H 23°, L 4° | Tomorrow: 
H 21°, L 6°I’m sure that our representatives in Congress of both parties do not want to bring back the draft. I’m not sure that they and whomever we elect president will not bring it back within the next few years anyhow. We have a ‘backdoor’ draft of guards and reservists now. Apparently recruitment is not reaching its goals and — whenever they actually have an end to their hitches — re-enlistments are down. Do we have a stab at doing the job we foolishly took on unless we have more manpower?
There is plenty of blame to go around. I don’t know what position John Kerry takes now, but he has talked at times of possibly increasing troop strength in Iraq. However, pandering for votes at the VFW Convention, he slammed the very sensible Bush administration proposal to reduce our troop strength in South Korea by some 12,500 and re-deploy them.
We have a sorry situation. We won’t raise taxes to pay for the war and share some sacrifice. We don’t decrease our dependence on Mideast oil — which sucked us into this mess. We won’t lean on Israel for a fairer deal for the Palestinians — a flashpoint in the Muslim world. And, rather than carefully planning for a potential draft, we’ll just pretend that it can’t possibly be necessary. You can believe that there is no chance of a draft when draft registration is eliminated.
Chuck Litweiler
Now, more than ever, we must hold print journalism to a higher standard than those laid forth by Rupert Murdoch and other television news networks. The only thing scarier than Fox News may be Mac VerStandig’s column in your newspaper. Not only does VerStandig often feature Republican Party talking points, but also he does not do it well. His attacks against Kerry are often misleading, inaccurate and are perfect examples of a journalist diverting attention away from important political debate.
In his column, VerStandig claimed that John Kerry is “coercing otherwise sensible Americans into voting for him” by predicting a draft if Bush is re-elected. VerStandig calls the idea of a draft a “false notion,” a “fictitious draft” and claims “Mr. Kerry ought to know better.”
VerStandig should take his own advice as he prints his only quote of Kerry abridged and out of context. VerStandig writes, “The Massachusetts senator told the Des Moines Register that ‘a great potential’ for a draft exists should Mr. Bush be tapped for another four years.” What Kerry actually said was, “With George Bush, the plan for Iraq is more of the same and the great potential of the draft. Because if we go it alone, I don’t know how you do it with the current overextension” of the military. VerStandig never mentioned Kerry’s claim about Bush spreading our troops thin.
As Americans grow increasingly cynical of our media, many point fingers at biased news reports on television. VerStandig’s use of a newspaper column to further his political agenda was wrong because he misconstrued facts and mislead readers.
There are journalists out there asking the right questions. For example, in a column in the Madison Capital Times last Friday, Dave Zweifel asked, “What will need to happen if either North Korea or Iran, or both, start becoming, unlike Iraq, a real threat to our safety?” These are the issues those of us with a Selective Service card should be worrying about, whether we align ourselves on the left or the right.
The best evidence that VerStandig promotes Bush’s agenda without question is that he claims the thought of a draft should be “laid to rest” merely because Bush says so. If Bush said he would give everyone in America a free trip to the Bahamas, I think VerStandig would trade in his bow tie for a bathing suit and then tell you to grab a snorkel. I think VerStandig misrepresented what Kerry said as a way to promote a political candidate.
Not once in the article does VerStandig address the reality about the possibility of a draft or refute Kerry’s assertion. Instead, he oversimplified what the candidates said about the draft and, as a result, Herald readers were misinformed. Usually I turn on the television when I want to see someone throw thoughtful analysis out the window.
Benjamin S. Cohen
IP hash: d17cafde
Dave Zweifel could not speak intelligently on any subject to save his life.
Suppose that North Korea launched a war tomorrow. How much good would a draft do? None at all. A draft might get some poorly trained conscripts to Korea within about six months, by which time the fighting would probably be long over. But National Guard units could get there, and already have some training. The media likes to talk about how the guard is thinly stretched, but right now only 6 out of 38 Guard brigades are currently deployed. If the crisis built over time, then there would be even less reason to use a draft. Not only would there be more time to get Guard brigades into place, but Congress could also authorize a larger regular army. As for the postwar occupation of North Korea, wouldn’t it be better to let South Koreans handle that?
IP hash: 4eaa9617
Suppose North Korea did launch a war tomorrow. The only reason most of their soldiers stick around is because it’s the only way to get food, clothing, and shelter for their families in that godforsaken country. The government there spends all its money on the army and virtually none on schools, infrastructure, agriculture, or anything else their people need. But I doubt those soldiers would be willing to fight if Kim Jong Il sent them into harm’s way. They’d probably revolt.
If you want to worry about the US military being spread too thin, worry about what the Iranians have planned for Iraq, or the Taliban for Afghanistan, or al-Qaeda for just about anywhere in the Middle East. Those are forces we are fighting right now or might actually have to fight one day.
IP hash: b74862fd
Ah, but what if Canada launched a war tomorrow? We’d have to whip their butts, take over their country and our draft dodgers wouldn’t have anywhere to run to…except Canada, in which case they could just enlist voluntarily and they’d end up there anyway. I hear Canadian chicks are way better than American chicks. Not a single skank in the whole country.
GOD, I LOVE BEING AN AMERICAN!!!!
IP hash: 4eaa9617
“Ah, but what if Canada launched a war tomorrow?”
Canada, like France, never met a surrender it didn’t like. Their first assault would be a retreat.
IP hash: d12d151d
Hey folks, Badger Herald Sports Editor Pat Klemz is sniffing down everyone’s IP address. He knows who you are, where to find you, and God only knows if he can find out anything else. That poor lonely fella can’t possibly have a social life if he spends all his time sniffing other people butts on the Internet.
Pat, if that’s your fix, just tell us. We’ll be happy to come down to the Badger Herald in person so you can do it for real!