We need a draft

I've written about the private security contractors in Iraq, but have ignored the other contractors there. I really shouldn't have as there are a lot more of these other contractors than the guys carrying guns. A guest on the Diane Rehm show today, Dina Rasor, co-author of Betraying Our Troops, claims that there are about 126,000 contractors in total in Iraq; i.e, there are almost as many contractors as troops.

In essence, the bulk of these contractors have become the logistics staff for the military. The fact that we have outsourced this vital aspect of any war means that the military really does not have the control they need and should have. An example - Some contractors have stopped working because their bills have not been paid on time. They've stopped working in Iraq, where soldiers are getting killed daily. And there is nothing the military can do about it as the contractors are not subject to military law. Not only is this behavior intolerable, but we are spending billions of dollars with these contractors.

Wouldn't it make sense from both the military and financial standpoint to have all of our military functions being run by our military, rather than assign logistics to a contractor and dying to a soldier? It's time to face facts. The professional army concept is not working. We need to reinstate the draft.