Umm, Pat, Wake up! This ain't your Grampa's or even your father's war--there are no draftees, there is no threat (except of economic slow down), and we all elected the and keep on electing the idiots--liberal and conservative--Republican and Democratic--who have outsourced all government functions including taxes abroad. (The t-bill thingee that keeps our debt financed!)

Why exactly should the children of right wing "politicians" be punished simply because of who they were born to? Likewise, children don't have any say in being born to rich people, so why is there a big deal made about them not being punished for their parents faults? Some of their parents never gave a damn about them in the first place, let alone would they care about them dying in a foreign country. But ultimately, if the psuedo-green of this article likes war so much, they can go themselves; NO ONE WHO WOULD NOT BE DRAFTED THEMSELVES HAS A RIGHT TO SUGGEST IT BE DONE.

I think you're misunderstanding the article. I read
it as a statement that we would not be in this war
(or at least this long) if everyone was actually
paying a price for this war instead of the limited
few.

I may be misunderstanding this article as well, but see no similarity between D-Day and the occupation of Iraq. The soldiers there are, at best, protecting the interests of war profiteering corporations and, at worst, comitting war crimes. I feel no moral compunction to support them in this obscene mistake other than to continue to advocate for their withdrawal. This is not World War II and we are not anything remotely resembling the "greatest generation". Wake up!

No regime survives without the consent of it's people. Time to look in the mirror people.

"If the U.S. government drafted the soldiers necessary to wage this war, would we still be fighting?"

This can easily be interpreted as the author claiming that the war would have succeeded by now with enough soldiers. Maybe that isn't what he meant, but he should have been clearer if not.

To me, one of the hardest hitting points this article makes is that the typical american is not sacrificing anything. There is NO rationing, no concept of rationing... if we can't make it here, we can buy whatever we want from an exploited country. OH WAIT we already have been doing that. It's business as usual. Detachment as usual. Apathy as usual.
Those who try to have a voice are marginalized. And the average joe keeps buying stuff made in China and keeps filling up his SUV.
There is no concept of anything other than ourselves here.
That is a pretty striking observation, and it is sad to see that it is true.

"To me, one of the hardest hitting points this article makes is that the typical american is not sacrificing anything."

Except the trillions of dollars of tax money? Except the patriot act? Except the wave of retaliation that is sure to come in the next few years for this illegal occupation? Except international humiliation? But oh yes, we should all be making huge sacrifices for an illegal invasion that has ruined the lives and livelihood of a benign country for no good reason; we should support a war that was based on 100% lies by being given ration cards to buy food. What a great idea; instead of ending the war, we should make sure it goes on and on by each of us contributing over and above what we pay in taxes for this righteous cause of stealing another nation's wealth and freedom.

The massive anti-war protests here and abroad against the Iraq war before it started counted as democracy; people voted against it, but their voices were ignored. People continued to vote against it by more protests and by electing the D-majority in congress; still nothing. But apparently we aren't doing enough to support an illegal war that cannot possibly be won; how selfish we must be!

The suggestion that war (state murder) is fine so long as it's paid for is not helpful.

I think that the intended meaning was that if it had to be paid for it might serve as more of a deterrent. Not that any should be necessary. But obviously some is, or we wouldn't be where we are today.

There won't be a veteran status in America in the future. Today's soldiers, and their duties, are being outsourced and privatized. There will come a day when The United States of Everything has a private military that has no allegiances to our society. Americans won't have to fight for their country. They will pay someone else to do it.
Hoa binh

Sounds to me like a typical Green party activist who does not know their arse from a hole in the gound. Why didn't she raise any issues during her Governor run? Because they simply do not know or understand issues in Maine or anywhere else.
Go hug a tree as a true Treehugger..

"If the U.S. government drafted the soldiers necessary to wage this war, would we still be fighting?"

Yes, we had a draft during Viet Nam. The rich simply exempted themselves from it through college deferments, and use of their influence to jump their kids ahead of the line for reserve and national guard slots.

The only thing that would ever stop 99.9% of all wars would be a required draft of all military age relatives of all lawmakers into a combat arms branch of the military anytime the U.S. entered into any type of armed conflict, and there is a 99.999% chance that such a law will never be passed.

Lobo Gris

No, see, once again, the premise is flawed. The United States of America is NOT AT WAR with any country on the face of the planet, neither officially, legally or even metaphorically. And when the time comes, CheneyRoveBush will start denying our troops even more medical help and benefits by claiming said injuries did not occur during a "war." Now, if we all stopped referring to this mess as a "war" and reframe the debate around the truth - illegal invasion and illegal occupation - then maybe we can start doing the right thing.

Bottom line of this essay:

"We have 1.4 billion dollars to provide for our most disabled veterans, and only for 10 years. How about some perspective? About 1.4 billion seconds ago, 155,000 Allied soldiers stormed Normandy's beach."

I think it speaks for itself. Just do the math: 1.4 billion equals 1.4 billion. Say what?

Why should we be supporting and sacrificing for an illegal invasion and occupation? The best thing we can do for the troops is to demand they be brought home immediately.

The war is immoral and illegal, obviously. The point she is trying to make is that people and the country actually used to have a personal connection with being at war. Instead of just going deeper and deeper in debt, people felt the effects immediately; i.e. rationing. Corporations still profited from war back then but not as much and not with such blatent disregard for any sense of decency.

I really think the author is trying to promote the idea that if the people who orchestrated this occupation had to feel the affects of it at a personl level, rather than profesional(which being rich can couter that as well) Politicians would be more likley think about where they invade. Also it seems to me that the author is suggesting that country as a whole only cares about the war when the news is on. Throughout every war there has been war profiteers, and in any place where there is money to make, rest assure there will be somebody tryin to do it. We can stop these things at the sourse by holding our administration accountable for its actions. If your congressmen voted for the war, or support the war, get rid of them. Eventually enough ripples will cause a wave-Love&Respect

The power elite and wealthy are not being taxed to pay for the services they receive from this government they control. Without a universal draft or high taxes on wealth they will sit back and collect the return on their no bid contracts.

The veterans are cynically ground up in the war machine and discarded as soon as possible.

Who's sacrificing now?

Well in this state it is the poor and impoverished.

Medical assistance to the poor has been slashed, along with housing and daycare programs. Jobs have been gone so long out here nobody remembers why we ever had daycare in the first place.

I know at least a dozen families in this area with no electricity or running water, and their houses are about to be foreclosed or seized by the county for years of back taxes.

Don't tell us nobody is sacrificing.

WAR PICTURES

Pictures of Destruction and Civilian Victims of the Anglo-American Aggression in Iraq

These photos are only of a very tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Civilian Victims who have been terrorised, humiliated, injured, maimed and killed through British and American bombing of civilian areas in
various cities of Iraq.

Due to insecurity, independent reporters could not and still can not reach many areas to photograph and report the atrocities. Several independent reporters and journalists were deliberately bombed by the Americans to prevent them reporting the atrocities.

WARNING:
PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME OF THESE PICTURES ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR SMALL CHILDREN AND THOSE WITH WEAK HEARTS.

Robert Fisk: http://snipurl.com/h6tm

Mind Prod: http://snipurl.com/h6tp

if i can quote myself:

those who speak for a draft
lack the conscience
to resist one

http://ebbortz.blogspot.com/2007/04/neoliberal-prescription.html

and where would we be right now if there was a draft? probably in iran
with an endless reservoir of coerced
human beings. an unpopular war
(vietnam) lasted about a dozen years and cost about 3 million lives. sure,
there was resistance, and i was part
of it, but it didn't by itself stop
this atrocity of u.s. foreign policy.

as difficult as the task is, all of our energies need to be applied at
de-militarizing u.s. foreign policy.
peace...

A little historical perspective might shed some light on the issue of the draft. It is nice that everyone finds the idea unacceptable, but what about the alternative?

For most of its existence, the US had only a tiny military and found the whole idea of a Professional Standing Army to be against the whole concept of self-government.

Standing Armies are expensive. They tend to be very conservative politically. They develop loyalty, not to the country, but to their masters. Repressive governments, whether Sadam Husein or Adolf Hitler or Nicolas of Russia, don't hesitate to use a Standing Army against the citizenry.

So, as befits a Citizen Government, we had a Citizen Army. Whole units went AWOL during the Revolutionary War at planting time, or because they hadn't been paid.

To declare WAR, meant a Draft. A draft meant a bunch of pissed off voters, so we tended to avoid conflicts that involved much more than shouting and hollering, unless we'd been invaded [War of 1812] or the issue really aroused the passions of most of the public.

But, the two World Wars were so big and so costly, that the advent of the Cold War convinced the politicians to get over their problems with a standing armies. First, we started keeping more troops around all the time. The draft truly never ended after the 2nd WW - guys were discharged, but remained under obligation to come back if needed.

Korea was fought mostly with 're-treads' to start with. Korea also saw the invention of a 'Police Action' as a ruse to avoid declaring war.

Thru most of the War with Vietnam, the politicians had the best of all possible worlds: No war declared; as many troops as they wanted; low pay because they were conscripts; and in the early years, no complaints because it was the 'Patriotic' thing to do.

When the protests multiplied, and Kent State happened [WHITE kids were killed] something had to be done...

Ta Da!!! The ALL Volunteer Army!

Now we have Endless War, Low paid canon fodder, and private mercenaries.

Most of what the Founding Fathers believed about Standing Armies is proving to be true. The all volunteer military is under the control of a cadre of neo-nazis, and the ability of the citizenry to regain the reins of authority, would draw long odds in Las Vegas.

The thing about a draft is that it rubs the stench of an unjust war in the faces of every citizen: Rich or poor; young or old. And yes, the rich can escape most of the cost, but the resentment builds against them, which brings down their house of cards.

Let's be brutally honest here. Feel Good Activism, with some e-mail petitions and letters to Congress is all most of us are doing. Yeah, War is Hell and all those kids are suffering - but it's happening in
Darfur too, and Sri Lanka.

I mean, you can't really expect us to DO something about it.

It is NOT supporting our soldiers when we glorify war or permit "illegal" wars of aggression.

It is NOT supporting our soldiers when we leave them to die in immoral wars -- or in unwinnable circumstances.

The Vietnam War was finally ended by Congress cutting off funding.

Nothing wrong with that -- simply get the troops OUT of Iraq.