If Afghanistan is soo crucial to national security then there should be a military draft

30,000+ increase ain't enough to "win" in a country like Afghanistan....

If this is the "right war" there shouldn't be hesitation about total mobilization, right?

It seems like the problem is with planning, having a goal and understanding the population.

The question is are we over there to defeat the taliban, defeat the insurgents, defeat al qaeda, build a nation, free women from oppression, etc?

Quite frankly I don't think the President and war planners have a clue, they just want a presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nothing has changed since GWB.

We are there to prevent the alquada and talibans taking over Pakistan and it's
nuclear power ... that's why!!!

:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:

to pay for the escalation.

a recruiter in whatever area you live.

You can't afford to move many more soldiers into Afghanistan or support them while they are there.

and you want to give them more manpower???

that it provided enough draftees to keep 500,000 troops in Vietnam for years and get 58,000+ of them killed. The draft also provided plenty of cannon-fodder for Korea with not resulting political pressure.

While our current wars are much more expensive than Korea or Vietnam (draftees are pretty cheap and easily replaceable), there is something to say for using fewer but more highly trained troops who, at least to some extent, join the military voluntarily rather than large numbers of relatively poorly trained draftees. We've had 4,500+ killed in Iraq and 900+ in Afghanistan.

your post revisits the issue of our troops still stationed all over the world --

but I'm not sure what those numbers are now?

I'm quite certain we haven't withdrawn any of them/?

And I'm quite sure that plans will be to stay in Middle East -- FOREVER.

But you made me wonder how they are keeping all of those bases supplied with troops because

I would think that anyone enlisting would be fearful of being sent to ME??

I'm wondering if Blackwater and privatized military is also taking over there??

I'm also wondering what the death toll of privatized troops is vs our own troops?

I'm not watching TV except C-span . . . so if anyone is answering those questions elsewhere,

it would be interesting to know.

War is a good way to bankrupt our Treasury and end democracy --

anal cysts or vague "other priorities" would involve more of the children of the folks who are making these decisions. This might give them a different perspective, knowing that their own relatives might be in harm's way.