I ran across this editorial that appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The author is a professor from Hamline University who has a son deployed in Iraq. He explains that his son and his brigade were redeployed to Baghdad for an extended stint instead of coming home. But this is where his frustration sets in. First he blames the President for not sending in more troops to protect those already there.
Then he blames Congress for “neglecting their constitutional duty to exercise a meaningful check on the president’s war-making powers.” Then he blames the right wingers for thinking they can bomb the insurgents into submission to end terrorism.
He blames the left wingers “who seldom say anything good about our troops, who talk as though 9/11 never took place, and who seem to think that terrorists are freedom fighters who will start behaving if you just treat them nicely.
Finally, he blames the American voter for giving Bush another term “even after it had become apparent that his policies had failed. Even after significant members of the military officer corps themselves called the war policies a failure. Given these failures, how many re-election votes would the war president have drawn if all those voters and their children had also been at risk for fighting this war?”
Mr. Harrigan’s solution is the most troubling of all. He wants to bring back the DRAFT!
I have no prescriptions for getting ourselves out of this mess, but I do know how to spread the burden around a little more fairly. Bring back the draft! And allow no deferments for college students or children of presidents and members of Congress.
My response to Mr. Harrigan:
The war in Iraq is indeed unconstitutional. Congress never declared war like the Constitution instructs them to however our elected officials on Capitol Hill uses this precious living document to wipe their asses with. The Constitution is nothing to them and like Bush has claimed to say “it’s just a goddamn piece of paper!”
Your son should be home defending America on our turf not on someone else’s turf thousands of miles away. The American foreign policy that our government created has made more enemies than friends. We have taken sides in many conflicts and interfered with political climates in over 100 countries. Yes, 9/11 was a tragedy but it all could have been adverted by changing our policies in the Middle East.
The American voter had a choice to elect someone who would have stopped this madness! As you recall, John “flip-flopper” Kerry was pro-war and pro-anything-else-affiliated with the war. Our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are not the only ones who have suffered in the so-called “War on Terror”. The American people have been blindsided to the fact that all the things Congress has passed (Patriot Act, Real ID Act) amongst others has not made us more free but the opposite- all for the sake of security. If the American voter really cared about their civil liberties and ending this “war” they should have voted for Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian Party’s Presidential candidate.
As for your call for re-instituting the draft let me ask you a question? Are you willing to sacrifice your life for failed government policies? There is a reason why young men and women aren’t signing up to fight for an unpopular cause. Having a draft is political suicide and there is a reason why there hasn’t been one since Vietnam. Many in Congress would not get re-elected and we both know being re-elected is the number one goal of all politicians! Besides I’ll be damned if I’ll ever sacrifice my children for your security! The draft is immoral and outright wrong. Our military should always be voluntary.
In conclusion, the only right thing to do is to bring our troops home!
sucker, ʟʟᴄ