Photo of Jenna Bush kissing her idiot dad. Hopefully a one similar will be taken of a farewell kiss as she departs for service as a foot soldier in her dad's quagmire.
Not a draft like all of those of the past which allowed the sons and daughters of the rich/powerful to escape service in "rich men's wars, poor men's fights". What's needed is FAIR draft in which the spoiled brats of the rich/powerful are ensnared with the usual victims of previous drafts- the poor and the not-so-bright. For example, only one member of congress has a kid serving in the ranks of the enlisted. I would bet a large sum the same holds for the neocon warmoungers in the Bush regime and for the CEOs and board members of their corporate sponsors.
It's high time the regime put it's own kids in the line of fire, suicide bombers, IEDs, depleted uraninum and who knows what else in their Iraq quagmire. When they and the rich/powerful have to send their kids to a stupid and imperialistic war and when they die and are greviously wounded, you can rest assured they'll be hollering for an immediate pullout (if not the idiot-in-chief's and the other regime warmoungers' heads!) instead of demanding even more tax breaks and more licence to steal and destroy.
Some more factors which make speedy implementation of a fair draft the right thing to do:
The chickenhawk neocon's Iraq quagmire has over extended the military and it hence requires more troops. The inability to attract enough cannon fodder, slavery of those current serving via "stop loss" orders, and extended and multiple tours of duty in Iraq are just some of the evidence of this.Other than a relatively few who joined out of 9/11-fueled patriotism, the rich/powerful do not allow (much less send) their kids to fight their wars- and especially not as foot soliders in thier war in Iraq. Most of the foot soliders join the military because it affords one of the few remaining ways of escaping of a misserable life of economic and social disadvantages (most of which have been made even more dire by the policies of the Bush regime).
The same economic force and MO is being used by the regime in Iraq to try to fill the ranks of the Iraq military and security forces. Under Sadam, just about everyone had jobs. As a result of the regime's attack and dragonian economic policies, the unemployment rate is estimated at a whopping 70% or more. The relatively high pay (subsidized by the regime) attracts those without jobs in spite of the brutality and frequency of attacks on them by "insurgents".
Worse still- the economic policies forced on Iraq by the regime has increased the ranks of the "insurgents" and, I think much worse, increased popular support for them and reinforced the belief that the war/quagmire is of imperialistic orgin.
In spite of the above, the regime's military has touted that Iraqi military and security forces will be able to take over their role as the regime's mercenary army "soon". One officer even had the balls (or, more likely, stupidity) to give a timeframe for at least starting withdrawal of US troops- 2006. Extrapolating from the frequency "insurgent" attacks and news reports on the capabilities and- more importantly, the lack of allegence of the existing Iraq military and security forces, this will not happen. Then again, if support in the US for the regime's Iraq quagmire continues to drop and the issue becomes more important to more voters on the eve of the '06 congressional elections, Bush could simply proclaim victory in Iraq (likely via a PR stunt similar to his "Top Gun" landing aboard an aircraft carrier and under"Mission Accomplished" banner ) and start withdrawing US troops. Due to it's geedy lust for the potiential riches of Iraq, I do not think this likely- regime troops are needed to defend that which has been stolen from the Iraqi people. At the very least, the regime will need US troops there for many, many years ensure the bought Iraqi troops (and politicians) stay in line.
A draft would save money. Due to the understandable decreasing desire of youth to serve as regime cannon fodder in Iraq and their fear of what country the idiot-in-chief will attack next, the regime has had to boost the signing bonus limit up to $20,000. And that's on top of the increased funding for college expenses for those troops who make it home. My guess is that kids are taking more of a "show me the money" approach. Anyway, that's just two of the many funding categories a draft would reduce. This should appeal to conservatives. Other than subsidies, tax breaks and cuts for their greedy rich supporters, they're always bragging that they want to save tax-payers money.
Both the regimes "volunteer army" and the Iraqi military and security forces it is attempting to field are mercenary armies. They are primarily serving for the money. History teaches that many empires have fallen due to imperialistic wars and, of even more relevance, empires which field mercenary armies. As Twian said, "History does not repeat itself, but it frequently rhymes".
Drafting the kids of the idiots who support Bush, his regime and the party he reflects so well might cause them to see them in a whole new light- the harsh glare of reality! Maybe it would be even be enough to convince them that their idiot-in-chief lied to them repeatly in selling his selling his imperialistic war.
Implementing a fair draft is simply the right thing to do. For a representative democracy to survive, all citizens should share the pain resulting from stupidity of the leaders they've elected and allowed to continue to serve.
A draft might further some justice for the wanton lying about the need to attack Iraq and for the other resulting war crimes. If Clinton was impeached for lying about sex, certianly Bush deserves to be, at the very least, impeached and removed from office for the lies he told in selling his plan to attack Iraq. His lies have already resulted in the death of over 1,700 US troops, the grevious wounding of many, many more, and the deaths of over 100,000 Iraqis- including an obscene number of innocent women and children. Better still, world justice and world peace would futhered by trying, convicting and executing Bush and his puppet masters and henchmen as the war criminals they are.
A fair draft which included the spoilded brats of the powerful is a good first step towards a much more effective way to reduce the chances of more stupid and needless imperialistic wars- requiring warmoungering neocons and thier corporate sponsors to behave like kings, princes and nobles of yore and lead their troops into wars . Since the wantonly selfish actions of the Bush regime have consistently relfected a shocking lack of concern for others, they could well veiw the death and wounding of their kids as a price worth paying for the riches they reap from their imperialistic wars. Having to put their cowardly asses on the line in their wars might give them a much needed lesson in empathy and make them less likely to start unjust wars. Alas, that is too much to hope for from the warmoungering cowards of the Bush regime. Indeed, "chicken hawk" for them is a most appropriate term for them.
The idiot-in-chief's twins should volunteer immediately!
The idiot-in-chief's nieces should volunteer immediately!
Here's just two which are ripe for the role of regime foot soldiers in their uncle's quagmire.
Noelle Bush- Jeb's daughter. Like her uncle, she's a coke-head. Unlike her uncle, her drug bust was widely reported. Although this would usually bar one from serving in the military, I'm sure some of the recruiters could coach her on how to gloss over her drug abuse and arrest like they have for many others. The military could also make an exception for her- sort of the exceptions they made for her uncle. They allowed him to escape Viet Nam by joining the Guard ahead of thousands of others and admitted him into flight school even tho' he guessed the correct answers to only 25% of the exam question. Alas, she'd most likely be allowed to go AWOL- again, just like her uncle....A mug shot of Noelle Bush.
Lauren Bush- daughter of Neil "Silverado" Bush. As a supermodel wantabe, she very likely would muster a high enough score on the aptitude test to qualify for anything other than service as a grunt. However, her service could be hyped to inspire some american youth (basically the brain-dead ones) to join the regime's troops in Iraq. In addition to helping Bush with his quagmire, it would definitely help the gene pool!Lauren Bush modeling patriotic themed duds at the opening of a Tommy Hilgifer's store in London.