In comments supportive of the idea of military conscription, something virtually unheard of among modern US officials, Secretary of State John Kerry, visiting the University of Texas today, declared himself to “have deep reservations about an all-volunteer military.”
Kerry insisted that military families have an “enormous burden” from all their overseas deployments and that the US needs to find a way to ensure that all Americans are made to “share responsibility” for the wars, adding “everybody ought to give back something.”
Ironically, during his presidential campaign in 2004, Kerry not only promised to maintain an all-volunteer military if elected, but accused then-President Bush of having a “great potential” to impose a new military draft because he is “out of touch.”
Pentagon officials have repeatedly expressed opposition to the idea of a return to conscription, insisting that the volunteer force is superior. Recent debates have centered on the possibility of ditching the Selective Service system outright, since there is no serious prospect of a new draft and the system is just a waste of money.
Massa don’t you thinking ya time is your own.
Why the long face, Lurch?
So an army made up of people who dont want to be there is better than one made up of volunteers?
If the US war mongers would stop foreign interventions and unwinnable wars we wouldn’t need a draft and the volunteers wouldn’t wouldn’t be deployed all the time…but give the War Dept more draftees would only encourage more of the same.
But this makes me a tad nervous. It’s the first (I’ve heard, anyway) time a high-ranking politician has suggested a draft might be a good idea. Could be the opening gun…
Although I doubt it was his intent, Kerry may have stumbled upon something that would help rein in the US’s neocon foreign policy establishment. By spreading the risk and the misery across a broader swath of the American public, more families would be touched by the wars’ consequences and turn against them. It would be even better if student deferments and other forms of protection for privileged classes were eliminated. If Congress members’ grandchildren were dying, you can bet there would be less support for the endless, counterproductive military misadventures.
I doubt Kerry means to resurrect conscription. It seems more to me like laying the groundwork for things like some type of additional taxation with verbiage like this:
“Every American ought to find a way to serve,
somehow. It doesn’t have to be in the military. I like the idea that
everybody ought to give back something,”
A “War Tax” would be almost as unpopular as a draft. Since society tends to care more about money than life or humanity, it might actually be more effective.