Posted on 10/29/2004 11:53:15 AM PDT by Cableguy
President George W. Bush may or may not have a secret plan to reinstate the draft. But this is besides the point. The deteriorating facts on the ground in Iraq, plus the Bush doctrine of acting pre-emptively and unilaterally against hostile regimes, will soon leave him no choice. If Bush is re-elected, he will have to restart the draft.
Indeed, Bush has already imposed stage one of a new draft. Many soldiers whose enlistment period is up are not being allowed to leave the service, and those who left the service years ago are being forced to put on the uniform again against their wills. It is clear that we already have a back-door draft. Bush has effectively ended the all-volunteer military.
And stage two of a reinstated draft would be easy to implement. Draft boards are already in place in every county in the United States, and young men who turn 18 are already required to register with their local draft board. A major terrorist attack could easily serve as the pretext for flipping the switch and setting this apparatus in motion.
It is obvious that our armed forces are stretched dangerously thin. We do not have enough people in uniform to meet current needs in Iraq and Afghanistan, much less to deal with a confrontation with Iran or North Korea.
Right now, total active Army and Marine personnel number approximately 655,000, and that includes support units, training units, headquarters personnel and others who do not see combat. In a long, drawn-out war such as Vietnam or Iraq, units sent to the front lines have to be rotated out periodically and replaced by an equal number of forces.
Currently, we have 135,000 troops in Iraq, 20,000 in Afghanistan, approximately 100,000 in Asia and more than 100,000 in Europe. Our armed forces have been strained to the breaking point. To fill the gaps and shortages, tens of thousands of National Guard and reservists have been called up, some for several years at a time.
But there is a cost to all of this. Morale is suffering, as evidenced by the recent refusal of an Army Reserve platoon to carry out an order. Enlistments and re-enlistments are down. The Army National Guard fell 10 percent short of its 2004 recruiting goal. The regular Army has had to ease up on standards to meet its recruiting goals.
What if all-out civil war breaks out in Iraq and we have to increase our troop strength to 200,000 or 300,000 to quell it? What if a newly re-elected Bush decides to act pre-emptively against Iran, Syria or North Korea?
Today, people are hesitant to join the National Guard or reserves because of skyrocketing odds of being sent into combat or kept away from family and jobs for a year or longer. Morale, enlistments and re-enlistments are falling, at the same time that military manpower needs are rising dramatically.
So where would a re-elected Bush get the manpower to pacify Iraq while pursuing the next phases of his doctrine of pre-emptive, unilateral war? There is only one viable option: a reinstated draft.
It is probably too much to expect Bush to acknowledge this before Election Day. But we would do well to remember when President Lyndon B. Johnson was running for election in 1964.
Voters were afraid he had a secret plan to escalate the war in Vietnam. He denied it, repeatedly promising, “I will not send American boys halfway around the world to do a job that Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.”
Johnson was re-elected. And sure enough, millions of U.S. boys were drafted and sent halfway around the world to Vietnam. More than 17,000 of those draftees got killed in combat.
So Americans, today we have good reasons to fear the return of the draft. Bush might have avoided the draft when he was a young man. But if re-elected, he will not be able to avoid the draft as president.
Tom Harkin is a Democratic senator from Iowa.
I am not a violent person, I have never started a fight in my life and only been in 2 otherwise, but had I been standing in front of Tom Harkin recently, especially when he called Cheney and Bush cowards, I would have knocked every tooth out of his head.
This must be Harkin's final break with reality day:
Harkin campaigns for Kerry, Pettengill, says Kerry's rise in polls is what God wants (BARF Alert!)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1261652/posts
HARKIN: GOD WANTS KERRY
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1261645/posts
Considering only Democrats have offered resolutions to reinstate the draft and he says no matter what a draft is necessary then it seems like its Kerry that we need to keep out of office to avoid a draft.
Harkin is a moron
If another attack happens, The Enemy Within will be exterminaated.
Then, we can fight the WOT unimpeded.
Bush won't reinstate the draft, but if elected Kerry sure as hell will.
Kerry claims he's going to increase the number of troops in Iraq by at least 40,000....where is he going to get them? Especially in light of the fact that the Bush supporters in the military would be hesitant to re-enlist under the traitorous Kerry...
President George W. Bush may or may not have a secret plan to reinstate the draft. But this is besides the point.
Doesn't that sound remotely like, "It doesn't matter if the documents are fakes, Bush STILL hasn't answered the questions that the (fake) documents raise."
Who originally championed the candidacy of Howard Dean until he was standing behind Howard when the "I have a scream speech" was made.
T'was then that Harkin adopted the facial expression commonly known as "Who $h!t in my Easter basket?"
"Voters were afraid he had a secret plan to escalate the war in Vietnam. He denied it, repeatedly promising, “I will not send American boys halfway around the world to do a job that Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.” "
Johnson was a Democrat. Kerry is a Democrat. Nuff said.
Kerry is going to need a draft for two reasons: If he is elected president, I guarantee that retention will fall as many leave the armed forces. And...he is the one who wants to increase troop strength, with the creation of 2 new Army divisions and 40,000 more troops to Iraq. As he's already stated, he wants to get the Guard out of Iraq. There is no way he can do all these things without a draft.
It is clear by kerry-think that a draft will be required. Under Bush, there will be a much greater number of volunteers with no draft needed. If Kerry is elected, mark my words, a draft will be necessary because the volunteers will not be there. Kerry is preparing us for that. When he does it' he'll just claim it necessary because Bush made it necessary.
How in the heck did a state like Iowa ever elect a NUT-CASE liar like Harkin?
"Currently, we have 135,000 troops in Iraq, 20,000 in Afghanistan, approximately 100,000 in Asia and more than 100,000 in Europe. Our armed forces have been strained to the breaking point. To fill the gaps and shortages, tens of thousands of National Guard and reservists have been called up, some for several years at a time. "
Well we can always pull our forces from Germany. They don't need them anyway.
Harkin is one of the biggest horse's rear I have seen in my entire life. He is worse than worthless.
Mr. Harkin knows better, Stop Loss is not a back door draft. Every member of the armed forces knows going in that if the need arises his enlistment can be extended. It is part of the enlistment contract. The people he claims are being recalled after doing their time have not fullfilled their enlistment contracts, every contract is for a period of 8 years. Part is active duty time , part is reserve time. Untill the 8 years is completed you are subject to recall. Also in the Marine Corps, when enlisted members are retired they are transfered to the USMC Reserve, also subject to recall.
"Tom Harkin is a Democratic senator from Iowa."
Correction: Tom Harkin is a Socialist senator from Iowa.
As an Iowan, it is so painful seeing this idiot get re-elected time and time again. If we didn't have Chuck Grassley to inject a little sanity here, it would really be pathetic. Think Shrillery and Schumer.
Sen. Harkin is a POS.
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