Kerry says U.S. now has 'backdoor draft'

[Cannikin]

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry said Thursday that the Bush administration has instituted a “backdoor draft” by requiring thousands of soldiers to stay in the military if their units are ordered to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Kerry said the Pentagon’s announcement of the “stop-loss” program Wednesday may have increased the forces by 30,000 troops. “But this has happened on the backs of the men and women who’ve already fulfilled their obligation to the armed forces and to our country — and it runs counter to the traditions of an all-volunteer Army,” he said during a speech on modernizing the military at the Truman Presidential Library.

“They have effectively used a stop-loss policy as a backdoor draft,” he said.

Kerry says the Bush administration is relying on outdated techniques to fight a new kind of war and has stretched the U.S. military too thin, complicating the mission to create a stable Iraq. He said the country is in danger of returning to the low point of the Vietnam War in the late 1970s by creating “another hollow Army,” with too few ready to fight.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5129079/

[truthspeaker]

1. so that's what that smell is...

[donhakman]

2. !

[Zorra]

3. Pretty accurate statement, IMO.

Frivolous Bu$h/neocon defense policy has left our national borders effectively defenseless. What would happen right now if China mounted a sudden full scale attack on US soil?

This is improbable, but such an attack could cause a whole lot of death and destruction before we could mobilize to counter it.

Bu$h has irresponsibly left our borders extremely vulnerable.

[ArkDem]

5. Wouldn't that require a navy?

http://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/row/plan/

[wuushew]

6. They could march through Russia over the pole into Alaska

n/t

[ArkDem]

7. You are right! I didn't think of that!

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Glad Kerry didn't let the Stop-loss slide

He needs to grab the military vote in a big way.

[Cannikin]

8. kick

[Cronus Protagonist]

9. Kudos for Kerry on that one!

Very good cut at Bush while remaining above the fray.

Click here for "HERO KERRY ZERO BUSH", "VETERAN KERRY AWOL BUSH" and other fair and balanced yet stunning, insulting, shocking, funny buttons, magnets and stickers

[MikeyMoore]

10. Support the troops

Bring them home, NOW!