COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Draft: General
A drained military Draft no answer
Author, Source
June 16, 2005
The American and Iraqi military seem to be in the same boat. Both arehaving problems recruiting. Both are lowering standards in search of new
recruits. Both are playing games with their numbers to make them seem better
than they really are. And both know the origin of their recruiting problems.
It's not just the insurgency. It's the sense that the war they're fighting
looks andsmells unwinnable. American recruits would not be keen on joining a
losingbattle in a purposeless war. Iraqi recruits would be hesitant to join
thewrong side while their government has yet to give them a reason to
believe in the right.
That the American military's fate in Iraq has become so dependent on
that of Iraq is one of the many reasons and errors that have turned the
American venture in Iraq into the disaster that it is. It wasn't supposed to
be that way when the Bush administration in 2003 "leveled" with the American
people about the importance of Iraq to national security. Set aside the
false data on weapons of mass destruction. Set aside the false data on Saddam
Hussein's links with al-Qaida. Take only the confidence of the administration
in promising a conflict that would soon lead to peace and a flowering of
democracy. Two years on, the very same people in the Bush
administration are saying: Give us more time.
Worse, the Democratic opposition is joining the chorus, again under
the guise of "leveling" with the American people. Sen. Joe Biden, the
Delaware Democrat and possible presidential candidate in 2008, says a draft is
not necessary so long as the Bush administration "levels" with the public
and lays out what it will take to win in Iraq. The New York Times
editorialized that "the Army needs to level with the public and Congress about what
it will take to meet the nation's defense needs and restore the health
of a volunteer force." The paper even suggests that rather than a draft,
the military should do away with restrictions on recruiting gays and
female combatants -- as if expanding the moral eligibility of cannon fodder
was the solution to the problem rather than facing up to it more
meaningfully.
The war in Iraq was begun on false pretenses. It is continuing on
false pretenses -- those being, this time, that somehow an insurgency that
has only gained force over the last two years can be diffused over the
next two, if only (fill in the blanks). But if the Bush administration is
willing to peddle this sort of timetable, why not lay out a timetable for
American withdrawal? There comes a point when American commitments should no
longer hinge on Iraqi promises or on expectations of the Bush
administration, which have proved equally unreliable. An open-ended commitment in Iraq that
turned into a quagmire may well turn into a national security risk -- if it
hasn't already -- by stretching the military too thin, depleting its
strength and making the United States needlessly vulnerable in case of an
unexpected military crisis elsewhere. A draft isn't the solution. A rethink of
the Bush administration's military commitments in political dead ends is.
Meanwhile the military has other false pretenses to contend with. By
arbitrarily extending servicemen's tours of duty to make military
ends meet, it has gone a long way toward eliminating the voluntary aspect of the
Army. No wonder recruiters are falling drastically short of their goals.
But in the end it isn't about eligibility. It isn't about quality. It
isn't about $20,000 or $50,000 signing bonuses. It isn't even about
extended tours of duty. It's about legitimacy. This nation's men and women don't
lack for courage or willingness to fight. They just haven't been given a good
reason to. If the United States were involved in a just war, recruiters
would have to stand aside to avoid being stampeded by willing, voluntary
recruits. Iraq is not that war. It's time the administration and the military
leveled with Americans on that score.
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