Andy Rooney's "Shock and Awe" Campaign for the Draft

Keith — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 13:04:21 EDT

60 Minutes, a show that once defined what was news in America and was critically probed in the film The Insider, made my mouth drop last night.

From Andy Rooney's Bring Back the Draft?:

Recruiters are granting thousands of what they call "moral waivers". A "moral waiver" it turns out means they'll take someone who has committed a crime or even someone who has been in prison. Last year, a total of 8,129 "moral waivers" were given to men who volunteered for the Army.

Are these the people we want representing us? As American soldiers, they're going to give the people they meet around the world the impression that they are what all Americans are like and if they have been taken from the bottom of the barrel, they are not what we're all like.

...

In 1942 we were at war with Germany and it wasn't long before drafted college students and high school graduates dominated our military. It changed the United States Army for the better and in two years made it the best fighting force there has ever been. The Army and Navy were no longer made up of losers.

Now comes the part of this I never thought I'd hear myself say: Whenever we, as a nation, decide to fight a war – in Iraq or anywhere else – it should be fought by average Americans who are drafted.

That's a pretty funny coincidence

jr — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:44:57 EST

Headline on Sunday: Prince Harry to be Deployed in Iraq

Headline today: Blair to Announce Troops Withdrawal

Now, I don't agree with Congressman Charlie Rangel that we should reinstitute the draft, but this pretty funny coincidence seems to say that there just might be something to the idea that leaders take war more seriously when it's their kids who are at risk.

Posts with the tag draft

Andy Rooney's "Shock and Awe" Campaign for the Draft

That's a pretty funny coincidence