The military

Military recruiters are getting desperate, said Bob Herbert in The New York Times. The war in Iraq is scaring off young people who don't want to spend the next few years 'œducking bullets and dodging roadside bombs,' leaving recruiters far short of the 'œwarm bodies' they need to fill their quotas. The Army has now missed its recruitment goals four months running, and is resorting to accepting high school dropouts and misfits who, until recently, would have been summarily rejected. 'œThe Army is so desperate for even lukewarm bodies,' in fact, that it's just doubled its sign-up bonus to $40,000. Lately, recruiters have been stepping up their pursuit of impressionable high school kids, triggering a growing backlash among parents. It's the parents, in fact, who are now mounting America's most effective anti-war movement. 'œThey're saying to their children: Hell no, you won't go.'

This is no short-term crisis, said Michelle Cottle in The New Republic Online. The Army has been quietly reducing its standards for recruits since the 1990s, and sooner or later, 'œthe lower quality and quantity of recruits' will undermine the viability of the all-volunteer military, and, ultimately, 'œnational security.' So what's the alternative? Reinstituting the draft. It's fairer, and will end recruiting problems once and for all. The only argument against the draft is that it is 'œpolitically infeasible.' But that's a euphemism. What it really means is that it's easier to let a small segment of working-class and poor kids 'œdo the dangerous job of safeguarding the freedoms of the more privileged.' With recruits coming home from Iraq maimed or in coffins, it's getting harder to ignore this obvious inequity. The choice seems clear: Bring home the troops, or bring on the draft.

Actually, there's another way, said Max Boot in the Los Angeles Times: 'œBroaden the recruiting base beyond U.S. citizens,' allowing illegal aliens and other foreigners to serve in return for American citizenship. The idea is not as radical as it sounds. Great Britain and many other nations successfully integrate noncitizens into their militaries, as did the U.S. back in the Civil War. Critics 'œinvoke the specter of mercenaries,' but we already rely on tens of thousands of well-paid, non-American 'œcontractors' in Iraq. 'œThey would be a lot more useful if they were in uniform and subject to military orders.' Besides, serving a few years in our military would establish these recruits as 'œthe kind of motivated, hardworking immigrants we want.' And it sure beats 'œrecruiting felons.'

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