QotD: the all-volunteer military

[liveonearth]

The all-volunteer military has enabled America to fight two wars while many of its citizens do not know of a single fatality or even of anyone who has fought overseas. Had there been a draft, the war in Iraq might never have been fought. George W. Bush didn't need your body or, in the short run, your money. Southerners would fight, and foreigners would buy the bonds. The U.S. has become like Rome or the British Empire, able to fight nonessential wars with a professional military. Ultimately, this will drain us financially, and spiritually as well.
--Richard Cohen, in the Washington Post