Forget withdrawal! Tie Iraq’s war funding to reintroduction of a military draft!

Democrats should abandon legislation linking war funding to a withdrawal of the troops. Their hearts are in the right place, but it’s a strategy that is doomed to fail. A better idea is for Democrats in Congress to introduce a bill tying funding for the war in Iraq to reintroduction of a military draft.

George Bush wants the American people to subscribe to his belief that this is a war we must fight because it is important to our national defense. If he and his supporters truly believe that, then they should be sending enough troops to really win the war. However, we know that there simply are not enough troops right now even if we wanted to send more troops to Iraq, let alone hundreds of thousands it would in reality take to “win” the war. Already, we have a military stretched so thin that we are not even prepared for any other military action in the world. A draft is necessary by all accounts!

By tying the funding for the war to reintroduction of the draft, democrats will be able to frame the argument of continued occupation of Iraq as a question of whether the president, Republicans, and specifically neo conservative hawks, are sincere in their belief that our continued military action in Iraq is essential to US security. If, as the proponents of the war say, this a front in the war on terror, and we need to fight them over there instead of over here, how could they argue against a draft that will enable us to send more troops to the region? Sure, there defense will be that an all volunteer army is better. However, as in WWII, where we needed hundreds of thousands of troops, if not millions, more than any all volunteer army could ever produce; nobody would argue that a draft was not necessary. How would someone argue that this occupation is so important; important enough to spend another trillion dollars in national wealth; so important to our national security that we must remain there until we have “won”; yet argue against a military draft. And if and when passed by the house and senate, how could President Bush even dare veto such a bill?

Reintroduction of a draft would bring a screeching halt to this war. How many times have you spoken to hawks that go silent or sidestep when asked if this is a war they themselves would be willing to go fight, or send a family member to fight? If it’s not a fight you would be willing to fight, die for, or send one of your loved ones to, it’s not a war you should be sending others to fight. The only reason the scale of war protests are not even close to those during the Vietnam War is because an overwhelming majority of us are not touched by the true sacrifices of this war, those of our brave men and women in the army who have been killed or terribly injured.

We should contact our senators and congressmen and demand that continued funding of this war should only happen if the American people, and that mean all of us, Including the hawks, are placed in a position where they see the true cost of this war; the lives of our finest young men and women . Only with an introduction of a bill linking continued funding of the war in Iraq to reintroduction of a military draft, will the entire country be engulfed in a real passionate discussion about continuation of this war.

Let’s get this message to the editors of our papers, to our congressman and senators.