The Draft Again
GWBush cannot even think about instituting a draft. He has a Secretary of Defense who, around the time that they were about to invade Iraq, bragged that the U.S. could easily fight several wars at once-- in Iraq, in North Korea, and possibly in a third place as well.
Events have not been kind to the Bush Leaguers, though how could they have known? Their decisions were not attended by something called "good sense" or by another factor that hasn't ceased to exist simply because they scorn and ignore it -- a quality or principle called "right."
If they had been in the habit of reading, a crack of the history books would have revealed that Afghanistan never has been a Haiti, a Grenada, or a Panama -- a dumpy, befuddled little place where they could simply send in a few troops and control matters. The British had already been badly burned in Afghanistan -- and more than once -- in the past 150 years, and they should've been able to tell the Bushes. Ditto for the Russians. And ditto for the British again in Iraq. You have to go into such places with something serious, though the only sensible plan is not to go in there at all, especially with nothing backing you except pretext.
So now, quietly, the Bush people have had to up the number of fighting men to 20,000 in Afghanistan, and it is going to quietly up the number in Iraq from about 138,000 to 150,000 even with the supposed transfer of power on June 30, and it is going to quietly shift 10,000 men out of South Korea and swing them around, too -- a few sprigs of seasoning to drop into the cauldron of southwest Asia..
A draft would be an outright concession by the Bush people of the failure of their military policies, and it has often been observed that they are not into admitting failure of any sort. So they will just keep shuffling troops from one place to another while trying to force veterans to stay in and inducing more volunteers to sign up.
Eventually we will all have to face one fact, and it is this: countries simply grow too large to wage wars of aggression with any efficiency or success.
I await the refutation of this statement.
Armies of any size become too expensive to maintain, much less to move for any distance. A huge population develops needs and creates numerous cracks and potholes that make it too necessary to spend assets elsewhere.
In other words, countries, like people, become obese. China, India, and Russia are examples. They can no longer flex their components, their arms and legs, easily. The United States has now achieved that same condition, and any sort of a draft will be like a flimsy truss that provides no relief.
Events have not been kind to the Bush Leaguers, though how could they have known? Their decisions were not attended by something called "good sense" or by another factor that hasn't ceased to exist simply because they scorn and ignore it -- a quality or principle called "right."
If they had been in the habit of reading, a crack of the history books would have revealed that Afghanistan never has been a Haiti, a Grenada, or a Panama -- a dumpy, befuddled little place where they could simply send in a few troops and control matters. The British had already been badly burned in Afghanistan -- and more than once -- in the past 150 years, and they should've been able to tell the Bushes. Ditto for the Russians. And ditto for the British again in Iraq. You have to go into such places with something serious, though the only sensible plan is not to go in there at all, especially with nothing backing you except pretext.
So now, quietly, the Bush people have had to up the number of fighting men to 20,000 in Afghanistan, and it is going to quietly up the number in Iraq from about 138,000 to 150,000 even with the supposed transfer of power on June 30, and it is going to quietly shift 10,000 men out of South Korea and swing them around, too -- a few sprigs of seasoning to drop into the cauldron of southwest Asia..
A draft would be an outright concession by the Bush people of the failure of their military policies, and it has often been observed that they are not into admitting failure of any sort. So they will just keep shuffling troops from one place to another while trying to force veterans to stay in and inducing more volunteers to sign up.
Eventually we will all have to face one fact, and it is this: countries simply grow too large to wage wars of aggression with any efficiency or success.
I await the refutation of this statement.
Armies of any size become too expensive to maintain, much less to move for any distance. A huge population develops needs and creates numerous cracks and potholes that make it too necessary to spend assets elsewhere.
In other words, countries, like people, become obese. China, India, and Russia are examples. They can no longer flex their components, their arms and legs, easily. The United States has now achieved that same condition, and any sort of a draft will be like a flimsy truss that provides no relief.
posted by Carl (aka Sofarsogoo) | 10:53 AM
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