A simple way of ending the Iraq War and any talk of invading Iran...

[Frustratedlady]

Reinstate the draft...male and female. Very simple. They will have the votes they need to end this war and stop the chatter on Iran in no time. The Republican Congresspersons' phones would be ringing off the hook from angry constituents.

[BlackHawk706867]

1. 6 months ago or less I would have called you crazy, but I now agree totally ....

It would seem that Charlie Rangle knew what he was talking about after all.... You throw the draft out their and parents of Republicans would finally get the message very quickly.

ww

[frogcycle]

2. or impose a pay-as-you-go tax

to include recouping the billions already spent.

heavy on the defense contractors, any dividends or capital gains derived by their stockholders

also the oil companies whose tankers our navy protects, and whose about-to-be-theirs oil fields our army is trying to secure

sadly, i think this would stop it faster than drafting their kids

and dammit, it is fiscal responsibility. no puke can honestly object to it without exposing outrageous hypocracy

[mile18blister]

3. Lots of people thought having a draft made war more likely.

I remember the argument from the early 1970's. The thought was that a steady supply of cannon-fodder let the MIC test the "Domino Theory" in Viet Nam. If the military was made up of volunteers, then the MIC would have to be careful how they used them. The idea of stop-loss and multiple deployments was unthinkable back then.

I do agree that the major problem with Iraq is that most Americans are not directly paying a price. But be careful what you wish for with a draft. I think a war tax on the obscenely rich would be a good start.

[MasterDarkNinja]

4. Politicians are too scared to reinstate the draft

I agree that a draft would stop the war in an instant, but a draft will never happen. I mean look at what we're doing with our troops in Iraq now, making them serve there for up to 15 months, constantly extending their tours of duty. I remember a year or two ago reading that the army forced some guy in his 60's in the army reserve to go to Iraq, that shows just how short of troops we are. The draft is in a sense repealed already, because politicians know it's political suicide to reinstate the draft to fight an already unpopular war, even if we invade another nation like Iran they'll still think it's political suicide no matter what the approval rating for the war, because that approval would probably go way downhill then. What's next when we find out we don't have enough troops to make them serve 15 months then get a year off at home, 18 month deployments?