Draft Needed to Continue in Iraq, Senate Told

by Jordan Yerman | April 19, 2007 at 10:40 am

305 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

Catchy headline, but the Senate continues to favor an all-volunteer armed force, as the article goes on to say. Still, that the reinstatement of the draft is even on the table shows how bad things are getting in Iraq, and the extent to which military leaders are beginning to acknowledge that fact.

The Senate Armed Services Committee heard testimony Tuesday that increasing the size of the Army and Marine Corps may not resolve severe and growing personnel problems. There was even talk of returning to the draft to fill the ranks.

“It is better to take a smaller force than to lower your standards,” said Lawrence Korb, a former senior Pentagon personnel official now affiliated with the Center for Defense Information and the Center for American Progress.

“The current use of ground forces in Iraq represents a complete misuse of the all-volunteer military,” he said.

The all-volunteer force was never designed for a protracted ground war, but that is exactly what it faces, he said.

“If the United States is going to have a significant component of its ground forces in Iraq over the next five, 10, 15 or 30 years, then the responsible course is for the president and those supporting this open-ended and escalated presence in Iraq to call for reinstating the draft.”

I don't think that Jack Murtha was making a recommendation with his comments.