Little Mr Mahatma

In which the middle-aged Peacenik mouths off about War Drones--and all the other things that make him cranky.

Mr Mahatma--who is a Mr in real life--lives in the valleys of Southern California with his wife, a herd of Dears, and an impressive collection of books. Pnorny!
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Little Mr Mahatma

Thursday, September 30, 2004

Making An Issue
The Draft, Constitutional Amendment against gay marriages, stem cell research... - to name a few hot topics. I noticed how the Republicans work these. They'll make a statement, usually a ban against, or call for increased control of, some nature. Of course, the Democrats respond, opposing them. Then the Republicans accuse the Democrats of making an issue out of the topic, as if to do so - to dare challenge the Republicans - is some sort of gross violation of the Natural Order.

Consider the topic of the Draft. The Republicans are yelling for the Democrats to drop the topic, that there will be no Draft, never ever honest injun. But they way they state it makes the Democrats look as if the Democrats want the Draft, which they don't and is why they protest. Both sides are saying they don't want a Draft and there won't be a Draft.

BUT...

The topic was originally broached by a Republican back in April 2004 in context of deteriorating security in Iraq. We see that Bush is moving pawns, I mean military units around to somehow get enough warm bodies to continue his fight. But what about Iran or North Korea or some other hot spot? How can we spread our forces even thinner without bodies prepping in the wings? Answer: the Draft. If Bush is elected expect a Draft with Bush blaming Terrorism and citing National Security for its necessity. If it sounds like the topic won't go away it's because we see on a daily basis how Bush is scrambling to cover his ass with dwindling resources. Bush's Iraq options are down to:

Status Quo. Watch the troops get killed. Shuffle military in from around the world. Blame the Democrats.

Play Diplomat and convince other nations or the United Nations to help out. Unlikely for Bush, who prefers to stand tall and stalwart by himself.

Withdraw troops and whatever happens happens. Not likely Bush will allow the Iraqi Government to slip out of his fingers.

Get Iraqi security and army more involved if they aren't doing so already. Hmmmm, an Iraqi Draft?!?

Outsource security. That's right, pay some company or nation to send in reinforcements. Everyone has their price and with no-bid contracts and lack of oversight and accountability, this could be a massive moneymaker for some CEO.

The Draft.

Note that these options aren't all mutually exclusive. What path(s) do you think Bush will take? Kerry would play Diplomat - he's said as much and it's easily within his abilities - which would bide time to develop further options like beefing up Iraq's own security. Thoughts?

10:24 AM

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