Left Says: Let’s Bring Back The Draft!

• June 22, 2006

Every day, it seems, another anti-war twit on the left (which is not all of them, but apparently the most vocal) trots out the Viet Nam/Iraq connection. Never mind that this time we are not facing an organized government with support from two superpowers, skip the desert terrain vs. jungle, don’t bother with the incremental level of our involvement in one with our diminishing presence in the other, omit the establishment of a freely elected native government, gloss over the casualty figures that are a fraction of the prior conflict, and a horde of other differences — the important thing is that the Viet Nam war was bad, and the war in Iraq is bad, so we must make every single parallel we can.
This morning, one of the Boston Globe’s pet whackos slipped out of her straightjacket and got access to a computer again. Joan Venocchi’s grand idea? Bring back the draft!
Now I don’t know much about Ms. Venocchi, but I’m pretty comfortable in assuming she was against the draft when it was actually a relevant topc 30 years ago. What’s convinced her to switch her position? She believes that it will increase opposition to the war.
The unspoken presumption behind this is that if we send enough unwilling people to Iraq, eventually they and their families will rise up, join the anti-war side, and end the US involvement in Iraq. It’s an interesting theory. “Interesting,” as in the “I don’t think I’ve seen so much concentrated stupidity in one place before” sense.

Read the whole thing.

Tags: War On Terror

http://Array realitybasedbob

The Defense Department quietly asked Congress on Monday to raise the maximum age for military recruits to 42 for all branches of the service.

… the Bush administration originally asked Congress to increase enlistment bonuses to $30,000, but the Pentagon now wants bonuses of up to $40,000.
The administration also asked for an Army-only test of a $1,000 referral bonus that would be paid to current soldiers if they get someone to enter the Army and make it through basic and advanced training. Now, the Pentagon wants that payment to be $2,500.
Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y. … believes that what the Pentagon needs is an increase in personnel to cut the workload on active and reserve service member.

So we have lowered recruitment goals and minimum acceptance standards and now DoD wants to up the enlistment age and our military is still falling short of its lowered goals.

Thank you Dear Leader. You’re doing a heck of a job.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

Seems like some of our Congressman have been drining at the stupid fountain again.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

They just want the threat of the draft so they can make political hay out of it.

Suppose a Dem politician meets with a young grouuoup they can now claim that there’s actually a bill in Congress to reinstate the draft. I’m sure he won’t mention that the bill was introduced by a liberal Dem in a safe seat.

Do you believe the local media will ever bust the politician on that?
Andrew

Just a big canard. They want the draft so that they can make Iraq make more like a failure.

Exactly. Nothing would kill public support for the Iraq War faster than a draft. I just can’t stand these dangerous political games of the left any longer.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

Thanks for pointing out that we can do things to boost recruitment without resorting to a draft.
http://highdesertwanderer.com/ hdw

I just can’t stand these dangerous political games of the left any longer.

Dangerous is the right word. It’s amazing what previously rational people on both sides of the political spectrum will agree to after they’re elected. Is it something in the water in DC?
robert108

This “reinstate the draft” meme is just another partisan political stunt from the Dems, who have little else going for them.
JSlaton

What’s really funny about many of the above comments is the apparent acceptance of the notion that a draft will only increase the public’s ire over the invasion of Iraq. Soooo, why exactly aren’t we in favor of a measure that would tend to hold those who would send Americans into battle more accountable for their actions? If America’s involvement in World War II was generally popular and Vietnam was not, and the draft was used in both, then maybe the draft doesn’t sour a good military campaign but helps to point up the ill-conceived and unnecessary. So what’s the problem with the draft? In theory at least, it helps ensure that Americans from all walks of life (not withstanding those whose Daddies can pull a few strings to keep them Stateside) perform their duty, not just those in the Reserves who need a little extra cash each month.
http://sayanythingblog.com/ likwidshoe

JSlaton says, Soooo, why exactly aren’t we in favor of a measure that would tend to hold those who would send Americans into battle more accountable for their actions?

You’re asking why “we” don’t want people in the military who don’t want to be there? Isn’t the answer obvious?

If America’s involvement in World War II was generally popular and Vietnam was not, and the draft was used in both, then maybe the draft doesn’t sour a good military campaign but helps to point up the ill-conceived and unnecessary.

Are you serious?
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

Didn’t John Kerry spit out a false claim in one of the debates that the Bush Administration had plans to reinstitute the draft after the election?

Turns out he was lying as we all knew.

Also didn’t that one Dem Lib (Rangle?) introduce a bill to reinstitute the draft. When the vote came up I believe he voted against his own bill.

The lefties are such liars.
robert108

J: What part of “volunteer army” don’t you understand? Nice partisan rant, though.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Whistler, Kerry and MTV were both pusing the idea of a draft…I think mostly to scare young voters into voting Dem. The reality, as you point out, was that Democrat legislators were introducing legislation to re-instate the draft.

Just a big canard. They want the draft so that they can make Iraq make more like a failure.

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Left Says: Let’s Bring Back The Draft!

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