Today I received a letter from my representative, Earl Blumenauer (Democrat OR-3) concerning his position on the war in Iraq.  While I realize that some will criticize him for his position that we not pull completely out of Iraq immediately, I appreciate his candor and willingness to admit that we are most likely causing terrorism to spread in the Middle East rather than, as Bush says, fighting it.  I especially agree with his postition on immediately returning the National Guard.

I apologize if this has previously been diarized as my search turned out nothing.  Following is his letter and his message titled The Only Option Left in Iraq.  If you feel so compelled to write him, you can contact him at his webiste

Citing concerns about the National Guards ability to continue to provide security at home, Governer Kulongoski said that it is time that we discuss a draft.

The link to the story is here

Kulongoski is a Democratic governer and former Marine.  I agree with him that we need to have this discussion.  He is right that the National Guard has been stretched too thin and that the Department of Defense is leaving too little for the states.

More importantly, I believe that it is past time to put a check on this administration's unfunded excesses.  We need to face the fact that we don't have enough service people to continue to support our ventures in the Middle East and absent volunteers, our military adventures must be curbed or our troop numbers strengthened by conscription.  It is my hope that the reality of an impending draft will cause people to better understand that the cost of this war goes far beyond buying a ribbon magnet at Wal Mart.