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Politics : High Tolerance Plasticity -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kodiak_bull who wrote (21933)	10/20/2004 12:18:46 PM
From: kodiak_bull	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23153

Here is the 2nd article, from a guy who, to me, has been over the top in almost every opinion piece I've ever read. This opinion is just an amalgam of vague bits of information and conjecture, conclusory statements, all spun into a brief, and not a very convincing one: OP-ED COLUMNIST Feeling the Draft By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: October 19, 2004 nytimes.com Those who are worrying about a revived draft are in the same position as those who worried about a return to budget deficits four years ago, when President Bush began pushing through his program of tax cuts. Back then he insisted that he wouldn't drive the budget into deficit - but those who looked at the facts strongly suspected otherwise. Now he insists that he won't revive the draft. But the facts suggest that he will. There were two reasons some of us never believed Mr. Bush's budget promises. First, his claims that his tax cuts were affordable rested on patently unrealistic budget projections. Second, his broader policy goals, including the partial privatization of Social Security - which is clearly on his agenda for a second term - would involve large costs that were not included even in those unrealistic projections. This led to the justified suspicion that his election-year promises notwithstanding, Mr. Bush would preside over a return to budget deficits. It's exactly the same when it comes to the draft. Mr. Bush's claim that we don't need any expansion in our military is patently unrealistic; it ignores the severe stress our Army is already under. And the experience in Iraq shows that pursuing his broader foreign policy doctrine - the "Bush doctrine" of pre-emptive war - would require much larger military forces than we now have. This leads to the justified suspicion that after the election, Mr. Bush will seek a large expansion in our military, quite possibly through a return of the draft. Mr. Bush's assurances that this won't happen are based on a denial of reality. Last week, the Republican National Committee sent an angry, threatening letter to Rock the Vote, an organization that has been using the draft issue to mobilize young voters. "This urban myth regarding a draft has been thoroughly debunked," the letter declared, and quoted Mr. Bush: "We don't need the draft. Look, the all-volunteer Army is working." In fact, the all-volunteer Army is under severe stress. A study commissioned by Donald Rumsfeld arrived at the same conclusion as every independent study: the U.S. has "inadequate total numbers" of troops to sustain operations at the current pace. In Iraq, the lack of sufficient soldiers to protect supply convoys, let alone pacify the country, is the root cause of incidents like the case of the reservists who refused to go on what they described as a "suicide mission." Commanders in Iraq have asked for more troops (ignore the administration's denials) - but there are no more troops to send. The manpower shortage is so severe that training units like the famous Black Horse Regiment, which specializes in teaching other units the ways of battle, are being sent into combat. As the military expert Phillip Carter says, "This is like eating your seed corn." Anyway, do we even have an all-volunteer Army at this point? Thousands of reservists and National Guard members are no longer serving voluntarily: they have been kept in the military past their agreed terms of enlistment by "stop loss" orders. The administration's strategy of denial in the face of these realities was illustrated by a revealing moment during the second presidential debate. After Senator John Kerry described the stop-loss policy as a "backdoor draft," Charles Gibson, the moderator, tried to get a follow-up response from President Bush: "And with reservists being held on duty --" At that point Mr. Bush cut Mr. Gibson off and changed the subject from the plight of the reservists to the honor of our Polish allies, ending what he obviously viewed as a dangerous line of questioning. And during the third debate, Mr. Bush tried to minimize the issue, saying that the reservists being sent to Iraq "didn't view their service as a backdoor draft. They viewed their service as an opportunity to serve their country." In that case, why are they being forced, rather than asked, to continue that service? The reality is that the Iraq war, which was intended to demonstrate the feasibility of the Bush doctrine, has pushed the U.S. military beyond its limits. Yet there is no sign that Mr. Bush has been chastened. By all accounts, in a second term the architects of that doctrine, like Paul Wolfowitz, would be promoted, not replaced. The only way this makes sense is if Mr. Bush is prepared to seek a much larger Army - and that means reviving the draft.

To: kodiak_bull who wrote (21933)	10/27/2004 4:46:03 PM
From: mred1998	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23153

Hi KB - here is an interesting piece of propaganda from an email I received. I note that George Bush 1 and Bob Dole are both missing from the list of honored vet republicans, John Glenn is now a republican. Cann't vouch for any other factual errors. Do You See A Pattern Here? >> >> Democrats >> * Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71. >> * David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72. >> * Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72. >> * Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an armyjournalist in 20th Engineer Brigade. >> * Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam. >> * Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII. >> * John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, Purple Hearts. >> * Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea. >> * Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star,Vietnam. >> * Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53. >> * Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74. >> * Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91. >> * Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons. >> * Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars,and Soldier's Medal. >> * Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and Legion of Merit. >> * Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart. >> * Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze Star with Combat V. >> * Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star. >> * Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57 >> * Chuck Robb: Vietnam >> * Howell Heflin: Silver Star >> * George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII. >> * Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received #311. >> * Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy. >> * Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953 >> * John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal with 18 Clusters. >> * Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg. >> >> Republicans >> * Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage. >> * Dennis Hastert: did not serve. >> * Tom Delay: did not serve. >> * Roy Blunt: did not serve. >> * Bill Frist: did not serve. >> * Mitch McConnell: did not serve. >> * Rick Santorum: did not serve. >> * Trent Lott: did not serve. >> * John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business. >> * Jeb Bush: did not serve. >> * Karl Rove: did not serve. >> * Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee." The man who attacked Max Cleland's patriotism. >> * Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve. >> * Vin Weber: did not serve. >> * Richard Perle: did not serve. >> * Douglas Feith: did not serve. >> * Eliot Abrams: did not serve. >> * Richard Shelby: did not serve. >> * Jon! Kyl: did not serve. >> * Tim Hutchison: did not serve. >> * Christopher Cox: did not serve. >> * Newt Gingrich: did not serve. >> * Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor. >> * George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year National Guard; got assigned to Alabama so he could campaign for family friend running for U.S. Senate; failed to show up for required medical exam, disappeared from duty. >> * Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies. >> * B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea. >> * Phil Gramm: did not serve. >> * John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross. >> * Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve. >> * John M. McHugh: did not serve. >> * JC Watts: did not serve. >> * Jack Kemp: did not serve. "Knee problem," although continued in NFL for 8 years. >> * Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard. >> * Rudy Giuliani: did not serve. >> * George Pataki: did not serve. >> * Spencer Abraham: did not serve. >> * John Engler: did not serve. >> * Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer. >> * Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base. >> >> Pundits & Preachers >> * Sean Hannity: did not serve. >> * Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a 'pilonidal cyst.') >> * Bill O'Reilly: did not serve. >> * Michael Savage: did not serve. >> * George Will: did not serve. >> * Chris Matthews: did not serve. >> * Paul Gigot: did not serve. >> * Bill Bennett: did not serve. >> * Pat Buchanan: did not serve. >> * John Wayne: did not serve. >> * Bill Kristol: did not serve. >> * Kenneth Starr: did not serve. >> * Antonin Scalia: did not serve. >> * Clarence Thomas: did not serve. >> * Ralph Reed: did not serve. >> * Michael Medved: did not serve. >> * Charlie Daniels: did not serve. >> * Ted Nugent: did not serve. (He only shoots at things that don't shoot back.) >> And I don't think they were conscientious objectors either...