“Senior British military sources have told the BBC the US has asked British troops to fill in behind American soldiers, who are being sent elsewhere. It is believed the soldiers could be sent to an area south of Baghdad. BBC defence correspondent Paul Adams said the forces involved would be under US command. The Ministry of Defence said no decision has been made yet.”
I think that this request has put Blair firmly between a rock and a hard place. He has to be aware that putting a large number of British troops under US command, in even greater harms way than they are currently, in a war that a large section on the British population are unhappy with, is not going to do his election prospects any favours.
Why is Bush putting Blair in this position when Blair has his own election to win early next year? Are US troops levels really that bad?
I think we will look back at this request as the first nail in the coffin of “watch my spittle flecked lips…there will be no draft.”
And maybe, just maybe, announcing the return of a Military Draft is a pretty large leap in logic from asking for British assistance.
The American people are already sick of the Gulf War II. There will be an enormous public backlash to even whisper the word “draft” in this country again, much less consider its reprisal.
The US forces have used “stop loss” orders to extend the combat tours of active and reserve troops, even those who would have reached the end of their enlistment terms, and were supposed to be out of the military. The stop loss orders are being called the “backdoor draft.” Yes, they’re short of manpower, even though thousands of jobs have been farmed out to private firms (food service and truck driving, for example.)
I have been thinking for quite some time that the draft will be reinstated if GW is re elected. Thank God I would be one of the last to go. None the less, I think a draft by summer '05 is a real possibility under GW.
Attempting to ponce British troops and put them under US command is, clearly, not the same as stop lossing. This is a whole new ball game and it’s where it may ultimately end that intrigues me.
Isn’t the whole point of having British troops in Iraq so that they can do something? Or are they there to get suntans & chase Camel spiders? Isn’t the point of this being a joint, allied operation so that we can, you know, be allies & stuff?
Your OP asked if US troop levels are low, and I answered that and explained just how extreme the shortage is. Your title spoke of the draft, and since the possibility of a draft is a hot topic here in the US, I thought you were referring to a US draft.
I can understand why this troop-grabbing could be prickly for Mr. Blair, but how could he join Bush’s “coalition of the willing” and not think some of his troops might end up under US command?
I am opposed to Bush’s Iraq adventure, and I think Blair was imprudent to join it. The UK has been extremely chummy with the US ever since Thatcher, and I don’t quite understand what the UK gets for its coziness.
OK. US troop levels are low and you have been resorting to “stop lossing” for some time.
Given that you are now asking for Brit troops to be redeployed into an area of operations that has been the exclusive domain of the US, and given that the Brit troops must be under US command and given that this is going to be a nightmare for Blair to sell to the British public, isn’t it just possible that the US administration is scraping the barrel for troops and this could, just maybe, be the start of the beginning of the fisrt shots in a return to the draft?
So, given that Kerry wants to get the French and German troops to lend a hand, does that suggest to you that he’s twice as likely to call for a US draft? He must think we’re twice as hard up for bodies as Bush does.
Assuming Bush wins the election, does anyone here honestly think that he cars one bit about public reaction to his policies? Has he shown a scintilla of interest in the public mood? If Bush and Cheney decide to reactivate the draft, they certainly aren’t going to worry about the repercussions.
Oh come on **elfkin477[/b ]Kerry wanting French and Germans to lend a hand, is hardly the same as the current US administation actively seeking an already major contributor to the coillition effort to take up the slack.
