We were told there would be no draft. So why are these people calling for a draft?

"Letter to Congress on Increasing U.S. Ground Forces", written to several members of Congress by Project for the New American Century.

Ooh-boy...

"The United States military is too small for the responsibilities we are asking it to assume."

"The United States will not and should not become less engaged in the world in the years to come."

"...the defense and promotion of freedom in the post-9/11 world require a larger military force than we have today."

"So we write to ask you and your colleagues in the legislative branch to take the steps necessary to increase substantially the size of the active duty Army and Marine Corps."

"There is abundant evidence that the demands of the ongoing missions in the greater Middle East, along with our continuing defense and alliance commitments elsewhere in the world, are close to exhausting current U.S. ground forces."

"The only way to fulfill the military aspect of this commitment is by increasing the size of the force available to our civilian leadership."

"...we can afford both the necessary number of ground troops and what is needed for transformation of the military."

"We can afford the military we need."

"Reserves were meant to be reserves, not regulars."

"Our regulars and reserves are not only proving themselves as warriors, but as humanitarians and builders of emerging democracies."

"We can honor their sacrifices by giving them the manpower and the materiel they need."

"Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution places the power and the duty to raise and support the military forces of the United States in the hands of the Congress. That is why we, the undersigned, a bipartisan group with diverse policy views, have come together to call upon you to act."

"You will be serving your country well if you insist on providing the military manpower we need to meet America's obligations, and to help ensure success in carrying out our foreign policy objectives in a dangerous, but also hopeful, world."

It's signed by 34 individuals who figure bigtime in military, the defense industry, and what's come to be called "neo-conservative" policies. But curiously it's missing signatures from some people who did sign PNAC's Statement of Principles: Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Jeb Bush, Gary Bauer, quite a few others...

The word "draft" itself doesn't figure anywhere in this letter. But really, what else can they be referring to? Maybe these guys are smarter than we give 'em credit for: I mean, it would raise eyebrows all over the place if the current Vice-President of the United States and Secretary of Defense put their names on a letter urging the draft be brought back, no doubt.

If it is, the response from American young people should be the same: don't go until we see Jenna and Barbara getting shipped off to Iraq with rifles in their hands.