Like I've been saying all along!

What is the big difference between the Vietnam war and the occupation of Iraq? Only two words; NO DRAFT. Boston Globe Columnist Joan Vennochi seems to agree.
A military draft might awaken us

REINSTATE THE military draft and see how quickly the United States ends its war in Iraq.

Imagine if all our sons and daughters were at risk for deployment to the desert. Imagine if all our children faced the Al Qaeda-style butchery that took the lives of two American soldiers, Private First Class Thomas L. Tucker of Madras, Ore., and Private First Class Kristian Menchaca of Houston.

If we feared our children were next up to be gutted like fish, we might be less likely to shake our heads at crazy antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan. If turning 18 meant your kid's boots on the ground, a resolution to pull troops out of Iraq by a certain date might grab more than six votes in the US Senate.

A key difference between Iraq and Vietnam is the country's ability to keep this war at a convenient distance. We can turn from the front page headlines of war, death, and destruction to sports and celebrity gossip; a click of the remote, and the face of a young soldier, now dead, fades to ``Friends" reruns or ``America's Next Top Model." The volunteer army ensures that someone else's children are losing limbs and dying; someone else's children are pushed to alleged acts of violence against Iraqi detainees and civilians. Even when the news from Iraq is so brutal it forces a momentary focus on war, quick relief is promised.

I was attending college from 1964 - 1968. College students, and in some cases their parents, hit the streets to oppose the war in Vietnam. We haven't seen that during the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Many of those protesting the Iraq misadventure are the same people who protested the Vietnam debacle. They remember, the majority of the US population has nothing to lose.

Although I opposed the Vietnam war and was drafted after graduating from college in 1968 I have always been in favor of a draft, universal service. If you have a stake in a war you are more likely to question it. I have always been in favor of a draft even when I was caught up in it because I believe it makes war less likely.

Related
Army takes older recruits This is desperation, 18 - 21 year old make the best recruits. I was drafted after graduating from college and the army hated the idea of people old enough to be capable of independent thought. And rightly so, they make lousy soldiers.