Draftees At Drill Preparing For The War To End All Wars 1917

Lieutenant General Doug Lute, the “War Czar” known around the White House as the “General of least reluctance” is talking “Draft.” Expressing his concern at the stress and strain of repeated lengthy deployments on the troops as well as their families the General said:

As an Army officer, this is a matter of real concern to me. Ultimately, the American army, and any other all-volunteer force, rests with the support and the morale and the willingness to serve demonstrated by our ? especially our young men and women in uniform. And I am concerned that those men and women and the families they represent are under stress as a result of repeated deployments.

General Lute, who accepted the position of War Czar after the rest of the General Staff either fled in stark terror at the prospect of accepting such a potentially career ending position or simply hid out in the Senior Officer’s head in the Pentagon until the position was safely filled, did not actually use the “D” word, but, in response to questions from National Public Radio’s Michele Norris on Friday in an interview for “All Things Considered” he definitely left the door wide open in this exchange:

Norris- You know, given the stress on the military and the concern about these extended deployments for an all-volunteer military, can you foresee, in the future, a return to the draft?

Gen Lute- You know, that’s a national policy decision point that we have not yet reached, Michele, because the ?

Norris- But does it make sense militarily?

Gen. Lute- I think it makes sense to certainly consider it, 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. Today, the current means of the all-volunteer force is serving us exceptionally well. It would be a major policy shift, not actually a military, but a political policy shift to move to some other course.

Norris- Do you agree with that assessment that there is a real pressure point in the spring ? that that’s when the Pentagon will face some tough decisions about either extended deployments or reducing the time spent at home?

Gen. Lute- Yes, I do agree that come the spring, some variables will have to change ? either the degree to which the American ground forces, the Marines and the Army in particular, are deployed around the world to include Iraq, or the length of time they’re deployed in one tour, or the length of time they enjoy at home. Those are, essentially, the three variables.

Personally, I read that to mean that there have already been discussions on this at the “policy” level ( else the General would not have let it pass his highly skilled Czarist lips ) and it will likely become Bush’s next “Plan B” in the spring. The Republicans will tag along as will the acquiescent Democrats after a few obligatory public tugs at their Master’s sock, because none of these people want out of Iraq as long as they are being paid so handsomely by those who will ultimately profit from American hegemony in the oil rich region.

I would like to think that drafting a hundred thousand college age children of the wealthy to serve in the Mesopotamian morass would hasten the end of the war but it probably will not. The younger generation of chickenhawks will receive the same deferments as their fathers and the children of the working class will slog off to die in a civil war that will continue into the next decade, probably embroiling Iran in the hideous stew because we want control of their oil as well.

We’re not building the Disney World of embassies in Baghdad to fix traffic tickets, run consular affairs or replace lost passports for the occasional hapless tourist and we’re not building extensive permanent military bases all over Iraq to turn over to the tenuous control of Iraqi security forces who will likely surrender to the first Jihadist who points a weapon in their general direction.

I am being unfair to the War Czar though because he doesn’t like that title, preferring instead the title of Deputy National Security Adviser (Asst to Stephen Hadley) or Assistant to the President (Junior):

Norris- I’m just curious, What do you think of the term war czar?

Gen Lute- It’s actually an unfortunate term because it doesn’t describe my job at all.

Norris- But it’s often how people describe you.

Gen Lute- That may be, but it wouldn’t be my choice of how I describe the job. What I’m trying to do here is actually facilitate the very hard work that’s taking place on the ground and link it to the very hard work that’s being done here in Washington across the departments of the executive branch with the priorities of what’s required on the ground reflected in the efforts here in Washington. I’m in charge of about 15 people. Now that’s not exactly very czar-like, but what I am able to do is make sure that efforts are aligned properly.

Editor’s note: HUH? Is that a job?

Norris- Well, you know what they say in Washington sometimes ? that power is concentrated.

Gen Lute- [Chuckles.] Well, I have 15 very qualified people, and we’re working very hard to do our best to contribute to this effort.

All of this I take to mean that the draft is coming, and Canada had best be prepared for another influx of young American expats, possibly beginning next spring.

I also learned that it only takes two months for a highly trained General Officer to pick up the irritating habit of using the words “hard work” in nearly every paragraph if you place him in the company of those who spent their Vietnam years as Yale cheerleaders, members of the Cornell Glee Club, or simply having “other priorities.”

Bob Higgins

Worldwide Sawdust

‘War Czar’ Concerned over Stress of War on Troops

Bush War Adviser Says Draft Worth a Look

Selective Service plans “readiness” tests for military draft

Bush War Czar Considering Military Draft

Throughout the war, the reporting in The New Yorker, both by Sy Hersh and Jane Mayer, has been indispensable to understanding what is actually going on.

In this week's New Yorker, Jane Mayer has a great piece about  how the CIA has used torture to extract confessions from people it has decided are terrorists. The things that are being done in our name, with no assurance that they are gaining useful information or protecting the American people, are nothing short of shocking.

What may be newer is the way Mayer documents the manipulation of intelligence “disclosures” by the government, and how credulous the American press has been in swallowing whatever the government has decided to dish out.

Read this article today:

In March, Mariane Pearl, the widow of the murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, received a phone call from Alberto Gonzales, the Attorney General. At the time, Gonzales’s role in the controversial dismissal of eight United States Attorneys had just been exposed, and the story was becoming a scandal in Washington. Gonzales informed Pearl that the Justice Department was about to announce some good news: a terrorist in U.S. custody—Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Al Qaeda leader who was the primary architect of the September 11th attacks—had confessed to killing her husband. (Pearl was abducted and beheaded five and a half years ago in Pakistan, by unidentified Islamic militants.) The Administration planned to release a transcript in which Mohammed boasted, “I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew Daniel Pearl in the city of Karachi, Pakistan. For those who would like to confirm, there are pictures of me on the Internet holding his head.”

Five years ago: Iraq's information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, told the Arabic satellite television station Al-Jazeera that there was no need for U.N. weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad and branded as a “lie” allegations that Saddam Hussein still had weapons of mass destruction.

Thanks, Ralph.

per the Rutland Herald:

Vermont’s senior senator is coming to a theater near you.
Patrick Leahy has landed a speaking part in “The Dark Knight,” the latest in the Batman movie series.

Apparently, Leahy will be donating the proceeds to a local library.  Very cool.

“Man,” I cried, “how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom!” – from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Translation: the most dangerous thing in the world is being a smart guy who isn't actually as smart as he thinks he is.

Why? Hey, this is Frankenstein we're talking about – because you might end up creating monsters that come back to haunt you later. Today's example? This quote from the Burlington Free Press:

Kurt Wright is the man on the spot. He is the Republican City Council president of one of the most un-Republican cities in the country.

It's old news, but in light of recent conversations about backing anti-choice, anti-gay rights Republican Senators as de facto Dem candidates, it bears repeating. Rep. Kurt Wright is playing savvy politics in positioning himself as a real threat – not simply in the Burlington mayor's race, but for statewide office through his position as leader of the Burlington City Council. For those of you who don't remember, the reason he has that position is that a Democrat put him there, rather than see a Progressive get the position. This is what's known as cutting off one's nose to spite one's face – or possibly shooting off one's face to spite one's head.

Wright is well on the way to becoming the latest Frankencrat Monster. Also on the list is General Michael Dubie, brother of the other Dubie, who was promoted to the position of Adjutant General by the Democratic legislature, and wasted no time in speaking out against progressive legislative priorities vis-a-vis the VT National Guard and Iraq.

Think I'm being alarmist? When we don't challenge these guys and instead enable them or give them free passes, they come back bigger and better, even when we thought we were being clever when we did it in the first place. In 2000, the Democrats did not field a candidate for State Treasurer, allowing the Republican incumbent to walk in with a gazillion percent of the vote and build up a phony bipartisan feelgood narrative that made him into an electoral juggernaut.

If you're new to the state, the Treasurer's name was Jim Douglas.

So now we have massive infrastructure failure at both ends of the Mississippi River.  I guess this is the moment when the conservative goal of dragging off the government and drowning it has been most successful.  The trouble is that both this tragedy and Hurricane Katrina demonstrate that government is not “them”- it is “us.”  And we are the ones being literally drowned.  And before we are all overwhelmed by red herring press discussions of gussets versus welded construction on bridges, let's remember this -road and bridge maintenance is about funding, and we all know where the funds are going.

Bush stood up in a news conference and spoke relaxedly about the sub-prime mortgage disaster rippling through world markets.  He said that the market would correct naturally and that we should all be happy that the economy is in such good shape, and that tax-and-spend Democrats would raise our taxes, undermine the entrepreneurial spirit and alter the spending habits of Americans who know better how to spend their money than does the government.

But infrastructure is not created by entrepreneurs and private investors.  Infrastructure is more than simply a large capital investment like a telephone company or an electrical generator.  Infrastructure generates social benefits that are beyond the financial returns to an investor.  And infrastructure has what economists call “positive network effects.”  In other words, the more of it there is, the more valuable it becomes.  An entrepreneur can build a toll road between two or three points, but unless it connects to all the other roads, it is of minimal value (“Bridge to Nowhere”).  No entrepreneur would build the interstate highway system.  And none would maintain it.

Government is the institution that societies create to handle things that we must do in common, and that will not be done well or at all by individuals acting in their own self-interest, no matter how enlightened.  And there are a lot of those.

I spoke with a soldier who told me he was offered 97,000 a month to join Blackwater as a private contracter in Iraq.   I've heard that there are now more private contracters than soldiers.

You may have already read about the tax assessment controversy in the Capital City.

The news today is that last night (actually early this morning, since the meeting went past midnight) the Montpelier City Council voted unanimously to base the next year's property tax bills on the old assessments, giving the city another year to be sure it's getting the appraisal system right. 

The room was packed with people challenging the seemingly arbitrary way the figures were arrived at, the lack of transparency in the methodology, andwhat they considered an inadequate response to their concerns by city officials. Complaints also raised broader policy issues, such as the allocation of tax burdens between commercial and residential properties.

There is room to be impressed both by the thoughtfulness of the comments, the responsiveness of the Council members, and the organizing job that Gary Schy did to get this rolling. 

This one seems to have come in under the radar, but apparently the Oscar-winning actor Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter, Pulp Fiction, True Romance) is going to run for president in '08, as an independent. From the Walken 2008 website:

“Our great country is in a terrible downward spiral. We're outsourcing jobs, bankrupting social security, and losing lives at war. We need to focus on what's important– paying attention to our children, our citizens, our future. We need to think about improving our failing educational system, making better use of our resources, and helping to promote a stable, safe, and tolerant global society. It's time to be smart about our politics. It's time to get America back on track.”

It's not a joke, but it seems that he should have gotten the ball rolling a bit earler if he hopes to get any sort of visibility at all, if for no other reason than to press the issues. It'll be interesting to see if this is able to make a ripple at all in the campaign. At the very least, it might make it a bit more interesting. And he's a hell of a lot better actor than Reagan was.

As an interesting side note, his parents had  a summer home next door to my grandmother's house in Florida. I used to stay  there every now and then and used to party my teen years away with his nephew,  Jesse, too.

UPDATED: Well, shame on me. Hat tip to kestrel… it IS a joke, easily debunked on Snopes.com. Perhaps there is a future for me at the op-ed pages of the Caledonian Record. 

(NOTE: If you've noticed diaries appearing and disappearing, it's because I'm seriously bungling the “draft” vs. “live” diary feature today… woops…)

Governor Douglas's administration has stated that they believe most of the now-defeated (by his hand) H.520 (the “global warming” bill) can be implemented through the executive branch – even the efficiency utility piece that was so controversial. Well lo and behold, the Public Service Board has reported back that, no, they have no such authority and would require legislative action (duh) to proceed. What's absolutely jaw-dropping is the statement from Commissioner of Public Service David O'Brien:

The administration was never against evaluating in broad terms how best to improve the efficient use of heating fuels by Vermonters, O'Brien said. Instead, his and Douglas' concern about the energy bill was the speed with which an entirely new program was being implemented, he said.

“We were hesitant and cautious … most of our real concern was how fast this was moving along,” O'Brien said.

Oh – THAT was the problem? That's the story now? Puh-leeze!

I know this administration rewrites history fairly casually, but this is a new extreme. So now the problem is the timetable… what was it then? Ah yes… taxes taxes taxes:

Governor Douglas has been the most outspoken critic of the Democrats' global warming fix, labeling it “Shumlin's Tax” in honor of the Senate's Democratic leader, Peter Shumlin of Windham County. Ad the governor has been doing an effective job of redefining the major environmental” bill of the 2007 legislative session as a “tax” bill. And being “Mr No New Taxes” is precisely how our governor wants Vermont voters to view him.

“There they go again,” is the constant Douglas refrain as he continues to effectively paint the Democrats as the raise-your-taxes party. H 520, he says, “is a terrible message to send to the business community.”

…and of course, when word was out that Legislative leaders would agree to suspend the rules and remove the Yankee tax – all they needed was a teeny bit of Republican help, history changed again (emphasis added)…

But Douglas said he objects to the creation and structure of the heating fuels efficiency program, not just its funding source. Both would have to be eliminated to gain his support, said the governor, who has offered a competing plan.

“I have two problems with the bill,” Douglas said. In addition to the tax it establishes an “untested bureaucracy that is not well thought-out and is expensive.”

And now we hear it was just the timetable all along. Uh-huh. Anybody else feel insulted?

Douglas has an astonishing history of flip-flopping all around on issues, depending on how he feels he can score electoral points, and the media have always let him get away with it. “Governor Flip-Flop” is a far more effective mantra than “Governor No” in my opinion – and at least as accurate.

But the question remains as to where exactly he's coming from? I have no doubt that, if he could, he would have implemented by executive fiat some form of the efficiency utility program just to stick it to the Dems and take credit. Which begs the question again as to why he vetoed the bill and rejected the offer of removing the funding source? Sure he got a contribution from Entergy's PAC last election, but it was a paltry $400.

Once again, Douglas seems to have no core values. He takes credit for anything done in Montpelier that gets positive attention, whether or not he opposed it from the outset. More than once, this approach has left members of his own party hanging out to dry – and the results of the last couple legislative elections have been a testament to that.

But largely due to a cowed/charmed media and a ridiculously short election calendar, voters (particularly moderate Dems) let him get away with it over and over and over again. SO much so that he clearly feels free to casually and brazenly flip-flop on a dime at this point, confident that there will always be just enough self-dubbed moderates that will shuffle zombie-like into the polls and vote yet again for him in clear opposition to their own self-interest, that he never need worry about his job security.

If we don't get a Dem candidate stepping up to the plate soon who will run an earlier, more ground-based campaign than we've seen before (and than election “professionals” are programmed to consider “proper”), it will be a failure of monumental proportions to the rank and file.

Step up to the plate, folks. Now.