If we have a draft, war won't be such an interesting spectator sport for the Republican youth and their parents who never met a war that they didn't want other people's children to fight in. It would probably cut down on the number of unecessary wars the US fights. This woud be a good thing.
Great idea, However, I would give people a choice of serving in the military or in social services. Each 18 year old would have to serve 2 years, and would earn a GI bill for college along with wages. DD
Great idea, However, I would give people a choice of serving in the military or in social services. Each 18 year old would have to serve 2 years, and would earn a GI bill for college along with wages. I assume you'd support the massive tax raise required to support this program, which would rank amongst the largest government expansions in history?
I don't know if that's true. When we had a draft before, the sons of privilege managed to find a way out of fighting, for the most part. While many of those loopholes have been closed, I'm sure there are plenty of loopholes that remain to be exploited. Not to mention the number of Congresspeople who simply don't have children of draftable age.
We don't need a draft. It would be a disaster. What we need is an admistration committed to increasing veteran's benefits. Not finding a way to give with one hand and take away with the other. (the giving getting lots of publicity... the taking away not nearly so much)
I went to a exhibit of Diane Arbus photographs this weekend, and I was drawn especially to the following Vietnam-era picture. This was taken shortly before a pro-war march in New York. The little button says "Bomb Hanoi!" by the way. I wondered if anyone in this kid's family really had any risk of seeing combat. I also thought that this kid was maybe related to Trader_Jorge.
OK, how about if we have a draft today, to get rid of all the complaining, children of age of congressman and the pres and vp and cabinet must serve, no exceptions, no reserve duty stateside. If they aren't fit or can't be fit, twice as much non military service to their country. Considering that national politicians get so much clout for themselves even after serving, it's not too much to ask.
Yes, but you have to admit that some pretty wealthy kids went to war during WWII so it wasn't always like that.
Several of whom volunteered (including former President Bush, son of Connecticut Senator Prescott Bush). WWII was a different sort of war in a very different era (and I don't know that having wealthy sons in that war prevented the U.S. from getting involved in it or any subsequent fighting).
Considering how this President got elected; considering how he hides behind God yet has the gall to send young men and women to die for a cause he could never be bothered to show up for; considering how this ass-clown President is raping the environment, workers' retirements, sticking it to Americans' pocketbooks through his not-so-secret energy task force and then saying he gives them tax breaks (he doesn't) to help them pay for the energy bills he has helped drive up (very clever, Karl Rove)....and yet you keep defending him? Best you drop the credibility card before it burns your fingers.
We don't need to reinstate the draft... we got a whole country to the north of us that can supply fodder... ___________ Mondo Washington by James Ridgeway Uncle Sam Wants You, Eh? Our Military Tries to Recruit Canada's Inuit December 24 - 30, 2003 Mondo Washington this week: As Bush was ramping up the Iraq war last winter, Canadian military officials were startled to discover Pentagon recruiters roaming through their nation's native population reserves trying to persuade Inuit and others to enlist in the U.S. military. The Americans started cropping up on the Atlantic Coast in Quebec, in the Sault Sainte Marie area of Ontario, and in Western Canada. A Canadian Defense Ministries report said the U.S. claimed that under the 1794 Jay Treaty it had the right to recruit Canadian native inhabitants for its military because aboriginal Canadians held dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship. Alarmed top Canadian officials from the ministries of Justice, Foreign Affairs, and Defense huddled with Privy Council bigwigs and, screwing up their nerve, decided to tell the Americans that Canada didn't like what was going on. "As a result of our interaction with the U.S. embassy, a letter was sent from the director, Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, to the vice chiefs of the U.S. military services, reminding them that their recruiters are to refrain from entering Canadian territory," Foreign Affairs official Reynald Doiron told The Vancouver Sun earlier this month. The prohibition on recruiting applies to U.S. activities in Canadian high schools and university job fairs as well as on native reserves. The U.S. embassy confirmed that it would stop active recruiting in such places in Canada. If Canadians want to join the U.S. military, they will have to cross the border to do so. The American recruiting efforts are aimed at filling the ranks of an army stretched thin by the Iraq war and by having to post troops in other world hot spots such as Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. The U.S. may well have to put a permanent military presence in the Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of West Africa, to protect oil and gas reserves against regional squabbles. The U.S. currently recruits from among green-card holders—people with permanent resident status who aren't yet American citizens. In an effort to boost recruitment from such groups, Bush has signed an order reducing the time holders of green cards must wait before becoming citizens. Currently some 37,000 such people are in the military, out of a total of 1.4 million.
