Arnold Abrams of Newsday on Stop-Loss, an Army about-face:
Stop-Loss could force thousands of soldiers to remain in uniform for a year or more after their contracts expire. As a result, many frustrated and angry people would have to put lives on hold. “This is a time bomb,” said a Defense Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “And, like so much else the administration has done in connection with Iraq, it could produce some very bad results.”
But, of course, to uber-Patriots who don’t honor their Guard requirements or had “other priorities”, this is a non-issue. They lack the capacity to comprehend the seriousness of this situation they’ve created. Its morale, retention, military professionalism and troop readiness that will pay the ultimate price for what these geniuses have wrought. But who cares, they’re Republicans and that good enough for the extra chromosome conservatives. To Hell with rational thought, analysis and foresight.
So a practical answer, according to the Pentagon, lies in its present policy of stopgap measures to meet present needs that, hopefully, are limited in term.
No, a “practical answer” would be for us to stop bombing and invading one nation (Iraq) for the crimes of another (Saudi Arabia) and spilling American blood in surreal Inigo Montoya style revenge crusades. You defied my father, prepare to die.
Another “practical answer” might require conservatives to actually live up to their word (read: stop lying) with regard to no longer commiting this nation to more big government interventionist wars that cost precious American lives and steal money from American taxpayers . That would, unfortunately, require some integrity, backbone and consistency – three traits sorely lacking in the upper echelons of the Republicat-Demopublican Big Government Party of Doom.
Jo Fish’s (Naval Aviator) perspective is available here.