So Guest 282AR believes that the Draft will save the face of the US in Iraq.

OK let's take a look at 282AR's Drafted Troops shall we?

I asked how long he thought it would take to put his draftee's into the frontline - He didn't respond, but later states that it would take at least five years to make units of the new Iraqi Army combat effective. He's wrong of course, the new Iraqi Army and Police Force are currently responsible for about 50% of Iraqi Territory, and in most counter-insurgency operations taking place in Iraq today the new Iraqi Army lead, they are the ones that are receiving the information from Iraqi civilians.

Now the new US draft programme that 282AR believes is the US's only chance:
- Currently no infrastructure exists to implement this draft and train the draftees and it would take time to set it up.
- How well motivated will these draftees be, compared to someone who volunteers to serve knowing full well that the likelyhood is that he will be sent to a combat zone?
- Do the same as you did in Vietnam? Just run these draftees through boot camp (once you have them organised) and ship'em out? In Iraq or Afghanistan they would die in droves, this, of course, would further improve their morale and motivation?

282AR says - "So to me, we either get out and get out now or we stay and fight but we MUST have fresh, well-trained, well-armed troops and we're not going to get them from among the Iraqis."

If he really believes that the new draftees could be considered as fresh, well-trained, well-armed troops, he is deluding himself - They would be what every conscripted force in history has been - pure cannon-fodder. The only source of the troops that he says are required are from the population of Iraq, it is after all their country, and they are more likely to win the active co-operation of the civilian population than any drafted US Force.

Guest 282AR believes that the US will not only lose the "war in Iraq" but he believes that they are incapable of winning the "war in Iraq". This as WLD has pointed out is simply not the case. If the US Forces currently serving in Iraq were at war they could crush the opposition within 30 days, loss of life amongst the insurgents/militia's/etc and the civilian population would be horrendous. However the fact of the matter is that the US Forces currently serving in Iraq are NOT on a war footing, but make absolutely no mistake whatsoever the military power of the US could very easily conquer Iraq, it would be both counter-productive, highly undesireable and the consequences of following such a course of action would be wide reachingly negative, but it could be done.