by Greg Slack

Created on: September 08, 2008   Last Updated: September 09, 2008

Yes the draft will return if the conservative Republicans get re-elected this November. There really is no other way they can field an effective military if things continue, and they cannot afford to keep paying for private companies to handle security.

Sure they may tell us about this new "volunteer" military but how long do you think it will continue as more and more soldiers return home and share their experiences? When they tell others about not having the equipment needed and Haliburton failing to provide adequate supplies, the enrollment will drop until they have to bring back the draft.

This is not liberal media or anti-war propaganda but facts from veterans I know personally. One of them my own nephew. He spent 3 weeks manning a 50 caliber machine gun with no bullets, went his 12 months without body armor, and had no batteries for his night vision goggles while on night watch. This was all due to the fact Haliburton failed miserably in its role of "logistics".

My nephew was actually quite fortunate compared to some others who tell me about not getting fed for 24 hours in their own base camp where food was readily available. Why? Because Haliburton was also in charge of feeding the troops, and after a certain time they closed up the mess hall. This was a problem for soldiers who pulled night watch and a mission the next day, which was quite often for combat troops.

Haliburton and its subsidiaries went from logistics to taking over every aspect of the war they could. They now handle transportation to and from Iraq for all the troops and personnel, their supplies, feeding, and maintenance for everything from Humvees to firearms. We have soldiers trained by our military to fix Humvees, who are now guarding latrines. They were ordered to train the Haliburton people to do their job and when they did they were then made combat priority troops.

Security is now handled by Blackwater; a private army of mercenaries and thugs, who have no one to answer to. They can do anything they want and our boys get blamed for it. Of all the people involved in Abu Grabe only the female officer and troops in the photos were prosecuted, yet the Blackwater employees and so many others were not even mentioned. Blackwater gave the orders for torture and instructed the troops how to carry it out, yet were left out of any testimony.

This is war when run by the very wealthy. The really ridiculous thing is right now their candidate is claiming more of the same if elected and many are going

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