recursion

Back in November 2002, I linked to a story that said draft boards were being formed. The reality was probably a little more mundane. The Defense Department likes to make sure Selective Service boards are fully staffed at all times in the event a draft becomes necessary.

Now the blogosphere is roiling with speculation that a draft is imminent because of a recent Salon article about the administration's recent plan to staff the draft boards. Salon quotes some experts who feel the draft is a real option because we don't have enough troops to replace those currently in Iraq nor really control the country:

"The closest parallel to the Iraq situation is the British in Northern Ireland, where you also had some people supporting the occupying army and some opposing them, and where the opponents were willing to resort to terror tactics," says Charles Peña, director of defense studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. "There the British needed a ratio of 10 soldiers per 1,000 population to restore order, and at their height, it was 20 soldiers per 1,000 population. If you transfer that to Iraq, it would mean you'd need at least 240,000 troops and maybe as many as 480,000.

"The only reason you aren't hearing these kinds of numbers discussed by the White House and the Defense Department right now," Peña adds, "is that you couldn't come up with them without a return to the draft, and they don't want to talk about that."

I really don't think anything will come of this because the draft is political poison and everyone knows it. It'd be much easier to "declare victory" and get the hell out of Iraq after setting up a puppet government.

Nevertheless, this article has spawned some good commentary about the draft and Iraq. Nick Confessore at TAPPED explores our options and suggests a national service program for all college students. Melanie over at Daily Kos thinks that the draft is the only option, but will be withheld until after the election since it's politically radioactive. Steve Gilliard explains why he thinks the draft won't work and Atrios points out that all you have to do to get out of it is say you're gay.

Common sense prevails!

"We both regret a series of misunderstandings that have resulted in something that neither of us intended. We have discussed our differences, and both of us are confident that such misunderstandings will not occur again in the future. As a result, Mr. Luskin is retracting his demand letter of October 29, 2003. We congratulate each other on having quickly achieved an amicable resolution. We are both glad to have put this behind us."

The Matrix Revolutions is coming out tomorrow. The Star Tribune has a review savaging it and a piece where they ask local sci-fi book store staffers to explain the story. It doesn't surprise me that the employees at comic book stores liked the Matrix Reloaded and plan to see Revolutions immediately, whereas the employee at Uncle Hugo's thought Reloaded sucked and plans on catching Revolutions at the dollar theater.

I'm one of the few who liked Reloaded and so I am disappointed that Revolutions is tending towards suckiness and a pat ending. I'm not going to see it opening night because of some time conflicts but I'll probably catch it this weekend. Maybe at the matinee.