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Wednesday, December 13, 2006

I Told You So

"When military service is compulsory, the burden is indiscriminately and equally borne by the whole community. This is another necessary consequence of the social condition of [democracies] and of their notions. The government may do almost whatever it pleases, provided it appeals to the whole community at once."
-Alexis de Toqueville, Democracy in America (trans. by Henry Reeve)

According to today's Washington Post, the US Marine Corps and US Army seek to augment their personnel numbers for future engagements. Your beloved author has discussed this issue in previous posts, and I again mention that the United States has two choices: change foreign policy goals or change the manpower situation.

It still baffles me that Congress, with the exception of New York Democrat Charles Rangle, and the Defense Department maintain that current troop levels and quality of those troops do not necessitate the need for a draft. Rangle's point is more to illustrate the inequity of who shoulders the burden of fighting the wars rather than make the changes to support the current war. But as the article aptly discusses, the potential scenarios that illicit pangs of fear in the Defense Department require numerous and complicated solutions with a military that is basically unable to handle its current demands.

So I ask you a few questions. What happens if:

1. Iran nukes Israel? Either by missile or a truck laden with a nuclear weapon.
2. Pakistan suffers a coup d'etat? (They are a nuclear power, after all.)
3. Refugees from Iraq spill over into neighboring states? Syria and Jordan and Saudi Arabia don't want Palestinian refugees. Why would they accept Iraqis?
4. Other nightmare scenarios in Asia actually occur: North Korea moves South, China crosses the Taiwan Straight?

Some will accuse me of painting the gloomiest of possibilties. But, what will this country do if just one of these events happen when so many of the youth of America shun military service?
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