentially reintroducing legislation [H.R. 163] that failed to gain support last session. However, this time around, I think, it has a better chance of passing.”
  Kurt Nimmo blog post

[January 15, 2005]

James Dobbins of the conservative Rand Corporation was equally ferocious, stating bluntly that "The beginning of wisdom is to realize that the United States can't win."

[...]

There are signs that the recalcitrant Rumsfeld is beginning to get the message. Last week he dispatched retired General Gary Luck to Iraq to produce a detailed breakdown of force strength and vulnerabilities. When Luck returns he will appear before Congress and make an energetic appeal for more troops and stiffer resolve. He can be expected to draw a dismal picture of a failed state that threatens to destabilize the entire region unless America makes a greater commitment. Both the Congress and the media will play a role in calling on the American people for steadfastness in the face of a very long and bloody occupation. Many believe that Luck's assessment will determine whether Bush will approach Congress to reinstate the draft.
  Mike Whitney Weekly Standard article

[January 29, 2005]

Let’s dissect the letter sent by a gaggle of Strausscons to senators Frist, Reid, Hastert, and representative Pelosi. I first saw this letter yesterday, posted by William Kristol on the Weekly Standard web site. It is posted, as well, and predictably, on the PNAC web site.

The United States military is too small for the responsibilities we are asking it to assume. Those responsibilities are real and important. They are not going away. The United States will not and should not become less engaged in the world in the years to come. But our national security, global peace and stability, and the defense and promotion of freedom in the post-9/11 world require a larger military force than we have today. The administration has unfortunately resisted increasing our ground forces to the size needed to meet today’s (and tomorrow’s) missions and challenges.

[...]

So we write to ask you and your colleagues in the legislative branch to take the steps necessary to increase substantially the size of the active duty Army and Marine Corps. While estimates vary about just how large an increase is required, and Congress will make its own determination as to size and structure, it is our judgment that we should aim for an increase in the active duty Army and Marine Corps, together, of at least 25,000 troops each year over the next several years.
  Kurt Nimmo blog post

More information on the possibility of a draft, and links to information on staying out of the military, are on my webpage here.