The Iraq war, chickenhawks, and the possibility of a draft.

Last night I had the opportunity to make my case against the military draft on Hardball. I did my best to get my point across that if we keep going in the same direction in Iraq the draft will be inevitable. And the best way to avoid a draft is to end the war.

Of course no good deed goes unpunished. Shortly afterward I was criticized by a few of the remaining loyal Bushies who I speak with from time to time.

Amazingly, none of them have ever served in the military and most likely would be horrified by the draft. As always, it's quite easy for them to make such strong statements of their patriotism , but a tad more difficult for these folks to put their own bodies where their rhetoric is. Rhetoric being "we had to go in to fight Al-Qeada and we have to stay the course and complete our mission"

Just for the sake of being accurate it's worthy to listen some brief commentary from Vice President Cheney, who is pretty much all over the map and very confusing in my eyes. And of course we have our fearless leader George W. Bush .

Getting back on message - there is no doubt that a military draft would put a tremendous amount of fear into the hearts of the conservative war hawks in Congress, possibly influencing them to change their position on the war. I have no doubt that it would cause worry for presidential hopeful Mitt Romney whose sons are "serving our nation" by helping him get elected.

Wondering off again - I'm wondering if I'm jumping to conclusions? Then I remember hearing this. That leaves me to believe we are not leaving Iraq any time soon. But our military is broken. How can we sustain? General Lute has an idea worth considering.

While the idea is still just an idea it is still a strong reality. And it's enough to raise some red flags.

My greatest fear of the United States returning to a military draft is that most likely all of America's fortunate sons would all find a way out of serving once their number is called. Just as Bush, Cheney, Perle, Wolfowitz, Rove, and Libby did during Vietnam. We would end up in a situation in which kids who can't avoid the draft and don't support the war would end up being the ones who are drafted.

On the subject of the draft I'll just take a page out of Colin Powell's biography : My American Journey

"'I particularly condemn the way our political leaders supplied the manpower for that war. The policies - determining who would be drafted and who would be deferred, who would serve and who would escape, who would die and who would live - were an anti-democratic disgrace. I can never forgive a leadership that said in effect: These young men - poorer, less educated, less privileged - are expendable (someone described them as economic cannon fodder), but the rest are too good to risk. I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well-placed and so many professional athletes (who were probably healthier than any of us) managed to wangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units. Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to their country.' About his first tenure in the White House: Organisation doesn't really accomplish anything. Plans don't accomplish anything, either. Theories of management don't much matter. Endeavours succeed or fail because of the people involved. Only by attracting the best people can you accomplish great deeds. About democracy: democracy did not always function well in the light of day. Democracy is give and take. People have to trade, change, deal, retreat, bend, compromise, as they move from the ideal to the possible. To the uninitiated, the process can be messy, disappointing, even shocking. Compromise can make the participants look manipulative, unprincipled, two faced."

In closing, I am outraged that the same people who did everything in their power to avoid service in Vietnam (while they supported it at the same time) now have found themselves in a position of power only to create a brand new Vietnam of their own.

The only difference is that in Vietnam they had an exit strategy (I got that from a bumper sticker).

John Bruhns
Iraq war veteran
Take A Stand

John Bruhns grew up in Philadelphia. He joined the Reserves while earning his BA at DeSales University. After graduating from college and as his time in the reserves was coming to an end, 9/11 occurred and he reenlisted in the Army for active duty as an Infantryman. He invaded Iraq on day one the invasion and served there for one year. He was stationed in West Baghdad with the 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division. John Bruhns was awarded the combat infantry badge and was honorably discharged in 2005. John Bruhns now serves as the Legislative Representative for Americans Against Escalation in Iraq.