Re: [A-List] US and UK Imperialism: Conscription Ahead

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Conscription is one of the solutions proffered by Chalmers Johnson in
"Blowback". His argument is that it is because of the professionalisation of
the US military that the adventurist tendencies among the civilian staffers
in the Pentagon are allowed freer rein, while the uniforms get to indulge
their techno-fantasies.

It's a lame proposition, but it's one that is taken very seriously by people
in Europe. In Germany, for example, conscription is considered to be one of
the major brakes on German adventurism, and traditionally has been viewed by
the Social Democrats as an obstacle to the reformation of anything
equivalent to the Prussian officer elite that led the country to disaster
twice last century. Similarly, Finnish neutrality is easier to maintain (at
least in theory) if all young Finnish men have to spend some time doing
military service. Conscription must be viewed as a contributory factor to
the waning of support for the Vietnam war -- the actions of George W. Bush
and J. Danforth Quayle say all that need to be said in this respect.

All of which is to say, conscription would create its own deeply problematic
political consequences and force a greater number of US citizens to look
more closely at the consequences of US foreign policy, and hence the causes.
Politically speaking, it could be deeply counterproductive in the
not-so-long run.

Presumably the powers-that-be are aware of this and would be reluctant to go
down this road. The veneer of voluntarism serves as a useful cover for the
undoubted use of incentives that characterises the present recruitment
method, and it would be very dangerous to dispense with it. Far better to
squeeze, wherever possible, fellow "coalition" members for more manpower
whilst tapping the growing (but also more unpredictable) private security
firms for additional personnel.

Michael Keaney