At 11:50 AM 11/20/2006, Paul Papadeas wrote:
>A truly progressive party would....
>
>1. Fight to revoke or completely gut the Patriot Act and all other
>illegal legislation eradicating the loss of habeas corpus and torture.
>
>2. Try Bush and co. for war crimes - as there is no such thing as a
>"War on Terrorism" as there is no true enemy (nation state). Back the ICC.
>
>3. Push for complete nuclear disarmament (and that would mean NOT
>using this medium for clean energy).
>
>4. Giving corporations tremendous incentives and even forced
>mandates (including revoking charters) to oil industry to transfer
>business models for alternative energy technology.
>
>5. Investigate 9/11 again as well as links between US and Intl
>corporations and the invasion of Iraq - not to mention links of
>funding to terrorist networks by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
>
>6. Push for new legislation to investigate Senators and members of
>Congress who pose as Foreign Agents and what their effect would be
>on foreign policy decisions.
>
>Marvin Gandall <marvgandall at videotron.ca> wrote:
>Brian wrote:
>
> > But the "all-volunteer" army is also a form of involuntary servitude. At
> > least with a draft, the privileged asses of Biff an Muffy will be taken
> > out of their graduate seminars and plopped down in combat.
> >
> > If that happened, the troops would be out of Iraq in 36 hours. If you
> > want to stop a foreign war, make sure that who goes to fight it is a
> > matter of pure luck.
>========================
>It's true there would be a form of rough justice for Biff and Muffy, which
>might well lead one or both to oppose foreign wars or to emigrate to Canada,
>as during Vietnam.
>
>But the downside risk of a draft is greater. A major reason why the US is
>bogged down in Iraq is because its regular army and reserves are stretched
>too thin. A lot of antwar pressure on Congress is coming from military
>families who are objecting to extended and repeated tours for their loved
>ones in a war which is perceived as unwinnable because there are not enough
>forces on the ground. The US political establishment also no longer feels it
>is able to credibly intervene, if it needs to, on multiple fronts such as
>North Korea or Latin America. Congress will address this deficiency by
>making a bipartisan attempt to increase the size of the military, but a
>draft, despite Rangel, is not in the cards.
>
>It's also worth remembering that the US army has a very long tail, and that,
>even were there a draft, working class and minority troops would still bear
>the brunt of combat, as in Vietnam, while more privileged young Americans
>would be mainly involved in less risky support roles.
>
>
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