TheSequitur.com Editorial Board
August 19, 2007

Last week in an interview with NPR, Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute proposed that a return to conscription should be considered to augment forces fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The “Iraq War Czar” was quoted in saying, “I think it makes sense to certainly consider [a draft].”

We strongly disagree.

To be clear, we do not reject across the board the idea of a military draft. It would be errant to say that there is never a need for a draft, when our successes in the two world wars were clearly rooted in the sheer manpower conscription was able to assemble.

In our present situation, instituting a draft would likely have disastrous consequences on our country – consequences that we simply cannot afford.But in our present situation, instituting a draft would likely have disastrous consequences on our country – consequences that we simply cannot afford.

First and foremost, more soldiers fighting on foreign soil means more American casualties. That means that more of our parents, children, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends and neighbors would be sent off to war, where they would face death daily and be exposed to extraordinarily traumatic experiences.

As if that were not enough, our government has not done a very good job at providing for our armed forces for the duration of our current conflicts.

Remember the scandal regarding health care for returning veterans? Or how about how families back home have to send body armor for their loved ones – something you think would be issued by the military. Or what about the ill-equipped Humvees with which our troops were sent to Iraq? Surely, if these are problems now, they will only worsen with an increase in the military’s size.

A draft of this nature serves only one thing: to punish the American people for poor policy decisions made on our behalf by our elected leaders.Not to mention that a draft of this nature serves only one thing: to punish the American people for poor policy decisions made on our behalf by our elected leaders. It would be one thing to institute a draft under different circumstances – for instance, to help an ally defend itself against an unjust invasion or occupation or in the case of an invasion on our soil. But we know the purpose of the Iraq war was never to defend another nation or to counter any substantial threat to our soil. It was a lot of things – a search for WMDs, a quest to spread democracy to the Middle East, or whatever the current line is – but we now know enough to be sure that, at the time of the invasion, Saddam Hussein’s regime was not a clear and present danger to the Unites States. Instituting a draft would send a very clear message to Americans from our elected officials: we made a mess, now you clean it up.

Clearly, even if it becomes a dire necessity to expand our enlistments into the armed forces, our government is in no position to provide them the necessary materials and services they need to safely perform the deadly job they have been assigned. If you think the casualty count is bad now, just think what would happen if we sent more of our young men and women to fight without the tools and leadership they need.

That’s what happened in the Vietnam War, where thousands of men and women lost their lives to clean up another mess made by our elected officials. Our men and women in arms deserve the best available, not to be being forced into service with minimal training, insufficient equipment and substandard healthcare awaiting them when they return. Maybe the top brass should concentrate on that before deciding whether to further overburden American citizens.
[CNN, ABC, TurkishPress, Image: Army.com]