They’d probably drop that restriction for the duration of the war, and then make a point of sending gays on the missions most likely to get them killed. If you survived they’d reinstate the rule after the war and kick you out even if you wanted to stay.
I think the willingness of draftees to show up for duty is directly proportional to the overall support of the draft. After a major terrorist attack or an offensive by another nation (e.g. Iran), kids would be very willing to service. If a draft was somehow invoked for the current Iraq War, I think a lot of kids would ditch.
I also tend to agree with Voyager. There was acceptance for the Vietnam draft because of the momentum of their father’s WWII draft. Likewise, there was a distinct fear of communism from the Cold War. But I think the Vietnam era was a tipping point for placing one’s country over one’s self. I don’t see the same kind of willingness in today’s Americans.
And I don’t want to hijack the thread, but I want to balance a point made a couple of times earlier. I disagree that Rangel’s only intention is to galvanize resistance for the Iraq War. It is clearly meant to dissuade Americans from casually launching millitary action.
I wouldn’t want to live in a country that would make me a criminal for not wanting to go to Iraq. So it’s Tim Hortons and BC Bud for me. (Edit - I’ve heard it’s hard to emigrate into Canada, so maybe I’d go somewhere else. Iran, maybe?)
Do you seriously believe this? Are you really seeing some sort of organized conspiracy where “evil corporate overlords” twirl their mustaches while soldiers die?
I don’t think the government would feel the need to intentionally send thousands of gays to their deaths. I mean, it’s not like they breed like rabbits or anything… 
I’m the one who made that point, and I’m OK with expanding his intent per the above.
They may not be twirling their mustaches, but I would be willing to wager that the defense contractors spend far more time feeling jubilant about the massive profits that the war is bringing them than they spend worrying about the deaths and injuries of US servicemen or Iraqis.
No, they tend to be clean shaven.
Just like it is the legislative branch that decides about wiretapping? I’m assuming a great crisis is declared to get it passed.
And all the bitching, moaning, and footdragging would likely cause a major crisis in training and doctrine when the old “problem soldier”, poorly motivated and of low intelligence, is replaced by thousands of educated, cynical, reflexively antiauthoritarian Generation Y civilian pukes. I imagine incidents of trainee abuse approaching Russian proportions.
Huh? The NSA wiretapping was something Bush did in secret. He could hardly re-institute the draft in secret.
You must be kidding.
I mean, really, you think 18-year-old kids have EVER been different?
I do not see some sort of evil mustache-twirling conspiracy, but I thought C-verse summed my feelings up quite precisely, Halliburton aside. I think the whole Iraq war is basically a really Dumb Idea, and I find nothing heroic about blandly handing my son over to support Bush & Co.'s Dumb Idea. Let them find their own cannon fodder to carry out their little “Let’s save the whole world from itself” project; a volunteer armed forces seems to fit the bill, and if they come up with staffing problems, it shouldn’t be my problem, nor my son’s.
I’m talking about the recent authorization, clearly now allowing surveillance, if only for six months. Do you really think that if he incited an attack by Iran, say, he couldn’t get a draft through?
I do agree that a draft is very unlikely, though, so I’m only giving probable conditions where one might get through.
Yes I do.
A quick perusal of government actions and policy regarding Iraq from 1988-2007 will prove this out. The plan was in place during the first Gulf War to invade and set up many military bases. Are you completely unaware that when we invaded this time, the specs and building plans for at least 14 major military installations were in place, and ready to be built when the space was cleared? cite
Do you truly see it as coincidence that Dick Cheney was paid $ 33.7 Million just before he was sworn in as Vice President? Will it shock you terribly to witness the enormous bonus that will come his way on January 21, 2009 ? cite
The question is not what I am seeing. The question is, what are you and many others not seeing?
You’ve got it backwards. Go as ordered. Get trained in basic infantry combat techniques. Get Issued Your Rifle. Then take up arms against the government. If you can get enough comrades on your side, you might actually win.
After that, of course, all bets are off.
OK. But there is a broad consensus that the FISA act needs to be updated. There may be a lot of disagreement about how exactly to go about updating it, but that’s a different issue and party the reason for the 6-month renewal-- to allow time for that debate to be had. There is no such agreement on a draft. Public opinion polls show less than 25% of Americans support a draft, and I know of only one Congresscritter who supports it. Link. (Open the PDF and go page 19.)
No, I don’t. He’d be impeached before a draft would get through, if it came to that. The only thing a draft would be good for would be a ground invasion, and we are NOT going to invade Iraq. No way, no how.
Look. It’s too late in Bush’s presidency for him to “get a draft through”. By the time we have our first conscripts going over there, President Hillary Rodham Clinton will be pulling them back.
We’re talking about conditional probabilities here. I agree that the probability of a draft passing is very, very low, but if one did pass then the probability that the Dems rolled over is very high.
And, like I said, many people would resist being drafted exactly because they would think the incoming Democratic president would both repeal it and give amnesty to evaders. Some people would no doubt get arrested, but selective service would look like the Italian tax system, with most resistors getting ignored because of lack of resources.
Question for the yunguns - do you update the address on your draft card when you move? Everyone still registers, right?
Well, considering they are a majority in Congress, I’d say the probability that they will have rolled over = 1. 
I just don’t get what your point is. On the one hand, you compare it to the recent vote on the NSA wiretapping issue, then you say it’s very unlikely. I think it’s out of the realm of all possibility (short of another WWII type situation).