Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Card-carrying member of the "Greatest Generation" says, "time for a draft?"
I found Andy Rooney's commentary this past weekend to be especially thought provoking. The title: "Bring Back The Draft? If America Fights A War, Should The Government Draft Soldiers?"
Some tidbits:
'Recruiters are granting thousands of what they call "moral waivers". A "moral waiver" it turns out means they'll take someone who has committed a crime or even someone who has been in prison. Last year, a total of 8,129 "moral waivers" were given to men who volunteered for the Army. Are these the people we want representing us?'
and
'Now comes the part of this I never thought I'd hear myself say: Whenever we, as a nation, decide to fight a war – in Iraq or anywhere else – it should be fought by average Americans who are drafted.'
Here's a counter-argument of course: Did we, as a nation, decide to fight this war?
My answer is no, we didn't choose to fight (who would?) but rather the fight has chosen us.
The bottom line is that we are fighting this war, and will continue to fight for our survival for the forseeable future. There is great evil in this world (I know, I've seen it) and the only thing it knows is strength of will and the conviction that they are fighting for their "god given rights." The only thing that will counter this is a professional military made up of non-losers.
I think that a draft would be hard—Rooney admits as much: 'I hated everything about Army life. I hated the Field Artillery regiment I was assigned to. Most of the guys in it were high school dropouts and the Army wasn't using the term "moral waiver," yet but a lot of them would have needed it.'
But 60 years later we realize that it was the right thing to do. And so it is again.
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5 comments:
My dear wife reminds me that when I applied for my current job I had to apply for a "moral waiver". But I think that carrying beer on campus at age 19 is a bit different than a moral waiver for breaking and entering or something like that. Besides, look at my level of education now--plus I'm a few ranks higher than corporal or sergeant these days, my dear. :)
I would also point out that I did not need a moral waiver to enlist in the first place and that I was a high school graduate with several years of college.
Now that I have a son the idea of a draft scares the crap out of me...
Well, don't forget that I have a son as well...and who says that in the 21st century we shouldn't also be drafting our daughters? I also think that don't ask, don't tell should go away. It's the 21st century for goodness sake--aren't we past these things--when the leading candidates for the dems are a (half) black guy and a woman? Heck, even two of the GOP's leading candidates are a twice-divorced guy (Giulani) and a mormon (Romney).
But the real point is though that if the average American was worried that he or she might be drafted--would we have invaded Iraq to begin with? Afghanistan, sure, but Iraq? Hindsight being what it is of course we can only move forward--so where does that leave us?
If the AVERAGE American was worried about being drafted, yes we would still have invaded Iraq. If the congressmen or President worried about a draft, no, we wouldn't have... At least that's my opinion on that matter...
Here's the thing about Iraq—knowing what we now know it seems that we made a very, very huge mistake. But—the mistake of going into Iraq and the mistakes that have led us to the quagmire that we are in now are mutually exclusive (heehee—see my "breakthrough" post—it's all about mutual exclusion!).
Anyway, whether it was a mistake or not to invade Iraq and the boneheaded mistakes in fighting the war are both a product of Rumsfeld's (and Cheney's) hard-headedness. But that doesn't mean that we can't still "win" in Iraq.
Rumsfeld was, and still is, a jerk. Did you know that he didn't have any chairs in his office—he didn't want anyone sitting down and getting comfortable. That he had a staff of public affairs folks whose only job was to respond to worldwide media to "correct" inaccuracies and biases. And that when he was hired they had to get secretaries out of retirement who knew how to use 1970's era technology for taking dictation...
Would the Powell doctrine of clearly defined goals, exit strategy, and such have worked in Iraq? Of course we will never know for sure—neither will we know if Shinseki and Frank’s estimates of 400,000 troops would have done the job (again, did you know that Rumsfeld had only wanted 60,000 and that the 150,000 figure was a meet in the middle compromise?)
Anyway, to respond directly, I think that if the average American were worried about a draft, college campuses wouldn't be the apathetic places they are today and that the 2004 elections would have been considerably different.
Also, two final thoughts—most Americans have learned the lessons from Vietnam. No matter what the soldier is called to do, he is still a soldier and while "I was just following orders" is the least successful defense in courts martial the average American still respects the "soldier" as a concept and ideal. And secondly—most people in the world still look to the U.S. as some sort of Promised Land. The U.S. has an 85% favorable rating among Cambodians (as opposed to 47% for China—a country that they have much more ethnic and economic ties to). And as a personal experience, yesterday I was talking to a guy from Djerba (an island in southern Tunisia). He first asked, “Canadian people?” I said, no, we’re American. “Oh, I loves American people!” he shouted. But in a whisper, “but I hate George Bush, and I hate Rumsfeld.” And again in a loud voice, “but I loves American people!”
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