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Draft Realities: An unpopular truth
National War Review Online ^ | October 24, 2001 | Stanley War Kurtz

Posted on 10/24/2001 7:51:17 AM PDT by sendtoscott

The day after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, I put up a piece on NRO called, "Revive the Draft." Actually, I wasn't calling for a resumption of the draft so much as I was trying to break the taboo on public discussion of the issue. We may be able to successfully fight this war without a draft, but that is far from certain. My fear is that, even now, political worries about a draft are limiting the president's options. And precisely because even raising the issue of a draft strikes terror into the hearts of America's politicians, we cannot take the silence of Congress and the administration on this topic as proof that there's no problem here.

President Bush himself has said that the war against bin Laden's network in Afghanistan may take as long as a year or two. If we're lucky, that will tie down only a portion of our special forces. But it's easy to imagine a scenario in which a substantial section of the regular army has to play a role in suppressing rebellion in the Afghan countryside-and in bucking up whatever government succeeds the Taliban-for some time to come.

And given the fact that Sen. Daschle may already have received a bit of Saddam's handiwork through the mails, it would be foolish to delay the conquest of Iraq for the year or two it may take to root the al Qaeda network out of Afghanistan. (In view of Saddam's willingness and capacity to deploy weapons of mass destruction, of course, we'll need to remove him whether Iraq was directly tied to the attack on Sen. Daschle or not.) This means we're facing the probability of simultaneous war in two countries. And conquering Iraq, replacing its government, and securing the post-war political arrangement is going to be a massive and daunting operation.

In the meantime, we could easily be hit by fundamentalist rebellions in other Muslim countries. Imagine that we had regular troops deployed to stabilize a new Afghan government, special forces rooting out al Qaeda in the mountains, and a massive invasion force entering Iraq, when all of the sudden Pakistan's government fell to fundamentalists enraged by the "war against Islam." Given Pakistan's proximity to Afghanistan, and given the fact that it possesses nuclear weapons, we would have little choice but to intervene. If we couldn't restore a friendly government, we might at least have to take out Pakistan's nuclear capability, just to prevent a fundamentalist government from getting hold of the bomb.

If this nightmare scenario begins to play out (and there is nothing implausible in what I've said so far), then it's quite likely that there would be fundamentalist rebellions in more than one state, each of which might also require at least limited intervention. And what if North Korea, seeing how tied down we were in the Middle East, picked just that time to move in on the South Koreans? That last prospect is less likely than the rest, but by no means impossible. But even without a Korean complication, a broad-based war in the Middle East would stretch our forces past the breaking point, and almost surely force the president to ask the Democrats to join him in imposing a draft. (Remember that our armed forces are considerably smaller today than they were at the time of the Gulf War.)

But it takes months to turn raw recruits into soldiers. Given the political dangers of a draft, the likelihood is that the subject will only come up when it is obvious to everyone that we are in a major war in several countries at once. By then, we will already be at a disadvantage. The time to prepare for the all too real possibility of a wider war is now, while there's still time to build up the forces that might be required. And again, the scenario I've played out is not at all far-fetched. Things may not go that badly, but it's entirely possible that they will.

Up to now, the media has portrayed the administration's internal battle over whether and when to expand the war to Iraq as a conflict between the hawks and Secretary Powell's impulse to coalition building. But there may well be something else at work. The president probably understands that going after Iraq sooner rather than later has every prospect of stretching our force structure to its limit, while also perhaps provoking a wider rebellion in several Muslim countries. And he knows that the only way to protect against that possibility is a draft, the political consequences of which he rightly fears. So it turns out that our national will to fight a war is already a critical factor in the military equation, even if our leaders won't tell us that in so many words.

The other day I went to a talk by that great student of American politics, Walter Berns, whose recent book, Making Patriots, could not have been better timed. Berns said that after Pearl Harbor, America's men simply took it for granted that they would serve. In fact they were eager to fight — to strike back for what had been done to America. For all the flag pins and patriotism, no such enthusiasm reigns in America today. Yes, there has been a welcome spike in recruitment in the wake of the attacks. But the truth is, many young people no longer share the eagerness of the "greatest generation" for battle. Berns said that, in his day, few of the young who enlisted after Pearl Harbor had any idea of what war was all about. But today, in the wake of Vietnam, with the hyperrealism of war film, and years of disparagement of the ethos of military honor and heroism, talk of a draft is political poison.

Then again, the attack upon America may even now be working a profound change in our national spirit. The Vietnam syndrome may soon be a thing of the past. Many people have suggested as much in recent weeks, but we won't really know that it's true until we begin hearing honest public debate and discussion about the need for a draft.


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WWIII is starting to look more and more like WWI.
1 posted on 10/24/2001 7:51:17 AM PDT by sendtoscott
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To: sendtoscott
The draft is of course, foundationally immoral.

OWK US Army Vet.
Volunteer.

2 posted on 10/24/2001 7:56:39 AM PDT by OWK
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: sendtoscott
2 days after the attacks i was almost certain that by today i would be in afghanistan but im not ...although your right..the draft may occur..and if it does theres a good chance id get picked..but you know what im not afraid and ill tell you why im not...i believe that there is a time to be peaceful and a time not to i also believe that in the event that i would get drafted i am confident that god will be with me every step of the way..and when i die i will be in his kingdom im far from a model christian but i do know that god exists and is not the same god that our enemy believes in ..as far as this whole thing goes im willing to die for my friends and my family if my death helped to keep america safe..then so be it..right now U.S soldiers are insuring my freedom and i am eternally grateful.

god bless america

Michigans Madman

4 posted on 10/24/2001 8:01:38 AM PDT by MetalHeadConservative35
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

The draft would tie our hands as the president can dispatch volunteers where he needs them more easily than draftees. If there aren't enough volunteer soldiers than he could use mercanaries given all the mountains in Afghanistan I recommend hiring all the Gurkhas he can find.
6 posted on 10/24/2001 8:04:41 AM PDT by weikel
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To: tex-oma
im working on my GED right now ...plus i got a younger sister to take care of but when i get the GED im considering the coast guard
7 posted on 10/24/2001 8:11:59 AM PDT by MetalHeadConservative35
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To: OWK
You'd rather he call out the unorganized militia (which is, of course, quite Constitutional)?

I have to admit that if he called out the unorganized militia that would be an awful lot of people. Maybe he could just call out some of the unorganized militia. That, of course, would leave open the question of how to pick the ones to call out. Perhaps he could have the unorganized militia register with the government, then pick from them at random in targeted age groups. Those not picked in a given year would be guaranteed not to be called in the future.

Oh-my-God!! I've just described --- the DRAFT!!!

Signed, a former Sp/5, AUS.... :))

8 posted on 10/24/2001 8:17:59 AM PDT by sailor4321
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To: deathscythex
Best wishes in finishing that GED. And, your first priority is taking care of your sister. You can't take care of your sister later; you can choose to serve when she's old enough to be on her own.
9 posted on 10/24/2001 8:24:32 AM PDT by grania
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To: grania
thanks...but ill tell ya something about that 11 year old girl..shes a hardcore republican you should have seen her during the recount she was saying some pretty mean things about gore lol god bless that little girl
10 posted on 10/24/2001 8:27:38 AM PDT by MetalHeadConservative35
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To: sailor4321
For the past two decades I have felt that ending the draft was the worst thing that could have happened to the last few generations of young men. So many of them who are aimless, lazy, unmotivated, and stuck in minimum wage jobs, would have had a marvelous opportunity to learn discipline, a trade, further education, and a sense of self esteem. Reinstate the draft TODAY, is my opinion.
11 posted on 10/24/2001 8:28:05 AM PDT by EggsAckley
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To: sailor4321
I didn't suggest we dispense with the military. I simply stated that conscription (forced servitude) is slavery, and hence immoral.

A free nation must be defended voluntarily, in order to be a free nation.

12 posted on 10/24/2001 8:33:14 AM PDT by OWK
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To: EggsAckley
So many of them who are aimless, lazy, unmotivated, and stuck in minimum wage jobs, would have had a marvelous opportunity to learn discipline, a trade, further education, and a sense of self esteem.

What makes you think that "aimless, lazy, unmotivated" persons would perform well in the military?. Hell, persons such as this would be nothing more than a waste of taxpayer money as they probably wouldn't even make it through basic training.

---max

13 posted on 10/24/2001 8:39:44 AM PDT by max61
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To: sendtoscott
To solve our short term manpower shortages, I recommend the following:

1. Substantial reduction in ground forces in western Europe.

2. Immediate withdrawal of all American military personnel in Kosovo and Bosnia.

3. Suspension of enforcement of the no-fly zones in Iraq.

In the long term it's looking more and more likely that the US will be sucked into a prolonged ground campaign, our leaders' initial reassurances to the contrary not withstanding. This may be in Afghanistan, to "help" the NA a little in its march to Kabul, Iraq, or some other armpit of a country. If that happens a reinstatement of the draft would almost be a necessity, bringing with it vastly more discontent and opposition here on the home front.

14 posted on 10/24/2001 8:41:54 AM PDT by LiveFree99
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To: EggsAckley
Wouldn't a draft today have to include women? It seems to me that opens up a whole new layer of political conflict and disunity.
15 posted on 10/24/2001 8:42:16 AM PDT by MarkM
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To: EggsAckley
For the past two decades I have felt that ending the draft was the worst thing that could have happened to the last few generations of young men. So many of them who are aimless, lazy, unmotivated, and stuck in minimum wage jobs, would have had a marvelous opportunity to learn discipline, a trade, further education, and a sense of self esteem. Reinstate the draft TODAY, is my opinion.

Are you so enthralled by social welfare programs that you would advocate converting the US military into such an institution?

16 posted on 10/24/2001 8:45:06 AM PDT by Jolly Rodgers
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To: EggsAckley
For the past two decades I have felt that ending the draft was the worst thing that could have happened to the last few generations of young men. So many of them who are aimless, lazy, unmotivated, and stuck in minimum wage jobs, would have had a marvelous opportunity to learn discipline, a trade, further education, and a sense of self esteem. Reinstate the draft TODAY, is my opinion.

What do you think about people who home-school their children? Should kids be forcibly placed in govt care to have their attitudes "adjusted" by govt agents only when they are military govt agents, or should public school govt agents get a crack at everyone's kids as well?
17 posted on 10/24/2001 8:46:45 AM PDT by sendtoscott
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To: OWK
Horsehockey. So you would support a constitutional amendment to do away with the militia?
18 posted on 10/24/2001 8:49:54 AM PDT by sailor4321
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To: OWK
Given only the alternative between killing the enemy's civilians and a nation's own, the former should always be chosen.
19 posted on 10/24/2001 8:53:34 AM PDT by Senator Pardek
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To: EggsAckley
And I support the draft not for what it will possibly do for draftees, but because the Founding Fathers very wisely were suspicious of a large standing army, which most certainly now have.

We're about to see the negative side of a large standing army on our freedom. What we have already seen is a tendency for do-gooders to use the army recklessly in overseas adventures --- in effect, our ability to intervene creates a foreign policy of intervention.

20 posted on 10/24/2001 8:53:41 AM PDT by sailor4321
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