Bring Back the Draft - subject of two editorials in gulf coast paper

[BOSSHOG]

The Gulfport-Biloxi Sun Herald had two editorials in the Sunday Paper talking about reasons for bringing back the draft. I hope it made for good reading for those who would rather raise a flag then carry a weapon. Conservatives are responsible for the killing going on in Iraq and they are responsible for someone thinking we might have to bring back the draft.

[flamin lib]

1. Having been drafted myself in 1969 I have very mixed feelings.

I didn't enjoy it a doggone bit, but it sure made me and every other young man (at the time) pay attention to what our leaders were doing. It also made my parents pay attention.

A draft does three things:

Short-timers make excellent watch dogs. The folks back home know a lot more about what is actually going on.

It makes the young politically active. Being sent to war and shot at against your will has that effect.

It also makes mom & dad America pay attention. My mother was all for "killin' some commies" until her baby boy got drafted. Suddenly it wasn't our fight anymore.

[BOSSHOG]

2. I'm opposed to the draft

as I am opposed to Iraq. But I hope it caught the attention of all the flag wavers and I hope the discussion on the subject heats up. It brings a much different dimension to the subject. And last week, the Army said it would take 42 year olds; throwing a wider net to catch a whole bunch of bush supporters who haven't sacrificed a goddmanned thing because of this war. I hate to play the Vet Card, but these "conservative" motherfuckers have had me riled up for three plus years.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

6. all I'm opposed to is Congress having their cake and eating it too...

If they crooks want a war to get wealthier from, they need a draft, so troops don't end up doing THREE TOURS OF DUTY IN A ROW IN IRAQ!

[endarkenment]

3. It also allowed the cabal in DC

to put 500,000 troops on the ground for over five years without compromising their other military deployments. I'd prefer the cabal to be over extended with a 140,000 man expeditionary force.

Our generation fought on the streets here at home to make sure that the crap you went through stopped and would never get started again. Some of us died right here to make sure the draft was abolished. 55,000 died in viet nam over that other bad war, most of them draftees.

No thanks.

[Lowell]

4. Draft Era Veteran

Flamin Lib hit it on the head. I too have mixed feelings about a return to the draft. But it would have a positive effect of making the administration and repub chickenhawks more accountable to the public. Start sending some silverspoon congresscritters kids to war and see how fast they reconsider. Also it raised the awareness of the general public to the horrors of war and put the country on notice that every one shares the burden. It brought another corrupt republican administration to its knees in the 70s. It would be the quickest way to end this foolish war on terra. Public outcry would put an end to neocon military adventures very quickly.

[endarkenment]

5. "silverspoon congresscritters kids"

didn't happen to them then, won't happen to them now. It will be our kids who do the dying, as always. Their kids will get a pass.

[Lowell]

8. Actually I served with some

during the 60s and 70s. These silverspoon comandos were caught in the net sometimes. Unlike *, some of the perpetual party animals, offspring of the affluent right slipped through the cracks and found themselves answering the call. Usually they got cush jobs, but we still got a few. There were too many loopholes in the 60s. I don't think they would have all the different deferrments today.

[endarkenment]

9. Yes the generalization is incorrect.

There were some. Very few. There are also a very few volunteers from the children of the elites serving in Iraq.

However my point is that the draft, if for some reason it were to be reactivated (it already exists), would once again provide endless opportunities for the elites to exempt their own.

[Doctor_J]

14. Al Gore went

he probably could have stayed home.

[endarkenment]

17. Al volunteered, like Kerry.

So neither are examples of how the children of the rich and powerful were treated equally by the draft boards. They rich and powerful never have to fight the wars, it is always just an option for them.

[KansDem]

16. Draft in alphabetical order this time, skipping "Aa" through "Bt..."

And let's see how quickly this war comes to an end...!

[deaniac21]

7. The draft will never be reinstated. I don't think it's possible to

find a very high percentage of people who think it will. Any party responsible for bringing back the draft would be hammered in the elections afterwards.

[enough already]

10. Politically, this is just the dumbest idea of all time

The absolute last message we want to be sending kids who will likely vote for us is that we are going to send them to die, while the Pukes say "we won't, the all-volunteer military is fine with us". Why is this so hard to understand?

[endarkenment]

12. We tend to prefer clever political strategies over the truth.

So the thinking is that the draft is so hideous that then people will be forced (it seems with eyes averted) to vote Democratic to protect their kids from getting killed in some stupid ass war. How about we just openly and honestly stand and oppose a bad war instead? Is it so hard to speak the truth and trust the people?

[enough already]

13. Exactly, although there is nothing 'clever' about this.

Just call bullshit as we see it. Stupid stunts like trying to force a draft will only backfire on us. Look at Rangel, who has been yapping about a draft for a long time, then got called on it by the pukes who force a vote, then he has to vote against his own idea. We look like complete morons when we do this stuff.

[Lost-in-FL]

11. I read somewhere...

That if a draft is reinstated, and there's an unpopular war there's a posibility that the military would stand against their government. Maybe that is why the idea is very unpopular in Congress.

I don't believe in a draft because the ones who are so afraid of terrorism these days (Warmongers and Chickenhawks) are usually those past the age of enlistment.

[Doctor_J]

15. I don't think it will help

the armchair warriors will just get deferments, like Cheney, Rove, and the rest of them did during Nam.