Before Congress got out of town for August, a General warned at a hearing on the war that by next Spring either troop levels must fall to 70,000 in Iraq-or the draft must be reinstated!

The question asked today in the Examiner( Threads (at) dcexaminer.com ) is "Agree? Disagree? Congress should bring back the military draft."

This comes just one week after they ran William Kristal's piece claiming the war can be won and that General made his statements to Congress. In addition, a Washington Post article recently claimed Bush doesn't want the draft but conscription is not "off the table" altogether.

Here's the situation: The occupation was until now sustained by rotating troops in and out. The "surge" consists of sending nearly all those rotating troops in at once, but must be followed by a drawdown as there are no more troops to send when the surge units are exhausted. It's just like the crash that comes after a crackhead has been hitting the pipe too long.

If the draft is not reinstated, there is NO WAY around the eventual drawdown! If, however the draft was reinstated by the first of January, it might be possible to have replacement troops available to turn the surge into a permanenet increase in troop levels by April.

If the GOP and Blue Dog Dems think the surge is "working," this become a mighty temptation, with no other way seen to "win" the war. While bringing back the draft during a Presidential campaign season would be political suicide for the GOP, to NOT bring back the draft will guarantee defeat in Iraq for corporate America.

This, in turn, could permanently end US control over Middle East oil markets, as an anti-US regime rises to power controlling oil reserves the size of Saudi Arabia's.

If the draft IS reinstated, the US will probably still lose the war(the Iraqi Resistance will decide this one), but Bush could well decide this is a choice between the election and the war. Besides, if the GOP were to forfeit the 2008 election by bringing back the draft, it would just about guarantee that the final defeat in Iraq happened to a Democratic president.

There is just one problem in all this-where ther is a draft, ther is resistance! As I warned the Center for American Progress in 2005, bringing back the draft will open a new front in the war-INSIDE the United States.

During Vietnam almost 300 draft boards were destroyed by insurgents here. Just how do the supporters of the draft think all those kids in the ALF and ELF will react to getting draft notices? They already burn million dollar houses under construction, smash SUV's and storm animal torture labs,wo why would they not to the same to the draft boards?

Those recruiting stations that have been vandalized around here are nothing but a tiny, tiny taste of what would happen after a draft was reinstated, as are the very largest antiwar protests of the storming of Capitol Hill on January 27.

If the draft is reinstated, whole cities will be shut down by protesters while draft board offices burn-there will truly be no sleep for the wicked!