Conscription for the Pretend War?

From Reuters [1]: 

A majority of Americans no longer see a link between the war in Iraq and Washington's broader anti-terrorism efforts despite President George W. Bush's insistence the two are intertwined, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released on Tuesday. 

[2]Well that only took about 6 years.  Welcome back to reality ADD-land.  Of course, this article could be re-written to emphasize that nearly half of the country still believes in a fairy tell devoid of evidence spun by the notoriously dissembling Team Chimpy.  Sigh. 

Speaking of only taking about six years [2]: 

Bush OKs involuntary Marine recall:

President Bush has authorized the U.S. Marine Corps to recall 2,500 troops to active duty because there are not enough volunteers returning for duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, Marine commanders announced Tuesday. …   Tours for recalled Marines could last 12 to 18 months, according to Marine officials.  …  Though the initial recall is for 2,500 troops, there is no cap on how many could be called up in the future. 

Garsh.  May-hap sum ree-der kin re-learn me on my mill-tary ign'rance - but this sounds awfully close to a draft.  To have been involuntarily recalled implies that they were under no obligation to return before our glorious decider made them return.  So much for the all-volunteer army.  Oh, and so much for those much ballyhooed troop reductions:

"The most significant dimension of this to me is that it says there are no longer any rosy assessments about how things are going in Iraq and Afghanistan," says retired Air Force Col. Sam Gardiner. "The call-up suggests the Pentagon envisions current troop levels in Iraq through the summer of 2008, with these guys going in the summer of 2007 for one year."

Troop strength in Iraq today is back up to 138,000, notes military analyst John Pike of globalsecurity.com, a research and consulting firm specializing in security issues. "All that happy talk earlier this year about getting below 100,000 by the end of this year now seems premature."

OMG, happy talk in Iraq premature?  Wait a sec … my head is going to explode!

[3]