Close the window, honey...

...I think I feel a draft.

Bush War Adviser Says Draft Worth a Look

President Nixon abolished the draft in 1973. Restoring it, Lute said, would be a "major policy shift" and Bush has made it clear that he doesn't think it's necessary.

Of course he says he doesn't think it's necessary. That's because it's not necessary for HIM to do it. He doesn't want to end the war.

The presidential candidates won't admit to considering it; they're not exactly commiting to not doing it either, but the hyperbole is framed so as to suggest they won't.

Face it, though:

The draft would probably end the war.

NOT, mind you, because it ended Vietnam. It didn't. Going into what did end Vietnam would take a book I'm not qualified to write, but it wasn't the draft. As much as the protests did change our culture, there weren't enough people against the draft in those days to make a difference.

There are now.

So Army Lt. General Lute thinks we should consider it. Dude's got teh bawls, you have to admit. Of course, there is this to consider:

Bush picked Lute in mid-May as a deputy national security adviser with responsibility for ensuring efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are coordinated with policymakers in Washington. Lute, an active-duty general, was chosen after several retired generals turned down the job.

So what we've got here is the guy who took the shit job nobody else would touch. There's something to be said for that kind of job security; it's the kind of position from which you can toss out gems like "Let's consider the draft."

The best thing about this is the timing, since the Philadelphia Daily News columnist, Stu Bykofsky, just dropped that delicious bomb into the yakosphere about needing another 9/11...what's a little draft talk going to hurt, compared with THAT? Mmmmm. More on Bykofsky in a future post.

One thing's for sure: the all-volunteer military, if no changes are made, is soon going to be the all-dead, -crazy, and/or -maimed military. And the Department of Veterans Affairs isn't looking too healthy these days, either.

The draft is not the only route left, though. Personally, I thought the Starship Troopers solution had legs. Remember that?

A little-noticed provision in the proposed immigration bill would grant instant legal status and ultimately full citizenship to illegal immigrants if they enlist in the US military, an idea the Pentagon and military analysts say would boost the Pentagon's flagging efforts to find and recruit qualified soldiers.

In other words, if we send you there, and you make it back alive, you get to be a citizen. If you don't...well, good riddance, right?