Letter: Draft is a necessary evil of going to war

Monday, April 16, 2007 | 7:34 a.m.

There is one thing the Iraq war has clearly demonstrated. It is that you cannot sustain this action or maintain control over even a small country for long periods using only military volunteers. Four years after we actually won the war in Iraq and the best we can muster is a stalemate policing action in the midst of a civil war.

Once an enemy has been engaged by our best and brightest, including our National Guard units, there must be automatic triggers that ensure these fighting men and women have adequate resources and frontline relief.

What should be in place, but isn't, is the dreaded draft. If you go to war, automatic time-certain conscription - with no student deferments - has many advantages. With Iraq, it would have caused Congress to pause and think more before deciding whether the president would be granted the authority to go to war. After all, this decision would mean that all of those who are eligible for military service might have to serve whether or not they volunteered.

Enacting a companion war tax measure with the same timetable as the automatic draft, say a 10 percent addition to all income taxes owed, would ensure everyone today, not future generations, participates immediately in the decision to go to war - and not just our best and brightest.

Richard Rychtarik, Las Vegas