Duncan and his friends have a question....

[patsmor]

If we're having trouble raising enough troops to do normal troop rotations, will they start drafting again to make up these new troops?

Comments

Sorry to be cynical but ...

[starshineway]

Probably not until a new President has been elected - so elect one who wants to get out of Iraq sooner rather than later.

Re: Sorry to be cynical but ...

[roshismomma]

we tried, they stole the election. again.

(duncan and his friends have a really good point)

Re: Sorry to be cynical but ...

[starshineway]

Yep!

Re: Sorry to be cynical but ...

[java_fiend]

Possibly... but this Administration routinely floats stories in the press as a trial balloon to see how the public will react. Read this story from a couple of weeks ago and tell me it doesn't sound ominous...

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2744716

[java_fiend]

I wouldn't put it past them. They want to drop in 20,000 more troops to begin with, but you watch, they'll start calling for more when this escalation fails to achieve the results they want. The military doesn't have the troop strength to sustain these levels of escalation. They've tried everything, huge signing bonuses, raising the age of enlistees to 45 I think it is now, admitting the mentally unstable... etc. and nothing is working. If they want to escalate, they're going to need to get fresh bodies from somewhere... the draft is a possibility.

And follow the link to this very ominous story from a few weeks ago... it sounds like a trial balloon they put out in the press to gauge public reaction if you ask me...

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2744716

[patsmor]

Indeed it does sound like a trial balloon. Duncan and I were talking the other day about whether we needed to ship him off to England to visit his relatives there for an "extended educational trip."

Sigh.

[starshineway]

I think we have some fine Universities in the UK.

[java_fiend]

It's sad that we'd even have to wonder that. But I'd definitely make sure his passport is in order. Seriously.

[noxcat]

A peacetime draft? God, I hope not!

Besdies, I doubt Dubya has the political power anymore to get it to happen.

[patsmor]

I think it depends on what he endangers that the Dems will have to trade for. What could he cut in the budget to pay the extra millions for more troops that would put the Dems in a bind? I honestly don't know, but my deeply paranoid self wonders if it won't happen.

[holyhippie]

Doesn't reinstating the draft require an act of Congress? That seems to be the answer I can come up with from my quick research, is that the executive doesn't seem to necessarily have the power to do that on his own.

In other words, there seems to be a showdown coming between the executive and legislative branches of our governments. The executive seems about to commit military resources that may require a draft, which the legislature has to approve. Even committing the military resources will require funding, which the legislature is supposed to approve. Given that approval for war funding and the draft doesn't seem likely ... who will win?

[patsmor]

As I said above, I think you're absolutely right about a huge fight coming up.

[cvirtue]

We're way past the point of possibility -- did you see the reports two weeks ago about the real deficit? It's ballooned due to the war to an insane, and concealed, amount.

[patsmor]

The negative externality of this war is beyond comprehension, as you say. I wonder what we'll go through to recover.