Bush War Adviser Says Draft Worth a Look

[David S]

Bush War Adviser Says Draft Worth a Look

Friday August 10, 2007 11:31 PM


By RICHARD LARDNER

WASHINGTON (AP) - Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President Bush's new war adviser said Friday.

``I think it makes sense to certainly consider it,'' Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said in an interview with National Public Radio's ``All Things Considered.''

``And I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table. But ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another,'' Lute added in his first interview since he was confirmed by the Senate in June.

President Nixon abolished the draft in 1973. Restoring it, Lute said, would be a ``major policy shift'' and Bush has made it clear that he doesn't think it's necessary.

The repeated deployments affect not only the troops but their families, who can influence whether a service member decides to stay in the military, Lute said.

``There's both a personal dimension of this, where this kind of stress plays out across dinner tables and in living room conversations within these families,'' he said. ``And ultimately, the health of the all-volunteer force is going to rest on those sorts of personal family decisions.''

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[David S]

Too bad there is no draft. Would make them think twice before going off to war. I know it didn't work with Vietnam, but with today's political climate it's suicide with a different name.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. People have short memories. I'm amazed by the number of people today who think the Vietnam war was a good idea. Also right after 9/11 people were justifiably angry. The government might have been able to sell the draft idea at that time, had they tried.

[David S]

David S,

The United States was attacked by communist forces in the Gulf of Tonkin. The US was under no choice but to attack North Vietnam as a result.

States
I think you're a very patriotic American and for the most part that's a very commendable thing. But if that patriotism causes you to accept everything the government says, without question, then its not good. The Gulf of Tonkin incident was actually two incidents according to the government, one attack on Aug 2 by Vietnamese ships against a US ship and a second alleged attack on Aug 4. The Vietnamese admit they attacked the USS Maddox on Aug 2, but they claim it was in their territorial waters at the time. The US claims otherwise.   The second attack is highly questionable and probably never occurred at all. In any event the net damage from the Aug 2 incident was one bullet hole in the Maddox and no injuries. The Vietnamese ships were chased off by cannon fire from the Maddox and air strikes by planes from a carrier. Is that an event that justifies the carnage that resulted in the Vietnam war? Considering the minimal damage that occurred the incident was vastly blown out of proportion and used to justify much greater involvement in the war.

Not trusting politicians comes naturally to libertarians. For you maybe not, but it might help if you remember that Johnson was a Democrat.