Drawing a line
I was puzzled by the statement of the new Monash biography (Eureka Street, October 2004) that the corps commanded by Monash in 1918 drove the German Army ‘beyond the Maginot line’. Construction of this French border fortification did not begin until 1929.
Perhaps the intended reference was to the Hindenburg line, the German defensive position upon retreat from the Western Front?
Stephen Brown
Forrest, ACT
Stephen you are quite correct. The reviewer and editor apologise for the error. —Ed.
Backdraft
I enjoyed Peter Hamilton’s article (Eureka Street, October 2004) on elections, but can I draw attention to two factual errors?
First, Arthur Calwell was the member for Melbourne, not Melbourne Ports.
Second, Hamilton refers to the draft in the US. It is my understanding that the US draft was abolished by Nixon and that a recent attempt to reintroduce it failed spectacularly in the US Congress. It is unclear to me what Hamilton means when referring to the possible drafting of his son.
Paul Rodan
Melbourne, VIC
You’re right. Arthur Calwell was Member for Melbourne. Apologies for the error.
The draft has been a major issue submerged in the US election campaign. In the second debate, President Bush stated that he has no intention of reintroducing it.
In a discussion at my son’s New York high school last week, parents of graduating seniors expressed their fear that President Bush will not keep his word. They said that they are making plans to send their boys out of the country to avoid any draft.
These parents are rightly concerned because the US armed forces are over-stretched to the point where the voluntary National Guard is serving multiple rotations in Iraq and elsewhere.
Meanwhile, this administration has revived local draft boards, and all young men are required to register.
At the same time, the Bush administration’s architects of Operation Iraqi Freedom have stated that regime change in Iran and Syria is unfinished business. Undersecretary of State John Bolton argues that Iran is a greater threat to US interests and to its ally Israel than was Saddam’s Iraq, and that Tehran needs to be confronted after the election. Bolton was a man of his word in the lead up to the Iraq invasion. He and President Bush regard the Iraq mission as a success. There’s no reason to doubt their intent to finish their agenda.
Last week, President Bush widened his justification for future pre-emptive American military action against a state, moving from