Bringing back the draft...A good idea or the end of the Bush administration's war in the Middle East?

Question

With so much animosity against the draft, will there be protests in the streets and organized resistance to the draft?

Is the draft a good idea?

Selective Service to Test Draft Machinery
By KASIE HUNT, AP

WASHINGTON (Dec. 22) - The Selective Service System is making plans to test its draft machinery in case Congress and President Bush need it, even though the White House says it doesn't want to bring back the draft.

The agency is planning a comprehensive test - not run since 1998 - of its military draft systems, a Selective Service official said. The test itself would not likely occur until 2009.

Scott Campbell, the service's director for operations and chief information officer, cautioned that the "readiness exercise" does not mean the agency is gearing up to resume the draft.

"We're kind of like a fire extinguisher. We sit on a shelf," Campbell told The Associated Press. "Unless the president and Congress get together and say, 'Turn the machine on' ... we're still on the shelf."

Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson prompted speculation about the draft Thursday when he told reporters in New York that "society would benefit" if the U.S. were to bring back the draft. Later he issued a statement saying he does not support reinstituting a draft.

The administration has for years forcefully opposed bringing back the draft, and the White House said Thursday that policy has not changed and no proposal to reinstate the draft is being considered.

The "readiness exercise" would test the system that randomly chooses draftees by birth date and its network of appeal boards that decide how to deal with conscientious objectors and others who want to delay reporting for duty, Campbell said.

Answer 1

Bring it back and let the Bush daughters be drafted first and then we will see how fast the war ends.

Answer 2

Relax people! There won't be a draft now or at any forseeable time in the future. With the glaring exception of Vietnam, the draft is used during periods of national crisis (ie. big time war). If China was invading and we needed thousands of troops right now, then people would get drafted. This piddly war in Iraq will NEVER be enough to require drafting people. Not if every Arab country in the Middle East joined forces against us. Currently, we have an all volunteer force. That means they all want to do what they're doing. This willingness produces a high quality force. Draftees don't want to be there. They are a nightmare of discipline problems and are more trouble than they're worth, at least until they finally get all their training. Even then all they think about is doing their hitch and punching out. Believe me, the generals know this. They were around for the last draft and saw how things went. The last thing they want is for that to happen again.

Answer 3

The "draft" is stupid unless we are directly involved in a massive war following an attack on our country, motivation wins wars, (since leaders no longer lead from the front). The whole Middle East with all it's oil is not worth ONE single US Soldier's life, the fact that they CHOOSE to pay for the liberation and freedom of those people formerly cruelly oppressed by Saddam and Al Q with their own blood, is what makes it so valuable a gift, so precious a sacrifice. "For dearness only gives a thing it's value, and it would be strange indeed if so celestial a article as freedom did not come at a very great cost." If these troops were put in the service against their will they may not make good soldiers, and the last thing we need overseas representing the USA is people who don't care and don't want to be there and not interested in following orders and maintaining teh discipline so vital to winning not just big battles but the daily war of psychology, (that our news media is treacherously working 24/7 to destroy).

Answer 4

If nothing else seals the fate of the George W. Bush presidency, and the legacy he leaves for future generations of Americans, and for American history, bringing back the draft certainly would.

This country's armed forces are all-volunteer organizations, meaning that no one signs up unless they absolutely want to, and no one forces them to sign up if they don't want to. Why? Because the draft is now inexorably associated with Vietnam, and no thinking Americans are interested in a repeat performance. While the issue of whether Iraq is another version of Vietnam is a discussion for another time, a draft in the style of Vietnam would destroy whatever credibility Bush has left, and more American and Iraqi lives would be needlessly lost. While I understand the necessity of expanding the size of the military, what difference would it really make when you factor in how unpopular the war is?

No wonder there are no more good options for Iraq anymore.

Answer 5

You didn't do your homework.The proponent of reinstating the draft is Congressman Charles Rangel(D-N.Y.),not George Bush.And Rangel has little support in Congress for his idea.The reality of the situation is that a liberal Democrat wants to reinstate the draft,not those evil conservative Republicans.
And yes,I believe we should reinstate the draft.Too many people have forgotten how and why this country gained the freedoms that we enjoy today.If you served your country in some manner,I believe it would give you an appreciation for those freedoms that today only volunteers protect.
"Ask not what your country can do for you,ask what you can do for your country" - John F.Kennedy

Answer 6

I seriously doubt that the new Dem-controlled Congress would want to institute a draft, or that Bush actually has the political capital to get a draft bill passed through. A draft would not mean the end of the war, but would instead only pull us in farther and precipitate an even quicker decline of both US soft power and unity.

Answer 7

in the past this ever began, the president replaced into fairly clean that it replaced into going to take a protracted, long term. What you're seeing in Iraq at present could be no longer a civil war. A civil war is the place a team of rebels attack and attempt to overthrow their united states of america's government. that may not what's happening in Iraq. What you have right this is very diverse. you have previous scores being settled via fairly some communities. you have an insurgency and you have foreign places terrorists supported basically via Iran. The terrorists of the international besides through fact the tyrannical governments interior the section understand that if Iraq is helpful in transforming into and keeping the democracy they voted in after the removal of Saddam, it quite is a significant threat to their own governments. the final element Syria, Iran and different international locations in that region choose their own people to verify is a loose united states of america of their midst. those people rule in basic terms by way of worry. The populations of those international locations are frightened of being killed via their own leaders. This keeps them in line. learn that to the yank legacy, the legacy of loose adult adult males. "provide me liberty or provide me dying". people, residing in an fairly loose united states of america might relatively somewhat die struggling with than stay in bondage. Why? through fact liberty is that helpful, that fantastic that contagious. If the persons of the middle East get a style of liberty it is going to become impossible to place the genie back into the bottle. .

Answer 8

The volunteer service is the best. The people who want the draft long for those good old days when they could say that poor, downtrodden people were drafted and the rich could get out of it.

I think there are a whole lot of people who wish they could have huge well attended anti-war protests where everyone could get stoned together. For many of us there is nothing so attractive as being stupid and blurry of thought in a huge, reefer-reeking crowd.

So, like , wow man! let's bring back the draft so we have some cards to burn, etc etc and call it free speech!

Answer 9

There isn't going to be a draft unless the Democrats push it thru and they can't without the Presidents ok and he already said NO. We have enough enlisting that it isn't going to happen, just the liberal media in a dry spell trying to stir up trouble.

Answer 10

I support re-instituting the draft; as long as they choose from the top, economically, first.

Since the interests of the nuclear state of Israel trump our own best interests, we can't "liberate" Iran without more of our most precious resource in uniform.