Ellen Tauscher: “I oppose this bill to reinstate the draft, but I really want to thank the Republican leadership for bringing the bill to…”

“I oppose this bill to reinstate the draft, but I really want to thank the Republican leadership for bringing the bill to the floor, even though they oppose it, to highlight this administration's complete mismanagement of the war in Iraq. Imposing a draft is not the right solution, but it is time we recognized a real problem. Our military is overstretched, overcommitted, and close to the breaking point. Last week, Paul Bremer, the former Iraqi administrator, acknowledged that we should have had more troops in Iraq to deal with the counterinsurgency which has resulted in over 1,000 Americans dead. He is only the latest to call for an increase in the size of our military. From former Army Chief of Staff General Shinseki, whose appeal for more troops in Iraq fell on deaf ears, to General John Riggs, the head of the Army's transportation efforts, who called for an increase in end-strength beyond 10,000 troops, to the Pentagon's own Defense Science Board, which warned last week that inadequate troop size means that the United States cannot sustain current and projected global stabilization commitments, the strain on our military is increasingly obvious. Guards and Reservists make up 40 percent of our mission in Iraq, and those who have served and survived are not able to come home because there is nobody to replace them.”