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Friday, 02 July 2004

It's Coming

Yesterday, two major American papers gave their op-ed pages over to pieces supporting a reinstatement of the Draft. USA Today had one, as did the Washington Post.

They both lay out seductive arguments for why a reinstatement seems like a good idea. Needless to say, it's total bullshit. For example, here is the final paragraph from the WaPo op-ed by Noel Koch:

Finally, America needs this fund of experience to expand the pool of people likely to find their way into the corridors of power and, when they get there, to bring with them a bone-deep appreciation of the true costs of conflict. Thus might we reduce the risks of counsel from those who have never had to learn the difference between a war and a cakewalk.

First of all, there were plenty of rich kids who managed to dodge the draft, and a fair number of them wound up in political office (see Bush, George W. and Cheney, Dick). Why on earth would this draft be any different?

Secondly, if the draft produces politicians who have "appreciation of the true costs of conflict", then why are we stuck in the current quagmire? The guys sitting in the WH and the Capitol all lived through the Vietnam era, so how come they don't know the difference between a war and a cakewalk?

Furthermore, if the argument had any validity at all then the generals and politicians in charge in the 1960s would have used their own experiences from WWII and Korea to argue against fighting in Vietnam. Hell, a lot of them wanted to invade Cuba knowing full well that would mean war with the Soviets.

The draft is not the solution to this problem. The last thing the world needs is another wall in Washington DC with 60,000 names on it.

Posted by SmooveJ Zao on July 2, 2004 at 08:56 AM in War on Terra | Permalink



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