So if Bush is somehow re-elected how will he
manage to claim consistency with his "no draft" statements while forcing more
young people into service?
He'll change it's name. He'll call it financial
aid. I don't have any first hand knowledge of the Bush Administration's plans,
but just use a little common sense. As hard as it may be, let's selectively
listen to what Bush and his handlers are saying:
1. The volunteer army works best for
America. 2. George just loves education. In
the 3rd debate he couldn't stop talking about, no matter what the question. If
he wasn't talking about terror or 9/11, he was talking about
education. 3. In a seemingly unrelated note,
George has promised to revitalize the American workforce by sending all those
poor under-employed sloffs off to trade schools (community
college).
Let's also take a look at the
reality facing Bush for a second
term:
1. George would kill, and I mean
kill, the Republican party if he were to push for a draft. He and his handlers
know this. He would make the implosion of the Progressive Conservative Party in
Canada in 1993 look like nothing. For those of you who have forgotten, the PC
went from being the majority party in the Canadian Parliament with 169 seats in
1988 to just 2 seats in following election in 1993. If George were to push for
the "draft" he'd make that debacle look like
nothing. 2. George, Dick et al can not govern
without the country being on a war-footing. As much as George might hate it:
Like father like son. 3. The
Project for a New American
Century and Dick's
National Energy
Policy, released in May 2001 calls for some
sort of consolidation of power or control over the Persian Gulf region to the
Central Asian Republics. Even Bush with his lust for imperial power wouldn't
attempt to pull that off with the current force structure. He just doesn't have
enough bodies to sacrifice. 4. George and
Dick won't be running for
re-election
The truth is we don't even
have enough troops to control or stabilize Iraq now, and that situation's only
going to get worse. As for the Iraqi forces coming online supplementing and
eventually replacing our troops. Keep dreaming. Without even getting into the
politics of Iraqi or pan-Arab nationalism, just consider that we don't even
bother to properly equip or train our own reservists. So there is no chance that
we will give the Iraqis' what they need to be successful. No
chance.
When you factor in future
expansionist needs of the Bush Administration that I already mentioned,
something's gotta give. But let's assume that Bush intends to keep the letter
of his word, I know that seems a ridiculous assumption for most people, but
assume it anyway. How will Bush bring more young people into the service at a
time when joining will mean walking into unnecessary guerilla urban combat?
I'll tell you how, he'll expand financial aid. Yep, George the compassionate
conservative will expand financial aid and use it to suck people into military
service at a time when most of them wouldn't dream of
joining.
Here's how he'll do it:
First he'll push for an expansion of aid to
community colleges to retrain our work force. What jobs they'll be retrained for
I'd love to know, but I digress. Since this is intended as a political
boondoggle it will not be subject to Bush's new fangled draft. That would be too
much even for his base.
Second, George
will offer two forms of financial aid to students attending 4 year colleges and
universities:
Form 1: For those not
opting for military service, financial aid will be slashed, not eliminated,
making it more and more difficult for lower and middle class to go to college. I
suspect he'll preserve the student loan program, but probably little
else.
Form 2: For those "volunteering"
for service they will receive a much more substantial financial aid package, but
only after they complete their service I suspect. Maybe George will even give
them a free ride through college, but let's not get carried away. Let's not
forget how he equipped our
reservists.
So that's it, conservatives
will argue that while education is important we should focus our resources on
students giving of themselves to America, no matter if the war is unjust,
illegal, or based on fabricated evidence. For those who give their lives, or
parts of their body, or put themselves in harm's way, we'll give them an
undergraduate education.
Like I said I
don't have any first hand knowledge of this, but just wait and see. This cabal
isn't terribly bright, it's just that the press is so stupid and easily
distracted they don't ever bother to put the pieces together. But if they did,
I think we'd be talking about how Bush will meet his military needs instead of
silly kids who just won't quit with their ridiculous internet
rumors.