How to end wars: Get Congress to act, and reinstitute the draft

To the editor: The op-ed article “Bring our troops home from the Middle East. Now” is much appreciated.

While the vast majority of Americans have been advocating decreasing our military involvements there for years, our president is bragging that he could totally destroy Afghanistan in just a few days if he wanted to win the war there quickly. Congress seems powerless to constrain the actions of the president.

It’s not supposed to be this way. Congress should respect the will of the people and fulfill its constitutional responsibility by limiting the president’s war powers.

Bill Hessell, Oak View

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To the editor: The one “influencer” that remains AWOL in determining a better path of military engagement abroad is the American people.

The results in national opinion polls are meaningless if they are not backed at the ballot box. And that will not change until the average citizen has skin in the game, and that means reinstituting the draft.

The continued mercenary force that we call the “all-volunteer military” simply aids and abets endless wars in such places like Afghanistan and Iraq. Everyday Americans will only pay attention to the idiocy of U.S. foreign policy if their sons and daughters are victimized by it.

Bob Teigan, Santa Susana