Listening to NPR this morning, I heard one of those thousands of retired generals that come out of the woodwork everytime our military does something talking about the prospect of America fighting a two-front war. The two fronts being that of the “War on Terror” in Afghanistan and the “War on Something Appropriately Vague” that may or may not occur in Iraq.
His research seems to tell him that America is ill-equipped to fight these battles concurrently. His basis is the historical fact that all armies that have invaded Afghanistan have seen considerable “success” in the first year only to be torn to shreds in the second year of their campaigns. He referenced the, by now, well-known plight of the Soviets in Afghanistan as well as the ill-fated British incursion in the 19th century. So, according to this research, because the second year in Afghanistan is going to be considerably tougher, we need to send more troops there to handle the situation. Then comes a full-fledged, unilateral war on Iraq to which we will have to devote considerably more troops than we did to Desert Storm and the problem of a shortage of troops and equipment becomes quite apparent.
As I am pondering this problem, I am trying to think of a solution. As far as I can imagine, the only solution is to reconstitute the draft. I would imagine that every guy over the age of 18 has signed up for his “Selective Service” card. They have quite a few slackers and unemployed young men to draft into the army to fight in the dunes of Iraq.
The name “Selective Service” seems docile and bland enough but it entails you being chosen to fight a war that not even the highest of high in our government can explain. You could be chosen to shoot hungry, deprived, utterly destitute soldiers forced into battle much like yourself (but with a lot fewer weapons). I don’t think the people of America will stand for it.
Sure, right now it seems like the tide of the country is willing to go along with Bush’s crusade. But if the governement starts drafting our young men (don’t even get started on the gender/draft issue) into combat, the public opinion will spin so fast on him that he’ll be blind-sided like some inept quarterback being demolished by Jevon Kearse.
This turns into the greatest reason for us not to declare war on Iraq. If we can’t devote the resources to do the job right either in Iraq or Afghanistan, then let’s not take the job. I don’t want to hear stories of soldiers stranded in the desert because of lack of fuel or shot like dogs in the streets of Baghdad because the ammo ran out. But most of all, I don’t want to hear stories of my friends being dragged off to be shot so Bush can get reelected.
