More Troops From Where?

espresso beans to watersblogged!

Irratated Vet and I are having a little conversation at his site. He thinks the number of troops in Iraq needs to be dramatically increased. From his perspective, (I hope I'm conveying his position properly) congressman Rangel's proposed legislation to re-institute the military draft ought to be given serious consideration. The armed forces don't currently have the capacity, he says, to bring thousands more troops that are sorely needed. There's a lot we don't see eye to eye on, but he's an intelligent guy, and he can make disagreeing fun.
IV calls his article, "acknowledging the elephant," so when I found this Cox & Forkum at Watersblogged, (where the draft is also being "debated") I realized I may be the only casual C & F reader in the sphere!
Watersblogged! links to Oliver North via RealClearPolitics. North's view of what motivates Mr Rangel's draft legislation follows:

....Now Democrats, after campaigning for change in Iraq, have a certain responsibility to improve the situation in Mesopotamia. Knowing that it's not as easy as they made it sound on the campaign trail -- and needing more leverage to try to get the troop withdrawal they want -- Rangel is leading the charge to make young Americans believe that if the troops don't come home tomorrow, Uncle Sam will outfit college students with fatigues and ship them overseas.
...."As long as Americans are being shipped off to war," Rangel says, "then everyone should be vulnerable."

I could not agree more. But that only aggravates the REAL issue.

....Rangel and others have claimed that conscription is necessary to ensure that our military more closely resembles the "economic makeup" of our nation. The Congressman from Harlem has said, "for those who say the poor fight better, I say give the rich a chance."
....But the allegation that the current war is being fought -- and that casualties are disproportionately suffered -- by poor, urban, minority males simply isn't substantiated by the racial, ethnic, economic and educational data available.

North's rebuttal is directed at the ridiculous notion that the current military make up are a bunch of losers that are "...stuck in Iraq." But that doesn't even begin to touch the very serious issue of, well, More Troops From Where? The draft is not an elephant, it's a carcass. It hasn't got a chance except as the scare tactic Rangel's looking for. But if not the draft, then what?
All we know for sure is that the current situation is not sustainable.