Drudge leading with......

[Postman]

RUMSFELD SEEKING TO BOLSTER MILITARY FORCE WITHOUT NEW TROOPS... poised to order a sweeping review of Pentagon policies, NYT reports in Sunday leads /// Will include everything from 'wartime mobilization and peacekeeping commitments, to reservist training and incentives for extended duty'...

I gotta wonder if they really are trying to avoid a draft at all costs. A draft would mean that a lot more Moms and Dads out there would be "getting involved" into the political process and though it is one thing to "root, root, root for troops" and send someone else's kids to kill and die from the safety of your living room sofa, its certainly another thing when your OWN flesh and blood is on the line for bullshit reasons. For that reason alone I think they will desperately try to avoid a draft.

On the other hand, depending on how good their PR firms are, maybe they could convince boobus America to sacrifice their children for King Bush's oil revenue if they could just couch it in some flagwaving, mindless patriotic fervor.

[shockandawed]

1. They aren't going to have a draft

They will just allow us to be attacked again,

and then the new flock of those that have turned of age since 9/11 and others will join up. Nothing more convincing than a national tragedy to boost sign ups. And with this administration doing everything it can to avoid comparions to vietnam, a draft would be hard for even the most idiotic of conservatives to deny.

[movonne]

2. If he should get the Presidency a second term there will be a good chance

there will be a draft.

[IndianaGreen]

3. Activating NG troops has a greater impact on American families

Taking the breadwinner away from families for periods of months, perhaps years, has a greater negative impact on American families than taking an unemployed son or daughter.

[LoneStarLiberal]

4. This Administration Will Never Allow A Draft

They will go hat in hand to the U.N. and beg the French for forgiveness before they allow a draft. Exactly why? Because of what you said: A draft means that a whole lot of families will be getting involved in the political process and that's not a good thing for incumbents.

A draft would be too tough of a sell, even for the Republican media oligarchy; remember some Democrats proposed reinstating the draft in the run up to and during the actual invasion of Iraq. That idea was quickly swatted down.

Republicans are craven, greedy, racist, and poor-hating, but they are not entirely stupid. They remember Vietnam and what Vietnam did to domestic politics in America.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

5. They don't remember Viet Nam AT ALL.

They're making exactly the same mistakes, and a lot worse. Can you say "Quagmire"? Apparently, neither can the "press", at least not quite yet...

The country is being run by a cabal of heads-in-the-clouds theoretical intellectuals who could not find the out door if they were slammed up against it-- and I hope we can do exactly that to them next year, if not much sooner.

[blm]

6. They are going to keep unemployment high

to make sure young men are forced to "volunteer" just to make ends meet for their families. They keep college tuitions high to force high school graduates to "volunteer" as well.

[MoonGod]

7. The Bravery of Being out of Range

I looked over Jordan and what did I see
Saw a US Marine in a pile of debris
I swam in your pools and lay under your palm trees
I looked in the eyes of the Indian who lay on the Federal Building steps
And through the range finder over the hill
I saw the frontline boys popping their pills
Sick of the mess they find on their desert stage
And the bravery of being out of range
Yeah the question is vexed
Old man what the hell you gonna kill next
Old timer who you gonna kill next

Hey bartender over here, two more shots and two more beers
Sir turn up the TV sound, the war has started on the ground
Just love those laser-guided bombs, they're really great for righting wrongs
You hit the target and win the game from bars three thousand miles away
Three thousand miles away
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
We zap and maim with the bravery of being out of range
We strafe the train with the bravery of being out of range
We gain terrain with the bravery of being out of range
With the bravery of being out of range
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range


— Roger Waters/"The Bravery of Being out of Range"

[SpiralHawk]

8. Rummny and Bush already purged dissenting Generals

from the Pentagon early this summer. Looks like they are getting set to complete the military purge, so that only Loyal True Believers -- who think on their own not at all -- are left.

Sigh.


"I think the American people--I hope the American--I don't think, let me--I hope the American people trust me."
- George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 18, 2002