This week, some fatuous people on the right - including at least one on-air "talent" at Fox - expressed the opinion (you could even say the hope) that it will take another 9-11-sized terrorist attack to refocus America on "who the enemy really is."
At the same time, Army Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, the "Iraq War Czar," opined that, given the stress on the regular military and National Guard troops, it makes sense to consider reinstating the draft.
If the people on the right want America to focus on the war, the draft, not some spectacular act of terrorism will work better - and longer.
Speaking from experience, I can tell you that something about hearing the chairman of your draft board say, "Your ass will be in 'Nam a year from today." gets you focused. More cultured language (The guy was wearing bib overalls. His hard hat was on the radiator behind him) and a change of venue from Vietnam to Iraq would do little to diffuse your attention.
An act of terrorism, on the other hand, would only stoke up the more generalized, jingoistic, kind of hatred that made it so easy for Cheney, Bush, and the rest to conflate 9-11 and Iraq in the first place. Any focus thus gleaned would blow away on the breeze - like the columns of smoke rising from whatever the terrorists ruined.
No doubt about it. For 100% pure personal focus, reinstating the draft would beat another terrorist attack hands down. (Barring a truly cataclysmic attack, of course.)
Especially if, as they have done in every past draft, the rich and influential find their way around having to serve. Mitt Romney's sons. The Bush twins. Cheney's daughters. They would become poster children for the persistent inequities regarding who actually goes to war. A bit closer to home, you would see rich and influential friends and neighbors scramble to find Dick Cheney-like "other priorities" for their draft age children.
Reinstating the draft would refocus America's attention on an old American schism; The schism between people who talk about the war and people who actually go fight the war.
Short of something truly dire, a terrorist attack would only rekindle a general state of pissed-offedness at "the terrorists" for a while, making the general population more malleable and open to Chicken Little propaganda ala Fox News.
Which is why those fatuous turds on the right find themselves longing for another terrorist attack in the first place. Nice "News Network," Rupert.
Advertisement