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It can't be about terrorism, becuase before Americans cared about terrorism, Bush wanted Iraq.

I don't agree with that.  I believe most of us have always been concerned with terrorism, but it has always been so far away (except for the first WTC attack and Oklahoma City).  The embassy attacks, barracks attacks, Cole attack, et cetera were all so far away that none of us were able to experience first hand the aftermath.  Then 9/11 hit and suddenly we had thousands of our fellow citizens murdered.  It had something of a galvanizing effect.  Too bad it took 9/11 before our government really seemed to care.   

Here, this will protect you from them bringing the draft back.

Actually, macul, and I keep saying this but people don't seem to pay attention. . .

10 - 15 years ago government agencies were big on the idea that terrorism was going to occur here. In fact, living in Pennsylvania, I had the luck to tune in to a PEMA (Pennsylvania equivalent of FEMA) meeting late one night when I had nothing else to do, and the case was made that people transporting large amounts of gunpowder constituted a valid terrorist threat. They were also talking about people transporting guns and ammo.

The fly in the ointment was that the kind of terrorism, suicide bombings and such, were not occuring here in corporate America, and it wasn't because our security was stellar. It was because, I believe, that these people were not interested in carrying out this kind of violence against American civilians.[/b]

I can agree with that.  Sounds like apathy.  It wasn't occuring here, so we didn't care.   

[b]
The Cole and the other military installations really seem more like paramilitary operations rather than outright terrorism. . . again, that definiton thing. . .

Well. . . we're all supposed to be scared now. . .

Yes, they were military targets.  However, that does not mean we should have sat by.  It should have been obvious to us all that it was a growing problem that would eventually come over here (ie: first WTC attack).

My Grandfather fought in Italy in World War II. I respect him for that. If my individual freedom is being threatened by a real threat, like Nazism, I will join the military like he did. However, I do not perceive Saddam to be a threat to myself, or North Korea, and especially not Iran. I will not fight  these people simply because a government agency says they are a threat. I have seen no evidence, and therefore I will not fight.

This seems to me like another Vietnam. A war that the military and president say is necessary, but which is actually superfluous. I will not fight in another Vietnam.

Hell, if I had been drafted and sent there, I'd probably have deserted.

by macul:

I can agree with that. Sounds like apathy. It wasn't occuring here, so we didn't care.

Actually, I don't think I'd call it apathy. . . it sounds like it was not actually a threat so people were unwilling to go hell bent for leather to erode search and seizure protections based on conjecture. and again, I'll say that people weren't interested in carrying out that kind of violence against american civilians. Hell. . . it wasn't because you couldn't easily get or make explosives.

. . . and y'know what's interesting. . . we still don't have palestie/isralei style suicide bombing here. . . man walks on bus with bomb in his university backpack - boom. . .

It's not that it can't happen here but that it isn't. Yes, we should secure infrastructure. We should also understand the intentional fearmongering.

To clarify a point, the military is smaller now thanks to Pres. Clinton. Remember all those gov't workers he eliminated to save us money? Guess what, it wasn't the cival service guy you thought but military personal.

I don't suppose you remember that Clinton actually stopped personnel cuts that Bush I pushed forth?  Bush I was cutting more personnel than Clinton.

It's silly to be partisan about the reduced size of the military. After the Soviet Union collapsed, even Bush I was talking about the "peace dividend". The military during the Cold War was an elephant, and after communism (mostly) disappeared both sides of the political aisle decided to make it leaner and meaner. Changes in the military are made over years, not week-by-week.

The military services have been unable to meet their recruiting quotas for a number of years. That's always been the problem with an all-volunteer army; people might not want to sign up.

I know some right-wingers are eager to blame Clinton for everything from terrorism to Aunt Hattie's gout, but c'mon, he's not to blame for everything. Not everything should be partisan.