Gould,

Whine, whine, whine. Those called up have a military OBLIGATION to serve
when called. Those are the rules under which they volunteered. They are
needed, hence they are called. Is

Butch,

Obfuscate, obfuscate, obfuscate.

Those eager to volunteer should do so.
If that includes you, then great.
Be proud of your patriotism and willingness to enforce our foreign policies.

Can't be any simpler than that.

When people are involuntarily forced to
serve against their will, that's not American. If you want to make it American,
you install Universal Service for
every young man and woman graduating from high school. They put in two years
of service either in the military or in one of a very few alternative choices
that provide legitimate public service. Then it's American because it is
democratic. Nobody gets a pass for being rich and signing up for college, etc.

(Following Universal Service, we give the kids a free ride at trade school or a
public college)

The current lack of a draft is making Bush's foreign policy a joke. The Bush
apologists say that because we have occupied Iraq, all the other little sand
flea countries over there are going to toe the mark so that we don't occupy
their countries too. With what? We're calling old guys in from retirement
and putting extended tours afer extended tours on the troops that are there
now. No way we can take on Jordan, or Saudi Arabia (!), or Iran
with the forces we have while we try to keep peace in Iraq.

Now,of course, if we had the diplomatic skill to build a (real and meaningful)
coalition of allies large enough to provide more than a couple of hundred
troops apiece before we.......oh, never mind, hindsight is 20/20.

You guys want to wage war all over hell?
Or be able to make a credible threat that you're ready to wage war all over
hell?
Want to able to say that we don't need NATO or the UN on our side and we'll
just do whatever we please, regardless?
Gonna need some troops.

Gonna need a draft.

Gonna need a leader who will put the strategic needs of the country above any
concerns about political fallout. Seen one lately? Alas, they're in very short
supply.

You can't have a militarist society without
a huge pool of manpower, even in this technological age. Those who believe that
militarism is the answer have no choice except to support a draft.