The War Over the War (cont.)

...By including the measure in its $195 billion emergency warfunding package, the Democratic congressional leadership has all but dared the White House to veto it...

...Whereas the original G.I...

...The Webb bill, in contrast, could lead to more college-bound Americans signing up, but it will also probably mean a higher number will leave the military once they reach the maximum benefi t level...

...The burden of the Iraq fi ghting falls on such a small number of military families that it is easy to portray the troops in the fi eld as victims...

...educational benefi ts...

...Advocates of staying and fi ghting in Iraq are at a distinct disadvantage in the second war...

...educational benefits to $1,500 per month...

...The first is about gaining ground against the sectarian militias and terrorists who plague that country...

...Though all depends on how the question is asked, a CNN poll conducted in late April found that only a third of Americans say they want all U.S...

...As Webb told Military.com’s Tom Philpott in March, the military relies heavily on “this one demographic group they keep pounding on and throwing money at...

...With Ross Douthat, he is the author of Grand New Party, to be published by Doubleday in June...

...This is where Webb has proven adept...

...For those who serve in active duty for 12 years or more, the benefi t increases to $2,000 a month...

...The second is about storytelling...

...He is right that the military leadership has a strong preference for a career force rather than a force defi ned by high rates of turnover, for the same reason that virtually all employers prefer experienced employees...

...Assuming a large number of new recruits are drawn to service on the basis of the new benefi t, which seems to be Webb’s intent, keeping them in the ranks will require far higher reenlistment bonuses, according to a study sponsored by the Department of Defense...

...It’s no surprise that McCain, who has a shot at being commander in chief, would rather not see reenlistment rates plummet...

...efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, so be it...

...Webb, in contrast, who is always fi ghting the war over the war, is far less likely to have a philosophical objection to making wars like our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan far more expensive to fi ght...

...This has proved an effective strategy for Virginia’s junior senator, Jim Webb, a staunch opponent of the surge...

...Once seen as an irascible loose cannon, he has used his experience in the Pentagon—he served as Ronald Reagan’s assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs and had a brief, controversial stint as secretary of the Navy—to mount a disciplined attack on the Bush administration’s personnel policy, what you might call the soft underbelly of the surge...

...Webb is strongly opposed to transferability—perhaps because transferability is a way of turning spouses and children into reenlistment recruiters...

...In Webb’s bill, the maximum benefi t kicks in after 36 months of active duty...

...Webb would raise monthly benefi ts to match the most expensive instate public school tuition and also provide a housing allowance at the military’s E-5 standard—generally understood to be enough to rent a two-bedroom townhouse...

...At the time, the benefit was more than enough to cover the thenmodest cost of a college education...

...In 2007, Democrats failed in efforts to pull the plug on the war by denying the military the funds it needs to keep the troops on the battlefield...

...The G.I...

...Webb’s proposal, though, goes well beyond even the most generous enlistment bonuses, provided the money is spent on education...

...Yet there’s a whole different demographic group that would be attracted to coming in and serving a term...

...At the last minute, Webb lost a key ally, Senator John Warner, and the measure died...

...Politically speaking, advocates of withdrawal are in a bind...

...Last year, Webb sponsored an Reihan Salam is an editor at the Atlantic Monthly and a fellow at the New America Foundation...

...Military families, as you can guess, like the idea...

...Bill offered a generous educational benefit that gave millions of veterans a foothold in the middle class and sparked a dramatic expansion of American higher education...

...Overall, the Graham-Burr-McCain approach seems more likely to yield an effective fi ghting force composed of women and men interested in making a long-term commitment...

...This year, Webb has built a broad coalition around his generous “Post9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act,” designed to dramatically increase G.I...

...The case for Webb’s proposal is rooted in the extraordinary success of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the G.I...

...This relatively minor legislative battle over whether and how the military should try to bring together Americans of different class backgrounds is really a major battle in the war over the war in Iraq...

...Last week, Senators Lindsey Graham, Richard Burr, and John McCain, taking a cue from Defense Department objections, introduced an alternative bill, which increases monthly G.I...

...Because men who managed to avoid the draft had made economic progress over the war years, there was a fear that veterans would have a hard time catching up—and that resentment would build...

...The Graham-Burr-McCain bill also allows servicemen to transfer education benefi ts to a spouse or to children...

...Bill was understood as compensation for conscription— for taking the best years of millions of young lives—later versions of the legislation, including the 1985 Montgomery G.I...

...Bill that is the basis of current educational benefi t, have served as a relatively small part of a broader incentive package for serving in the armed forces...

...The more pressing concern is what effect the proposed legislation will have on our ability to sustain a long military campaign...

...All told, the measure has 56 cosponsors, including Senate Republicans like Warner and Chuck Hagel and Richard Lugar...

...But, as Webb surely understood, it also would have made the surge strategy impossible...

...But it’s also true that we’ve had an all-volunteer force for decades...

...The sponsors claim that the new approach will cost around $2 billion a year, a small share of the total cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a small price to pay for doing right by veterans...

...And if that means we can’t sustain U.S...

...Bill of Rights...

...Signing bonuses and reenlistment bonuses are what have skyrocketed post-9/11, and servicemen are free to use this bonus money as they choose—a down payment on a house, to start a business, to fi nance their education...

...Another third want to withdraw some troops, and a fi fth want troop levels to stay where they are...

...Webb emphasizes that veterans’ educational benefits haven’t kept up with the increases in the costs of higher education, particularly when it comes to elite public and private colleges...

...amendment that aimed to give troops more “dwell time” between deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, especially a minimum of three years for National Guard and Reserve units...

...The measure had an obvious appeal as the strains of increased deployments have pushed many military families to the breaking point...

...Rather than try to bring the troops home directly, Webb has focused on an advocacy campaign for the troops...

...Right now, active-duty veterans can receive up to $1,101 a month, an amount that is not quite adequate for room and board at the average in-state public school, let alone the most expensive...

...The military emerged as an engine of opportunity...

...Despite the general unpopularity of the Iraq war, Cindy Sheehan-esque calls for bugging out aren’t popular...

...Half of benefi ts can be transferred after 6 years of service and all benefi ts can be transferred after 12 years...

...troops out of Iraq immediately...