Draft

Despite Bush's repeated insistence that there will be no draft if he's reelected, it looks more and more likely that he is lying. Earlier in the week there were reports that BushCo. is working on plans to draft medical and other high-need personnel. These plans supposedly included public relations spin to sell the plan to doctors and the public. Soldiers are already being held past their ETS (End Term of Service) dates by Stop Loss Orders. There have been stories (LA Times - subscription) about soldiers being pressured - and even threatened - to reenlist. Yesterday brought news that some elite training units were being stripped of senior soldiers who were sent to Iraq.

Today, the Wall Street Journal (subscription) has this:

For the second straight year, U.S. Army recruiters fell short of their goal for signing up enlistees in the first month of a new recruiting cycle.

For the first 30-day period in its new recruiting year, the Army was 30% shy of its goal of signing up 7,274 recruits. The Army had a particularly hard time recruiting for the Army Reserve, on which the Pentagon has relied heavily in Iraq and Afghanistan. Enlistments for the reserves were 45% below the target.

In the same period last year, the Army came up 25% short in its goal in the first month for enlisting 6,220 regular recruits and 40% short of its reserve enlistment goal.

If Bush is reelected, he's promised more of the same as far as foreign policy and preemptive wars go. So ask yourself this: how could there not be a draft?