Representative Charles Rangel, appearing today on the CBS News program Face The Nation, announced that he will quickly present a bill to resurrect the draft.
At a time when some lawmakers are urging the military to send more troops to Iraq, "I don't see how anyone can support the war and not support the draft," he told Bob Schieffer.
It has been well-documented that such outstanding military experts as Vice President Dick “dick” Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Senator John McCain, Senator Joe Lieberman, William Kristol, writer and publisher of the Weekly Standard, foreign policy experts like Michael Ledeen, Richard Perle, Richard Amitage, Doug Feith, Steven Hadley, David Horowitz, James Dobson of the American Family Institute, and various sages and wise men from the Cato Institute, American Enterprise Institute, among others, have long felt that the plan to invade and conquer Iraq as America’s first overseas colony since 1946 was perfect and would have succeeded if only we had more troops.
The draft plan as envisioned by Congressman Rangel hasn’t been made public yet, but we are pleased to announce that here at Main and Central we have had a hand in working on it. The plan, which will be introduced in January, will mandate some form of Federal service for each and every high school student upon graduation. They will be able to serve their nation, gain some self-pride, and then go on to college.
Everyone goes, unless they are so unfit (e.g. blind, wheelchair, etc) that they would be of no help whatsoever in securing Iraq. The added combat experience of those proud and seasoned warriors will make our economy stronger upon their return from their two year service bringing Democracy and Freedom to the Iraqis and Afghanis. They will be better citizens, more conscious of their abilities and skills, and make a great contribution to our county’s future.
Those deemed not quite fit enough to serve in the arduous and dangerous combat of Iraq and Afghanistan (and coming soon, to a location near you, Iran and Syria) will be able to serve their nation by guarding our precious and sacred national borders for three years. The plan envisions a series of outposts every 60 yards along the entire length, each watchtower equipped with a table, two chairs, two liters of water (sufficient for each eight hour tour) and two radios (one for a backup in case the primary fails.) No more illegal alien infiltration of our borders, which will bring a tremendous relief to our overworked hospitals, schools and other public infrastructure. Standby ready reaction force barracks, stationed every 15 miles or so can be built to house our border guards when they are not on tower duty. Until these towers are built, we can post these border guards under canvas tops, and use card tables and folding chairs as a stop-gap measure.
When John Kerry, who cannot tell a joke, tried to excoriate Mr Bu$h he was roundly reviled by the Republican Party for defaming the US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Claiming that he mocked them for their poor educational skills, he became the laughingstock of every wrongwing blog and TV station in the country. This will give the Republican Party a perfect chance to further insult Senator Kerry, if they should wish to do so. After completion of their Federal service, each veteran will be able to go on to college with the benefits of the Montgomery GI Bill. Thus, Federal service will become a great leveler, treating every trooper as equal, with no chance for complaint that some are as dumb as posts. We will have a nation of combat veterans, college educated, a definite plus for our future.
We have seen a constant series of critical moments in our combat and occupation of Iraq. Invariably these moments have hinged upon a lack of troops. By implementing Congressman Rangel’s plan we will solve the manpower problem once and for all, as soon as the first group of soldiers take up their duties in, say, November 2007.
Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman should be the first to stand behind this measure since they is on public record as advocating an additional 20,000 troops in Iraq. It has been said that one more Friedman Unit (F.U.) should see us through this mess. There has been a series of Friedman Units since this confident statement was first made, but with Congressman Rangel’s draft plan we will truly see some light at the end of the tunnel in another year – just two more F.U.s - when the first of a long line of new boots hits the ground in Iraq.
Yet another benefit of this plan is that it will finally start to heal the grievous breach in our political system. It is certain that the Republicans will join with the Democrats in backing this plan, and send a smoothly enacted bill to Mr Bu$h for his signature. After all, when the Democrats took majority positions in both houses of Congress Mr Bu$h stated that he looked forward to joining with the Democrats in a spirit of true bipartisanship, and this law will provide a perfect example of across-the-aisle unity.
Naysayers who might protest that this plan to snatch victory from defeat is unreasonable because of the costs just haven’t been paying attention. Over the last six years the Republican Party has pioneered new ground in the study of deficit spending, and it can be confidently stated that effects of this can be postponed for many years.