Let’s Have a Draft
Ok, whatever you think about how WE, the people, have arrived at the current position we find ourselves in, I think we all have to think about what needs to be done from this point forward. There are two schools of thought. One, withdraw, re-deploy, rotate out, or whatever you want to label removing US troops, from Iraq. Two, is to leave Iraq in a stable environment and self-sufficient. The latter is something that is incredibly difficult and something that is going to take at least a decade from this point forward and one that I am not completely opposed to. BUT, here is the thing. In my opinion, it is very clear, that we are under staffed for the job at hand in Iraq. Moving troops around in order to accomplish something in the short-term, like “securing” Baghdad, doesn’t seem to make much sense to me when we are looking to secure the whole country. So, what do we do? If we, as a country, decide that we are going to “stay the course” in Iraq then I think it is time to do the job right. I used to get scolded by my grandfather a lot as a child to be sure to do things the right way…and not half-assed. Translation = Draft. President Bush and Team Bush were very adamant about the fact that the forces deployed worldwide are an “all volunteer” force. Well, in my view, if we are going to do the job then let’s do it right.
I have heard generals and the like talk about using “overwhelming force” to accomplish our goals in just about every successful military campaign the US has been involved in in the past 20 years. Electricity and running water are not a fact of life in the capital city of Baghdad so let’s forget about paying for the war with oil revenues like we were promised. Let’s just get in there and kick some ass so that we can get out of there with something better than what it started as. Otherwise, we may witness the second coming of Persia in our lifetimes.
tags: baghdad, draft, iraq, middle east, politics, war