Busy Time – Iraq, Iran, Scotland
The launch of the PSA Blog “Across the Aisle” comes at an appropriate but busy time. Events in Iraq have hardly settled down, and yet a number of Americans seem intent upon some sort of military confrontation with Iran. (e.g. here and here) Although a few of these voices assure us that we must do anything it takes to win in such a contest, most will candidly admit that we lack the resources (i.e. PEOPLE) to occupy a country the size of Iran while nearly 140,000 U.S. troops are tied down in Iraq. (The news is not all bad, however. For a few sensible voices on Iran, visit The Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy web site.)
That does beg the question, however: What if we were not constrained by the number of U.S. troops? What if we had a nearly unlimited supply of men (and presumably women) standing by to enter the services? This was certainly the case in Vietnam, when political leaders and military planners alike gave very little thought to “resource constraints.”
As it happens, I am leaving on Tuesday for a three-day conference in Scotland, sponsored by the Liberty Fund, discussing the timely topic of “Standing Armies, Militias, and Liberty.” The readings cover over 400 years of history and philosphy, going back to Machiavelli’s The Prince to a 1994 article from the Wake Forest Law Review.
I am a proud veteran of the all-volunteer military, having accepted a commission as a naval officer through the NROTC program at George Washington University. I served over four years on active duty, over three of those on board a naval surface ship, the guided missile cruiser USS TICONDEROGA. While I know that some military people were opposed when the country moved away from conscription in 1973, I am quite sure that very few people in the current military would welcome a return to conscription.
But I think I’ll have more to say on this topic in a week. Check back then.
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