Can You Feel a Draft?
by Jeff Davis
The math is simple. If the United States is going to conquer the world, or at least every part of the world containing oil reserves, then it will need millions of soldiers. Right now the US can barely maintain a force of 140,000 troops in Iraq; some of those units are well into their third tour of duty. The Pentagon maintains that they are meeting their recruiting goals, but they have re-defined those goals and cooked their books, and now they’re accepting recruits as old as 42 into the army. In the meantime, almost one thousand soldiers have died in each year of the insurgency. Tens of thousands of soldiers come back every year from Iraq and Afghanistan horribly wounded or too psychologically scarred to ever go back into combat (and often too scarred to function in normal society). The army can’t afford to lose one or two divisions of soldiers each year. We are gradually losing our combat experienced troops and we replace them with trainees straight out of boot camp. The United States military is bleeding to death. The government needs a draft if the occupation of Iraq is to continue.
Congressman Charlie Rangel, soon to be chairman of the House Ways and Means committee, will once again be proposing a law to do just that. According to an article in the Washington Post, “Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., said Sunday he sees his idea as a way to deter politicians from launching wars and to bolster U.S. troop levels insufficient to cover potential future action in Iran, North Korea and Iraq. ‘There’s no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm’s way,’ Rangel said. Rangel, a veteran of the Korean War who has unsuccessfully sponsored legislation on conscription in the past, said he will propose a measure early next year.” (more…)