By Steve Benen: The Military Times newspapers published a massive new poll after questioning 6,000 randomly selected active-duty members of the Armed Forces. The results ran counter to much of the conventional wisdom -- barely one in three service members approve of the way the president is handling the war; a majority believe it was wrong to go into Iraq in the first place; and a plurality reject the notion of sending additional troops into the war. For reasons that are unclear, the media seems to have missed the poll entirely.

Labels: Iraq war, military, polls

By Ezra Klein: The Bush administration's VA Secretary, Jim Nicholson, just said that our society would benefit from "replacing the all-volunteer force with a tough draft purged of the deferments that allowed many to avoid service in Vietnam." Meanwhile, Mark Krikorian wants a draft so we have a bigger military to fight more awesome wars. And Charlie Rangel wants a draft so we have a more diverse military that will make it nearly politically impossible to fight any wars. Meanwhile, I don't want a draft because, unlike Krikorian, Rangel, and Nicholson, I'd actually be vulnerable to it, so such a plan looks less like an awesome political theory abstraction and more like my life would be in the hands of the fools and knaves currently running our government. I didn't feel this way about national service a few years ago, incidentally. But one effect of the Iraq War was to shred any illusions that our leaders are wise and prudent and take seriously the lives entrusted to their care.

Labels: draft, Iraq war, military