http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/03OpOPN78061605.htmThe American and Iraqi military seem to be in the same boat. Both are having 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 and smells unwinnable. American recruits would not be keen on joining a losing battle in a purposeless war. Iraqi recruits would be hesitant to join the wrong 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. snip
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. snip
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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