I received an e-mail yesterday from Governor Howard Dean, M.D. Yes, I have a warm, soft spot in my colon for the Deanster. I was sort of a closet fan of Dean.
"Dean's" e-mail was about Bush and the draft. I added emphasis in bold text.
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Last week 60,000 of us demanded honesty about the draft—and people took notice. Cable news channels and major newspapers have been buzzing about the draft ever since.
Other organizations also heard. MoveOn and a group called Win Back Respect produced a TV ad about this issue. Over a million young people will see it on The Daily Show, MTV, and ESPN.
You can add to this momentum even more—sign the petition demanding honesty about our military commitments:
www.democracyforamerica.com/nodraft
We still need to get the message out. The mainstream media coverage has focused on unsubstantiated rumors of some "secret plan" for a draft. They are missing the point.
It's not about a secret plan—we should be concerned about a draft because, when it comes to meeting all of the military commitments he has made, George Bush has no plan.
He says he will "stay the course". But if we stay the course with this president, he will face a choice: drastically reduce our commitments or reinstate the draft. Add your voice to the growing numbers asking which one he will choose:
www.democracyforamerica.com/nodraft
He failed to bring meaningful allied help into Iraq. He allowed al Qaeda, North Korea, and Iran to become more dangerous. And he has left our homeland unprotected by sending the National Guard to Iraq. George Bush says he has no plans to reinstate the draft—but his reckless decisions may leave no choice.
A quiet draft has already begun—and it is no secret. Active duty soldiers who finish their commitments are being forced to stay on. We have begun calling up forces like the Individual Ready Reserves, consisting of older reservists who have not been on active duty and have not trained for some time. And there's no end in sight.
Americans need the facts. Join us in demanding the honesty we deserve.
Thank you,
Governor Howard Dean, M.D.
P.S. Here's what some of the over 60,000 people who signed the petition are saying about the draft:
"As a young American who cares deeply about my country, I deserve to know if a draft will be put into effect. If not, how do you plan to fill the troop commitments necessary for success?"
—Ajay N.
"I have heard so many things over the years from politicians that have not been true that I no longer take anything for granted. I don't see how the country can continue under the present commitments of our armed forces with a complete volunteer military. If the intention is to bring back the draft I would like to know now and not after the presidential election. An informed voter is an intelligent voter."
—Charles M.
"Staying the course means we're going to need more troops in our go-it-alone strategy. How will we get them?"
—Carl T.
"A feasible, realistic plan needs to developed, shared with the American public and put in place to bring peace in Iraq and end American occupation of the territory. Can this be done without instituting a military draft? The American people want to know before the 2004 presidential election."
—Sharon S.
"Our forces are stretched thin and the situation in Iraq is getting worse. We will no doubt be there a long time and other troubles lurk on the horizon. Be honest with America and tell us how we are going to do this without the draft."
—Phil S.
"My wife and I have deep concerns about this issue. We've been through the Vietnam years and saw how the draft split this country in half. We don't want to have to relive our worst nightmares, not with our sons."
—Lance K.
"A straight and clear answer, please."
—Janice M.
Add your voice: www.democracyforamerica.com/nodraft
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Typical Democrat talking-point bilge.
When people join the military, they know going in that their service could be extended, correct? It's a volunteer army. These things are known up front, right?
There's zero in the Deanster's e-mail that indicates a draft is coming. Remember, only Congress can reinstate the draft. Which Republicans in Congress are calling for the draft? It's on record that Democrats are trying to reinstate the draft, although they turn around and vote against their own bills.
Here's the wacko website: http://www.bushandthedraft.com/
These people are creating a problem that doesn't exist. "They" claim there are not enough troops to complete the job in Iraq. "They" claim that in order to finish the job, more troops via a draft will be needed. This is their misleading opinion that they are trying to turn into political gain.
And what go-it-alone strategy? Over 30 countries joined the U.S. for the start of the war. At least 30 countries are still helping to rebuild Iraq. How does 30 mean alone? It must be the new liberal math. 30=1.
Every time someone says the U.S. acted alone, that's an insult to all of those other countries that have helped or are helping to rebuild Iraq, such as England, Poland, Italy, Japan, etc. No wonder other countries don't like the U.S. The liberals offend the rest of the world every day.
From the second presidential debate:
FARLEY: Mr. President, since we continue to police the world, how do you intend to maintain our military presence without reinstituting a draft?
BUSH: Yes, that's a great question. Thanks.
I hear there's rumors on the Internets (sic) that we're going to have a draft. We're not going to have a draft, period. The all- volunteer army works. It works particularly when we pay our troops well. It works when we make sure they've got housing, like we have done in the last military budgets.
An all-volunteer army is best suited to fight the new wars of the 21st century, which is to be specialized and to find these people as they hide around the world.
We don't need mass armies anymore. One of the things we've done is we've taken the -- we're beginning to transform our military.
And by that I mean we're moving troops out of Korea and replacing them with more effective weapons. We don't need as much manpower on the Korean Peninsula to keep a deterrent.
In Europe, we have massed troops as if the Soviet Union existed and was going to invade into Europe, but those days are over with. And so we're moving troops out of Europe and replacing it with more effective equipment.
So to answer your question is, we're withdrawing, not from the world, we're withdrawing manpower so they can be stationed here in America, so there's less rotation, so life is easier on their families and therefore more likely to be -- we'll be more likely to be able to keep people in the all-volunteer army.
One of the more important things we're doing in this administration is transformation. There are some really interesting technologies.
For instance, we're flying unmanned vehicles that can send real- time messages back to stations in the United States. That saves manpower, and it saves equipment.
It also means that we can target things easier and move more quickly, which means we need to be lighter and quicker and more facile and highly trained.
Now, forget all this talk about a draft. We're not going to have a draft so long as I am the president.
GIBSON: Senator Kerry, a minute and a half.
KERRY: Daniel, I don't support a draft.
But let me tell you where the president's policies have put us.
The president -- and this is one of the reasons why I am very proud in this race to have the support of General John Shalikashvili, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Admiral William Crowe, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; General Tony McPeak, who ran the air war for the president's father and did a brilliant job, supporting me; General Wes Clark, who won the war in Kosovo, supporting me; because they all -- and General Baca, who was the head of the National Guard, supporting me.
Why? Because they understand that our military is overextended under the president.
Our Guard and reserves have been turned into almost active duty. You've got people doing two and three rotations. You've got stop-loss policies, so people can't get out when they were supposed to. You've got a back-door draft right now.
And a lot of our military are underpaid. These are families that get hurt. It hurts the middle class. It hurts communities, because these are our first responders. And they're called up. And they're over there, not over here.
Now, I'm going to add 40,000 active duty forces to the military, and I'm going to make people feel good about being safe in our military, and not overextended, because I'm going to run a foreign policy that actually does what President Reagan did, President Eisenhower did, and others.
We're going to build alliances. We're not going to go unilaterally. We're not going to go alone like this president did.
GIBSON: Mr. President, let's extend for a minute...
BUSH: Let me just -- I've got to answer this.
GIBSON: Exactly. And with Reservists being held on duty...
(CROSSTALK)
BUSH: Let me answer what he just said, about around the world.
GIBSON: Well, I want to get into the issue of the back-door draft...
BUSH: You tell Tony Blair we're going alone. Tell Tony Blair we're going alone. Tell Silvio Berlusconi we're going alone. Tell Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland we're going alone.
There are 30 countries there. It denigrates an alliance to say we're going alone, to discount their sacrifices. You cannot lead an alliance if you say, you know, you're going alone. And people listen. They're sacrificing with us.
Kerry said, "Now, I'm going to add 40,000 active duty forces to the military."
How does Kerry plan to do that without some kind of draft?
posted by jr at 05:25 P.M. EST on Thu Oct 14, 2004 #
Marcy is missing a lot of votes lately, always showing up at Kerry events instead of voting and showing for scheduled events. She missed HR 10 on the new intelligence procedures. Arguably one of the most important bills this year. Cabinet position campaigning?
posted by moresun at 04:04 P.M. EST on Fri Oct 15, 2004 #
I don't know which specific "Internets" Bush referred to in his debate comments. But I do know that if I had a ten-year old child right now, I would be very frightened. Why? Because someone (Democrat or Republican) will draft that child in eight years. That is, unless we stop being the policeman of the world. As long as Bush and his Republican friends in Congress push us into military commitments beyond the war on terror (which is self-defense), the children of America will soon be dying in combat far from home.
The point here is that we invaded and occupied a country that bore no threat to us. Each day our sons and daughters, husbands and wives and brothers and sisters die for all the wrong reasons. Iraq did not attack us - Al Queda did. Bush essentially dropped the war on terror (Afghanistan) so that Cheney and Rumsfeld could attack "all the good targets" in Iraq, where there is a great deal of oil. It also allows Cheney's Haliburton to make an unconscious amount of money from no-bid contracts. All of this occured without enough troops on the ground to keep the peace after the battle.
Bush needs more troops to fight his multiple engagements - morally right or wrong. Where will he get his troops when we need to fight North Korea and Iran? Better enjoy those your young children now. You may need to bury them in a few more years.
posted by Chaz at 02:20 P.M. EST on Sat Oct 16, 2004 #
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