In case you missed it: the D-word looms eerily

[netmouse]

Jim posts about President Bush's new war adviser saying in an interview on NPR that he thinks we should certainly consider re-instating the draft.

In case anyone's wondering, I would be, uh, against that. I think any conflict where an insufficient number of our youngsters (and other healthy people) are willing to go in service is a conflict we shouldn't be involved in. That's aside from the whole question of whether or not there are better approaches to conflict than fighting, much of the time.

Comments

[spacecrab.livejournal.com]

That ML post is from Jim Macdonald.

I'm not sure I agree that a national Draft would never be an appropriate government response to situations that threaten the lives of American or World citizens. (It's easy for me to say that, now, in my old age. Certainly, I didn't want them to get me in the Vietnam years, and was also intellectually/morally opposed to what the United States did in that action. What Bush and Cheney have committed this country to is even more senseless. But if we were faced with a situation like the one in WWII, I would acknowedge the U.S. government's legitimate claim to ask for my service. I'm not sure they could ever get me to point a gun at someone and fire it. I'd probably wind up in a noncombat assignment or in prison.)

[nicegeek.livejournal.com]

It's probably worth reading the original interview. The actual quote was:

Q: You know, given the stress on the military and the concern about these extended deployments for an all-volunteer military, can you foresee, in the future, a return to the draft?

A: You know, that's a national policy decision point that we have not yet reached, Michele, because the —

Q: But does it make sense militarily?

A: I think it makes sense to certainly consider it, and I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table, but ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another. Today, the current means of the all-volunteer force is serving us exceptionally well. It would be a major policy shift — not actually a military, but a political policy shift to move to some other course.

To me, it doesn't sound like this is being looked at as a likely option - it sounds more like he just doesn't want to rule it out. Note also that he never uses the word "seriously".

[ckd]

I have a modest proposal for reinstating the draft: use publicly-available lists of donors to the Republican Party since 2003. "You supported this, so here's your gear. Unfortunately we don't have enough Kevlar helmets. You could buy a motorcycle helmet, I suppose."