Question 1: "A Military Draft is Not The Answer"
Michael O'Hanlon claims that a draft is not the answer even though he admits we do need a substantially larger standing military to sustain the Iraq mission for its duration. While he has a point about unfairness, as Quindlan (2001) points out, under President Jimmy Carter, when Afghanistan was invaded by Russia, the President, as well as the army chief of staff, asked at the time for registration of women as well as men" (Quindlan 99). She also points out that now one out of five enlistees into the armed services are women. In other words, women are just as eager- and useful- during the Iraq crisis as any other time.
To reinstate the draft would be the fairest means to assure equal sacrifice and equal service by all those eligible.
The fact that a draft would be unfair is not realistic. As Sherrel Wheeler Steward wrote: "Two months before President Bush ordered the U.S. military forces to invade Iraq, Rep. Charles Rangel introduced a bill in Congress to reinstate the draftà..he took the action to ensure that Americans would share equally in the sacrifices that would be made" (Steward 1).
Congressman Rangel, who is African-American surely was aware of the disproportionate number of casualties suffered by blacks in the military, and he surely felt that the idea of service and "sacrifice" should not be so skewed toward minorities. "While blacks make up a little more than 12 percent of the nation's population, the Pentagon said blacks were 20 percent of the enlistees in the all-volunteer military" Stewart 1). In addition, minorities- blacks and Hispanics share a disproportionate number of casualties. "From the onset oof the war on March 19, 2003 through Feb. of this year (2004) 79 black soldiers have died in Iraq. This number is 14.3 percent of the 549 combat deaths in the period. Hispanic soldiers accounted for 11.3 percent of U.S. Military dead during this time...