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Bush War Adviser Says Draft Worth a Look

Aug 10 06:25 PM US/Eastern
By RICHARD LARDNER







Sen. Clinton Grills Lt. Gen. Lute During Confirmation Hearings


WASHINGTON (AP) - Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President Bush's new war adviser said Friday.
"I think it makes sense to certainly consider it," Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said in an interview with National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."

"And I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table. But ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another," Lute added in his first interview since he was confirmed by the Senate in June.

President Nixon abolished the draft in 1973. Restoring it, Lute said, would be a "major policy shift" and Bush has made it clear that he doesn't think it's necessary.

The repeated deployments affect not only the troops but their families, who can influence whether a service member decides to stay in the military, Lute said.

"There's both a personal dimension of this, where this kind of stress plays out across dinner tables and in living room conversations within these families," he said. "And ultimately, the health of the all- volunteer force is going to rest on those sorts of personal family decisions."

The military conducted a draft during the Civil War and both world wars and between 1948 and 1973. The Selective Service System, re- established in 1980, maintains a registry of 18-year-old men.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has called for reinstating the draft as a way to end the Iraq war.

Bush picked Lute in mid-May as a deputy national security adviser with responsibility for ensuring efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are coordinated with policymakers in Washington. Lute, an active-duty general, was chosen after several retired generals turned down the job.

I seariously doubt america would revolt protest mabey but not revolt.

No I agree with thenerdqueen here. I think America would revolt, America won't stand for the draft after vietnam. Most people from the Vietnam era are still alive and they would rise up. And of course all the young people who do not wish to go to war would rise up as well. If Bush enacted the draft it would be political suicide for the republican party

He promised many things. I think that if he saw a way to stay in Iraq, any way, he would take it. Including the draft.

I dont think that the president will bring back the draft, it would be to unpopular

then you don't know much about vietnam

that was 40 years ago... look at the populus. people just don't care about anyone but themselves anymore.

The morals and values have changed, and people have learned to be content no matter what is going on around them. The response by the majority when there's a string of abortion-clinic bombings or church arsons is absolutely abysmal.

The vast majority is lazy, uninformed, and needs someone to take a cattle-prod to them to get them moving... and the draft being re-instated wouldn't be that prod.