Stop-loss amounts to a back draft

Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) speaks about the thousands of men and woman who are serving in Iraq because of stop-loss, which amounts to a back door draft. The Pentagon has the legal right to extend a soldiers enlistment but the stop-loss is a direct result of poor planning of the war in Iraq, he says. (1:14)
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Stop-loss hurts the morale of U.S. troops

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) says that the Stop-Loss Compensation Act provides a benefit for servicemen who have been effected by stop-loss. She says that President Bush’s bad military decisions and policy and the stop-loss program hurts the moral of the army and undermines the voluntary nature of the military. (0:54)

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Stop-loss has proven necessary

During a press conference at the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says that despite his concerns about stop-loss, a retention technique where military members who are scheduled to retire or discharge are not allowed to do so, it has proven necessary in the current conflicts. He says that he expects with continued draw downs in Iraq, that the number of stop-loss cases will be reduced. (0:58)
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