Gone Army

One thing that drives me absolutely batshit is the ongoing discussion of whether we should have more troops in Iraq. Everyone mentions it at some time or another -- Kristol conceded the point a couple of months ago on Charlie Rose, shrugging his shoulders like the draft dodging pussy he is and saying it would take "maybe 40,000", like he knows anything about it; Thomas Friedman acted like he invented the concept in a New York Times column last year, demanding 300,000 (or so -- I can't remember the exact number) additional troops; and now Andrew Sullivan seems to think that John McCain is terribly brave for making the same suggestion. McCain wants 100,000 more troops in the military. That McCain, he is just so brave. I doff my hat, sir. Verily, I doff it.

Could we please be spared this? There are no more troops. I repeat, THERE ARE NO MORE. The Army can't meet their own recruitment goals unless they lower those goals first -- as they did last year. And for fiscal 2005, they couldn't meet their adjusted level of 80,000 new recruits. So how, exactly, are they supposed to get 100,000 and maintain that level?

So let's just shut up about it. Would more troops help? Of course. But the failure of the Bush administration to admit that more troops would do a better job isn't just about a perverse devotion to the Rumsfeld doctrine over the Powell doctrine. It is, rather, itself a method of distraction, keeping us discussing the silly issue of "would more be better" instead of confronting the fact that, if you want more troops, you are going to have to draft them.

Draft is the one word you absolutely cannot say in American politics. I asked my students the other day if they thought there would ever be a draft, and they were shocked at the question -- they'd clearly never thought about it. One of them said that there would be a revolution in this country before a draft -- and a revolution is really the most unimaginable thing. Contrast this with the fact that when we invaded Grenada, I was briefly convinced that my father would be drafted and taken away. I can only imagine how odd my mother found explaining to an 11 year old why her middle-aged father would not be going to the world's shortest and stupidest military action. Once upon a time, a draft was a realistic possibility, within the territory of recent memory.

I don't want a draft, of course. But I would like for the left to constantly point out to the Bush administration that the problem isn't that they're not using all of the resources at our disposal -- it's that they are dishonest even at the level of acknowledging just how limited those resources are. If you want to wage three wars, stop pretending you've got an army three times larger than the one you have.

PS Yes, the third war is the one we're going to have with Iran.