Johann Hari thinks he’s being clever in his Independent column today by declaring that the UK should bring back conscription because the potential for the drafting of their kith and kin would cause Britain’s warmongering political leaders to rein in their bloodlust lest their own little darlings fall prey to a roadside “improvised explosive device”.

(Incidentally what exactly is the difference between an “improvised explosive device” and a “bomb”?)

Alas, Master Hari, I refer you to a little-known documentary by Michael Moore entitled Fahrenheit 9/11 in which the director doorsteps Congressmen on the streets of Washington DC precisely to ask if they would send their children to fight in Eye Rack (part of the Tie Rack group of companies).

In fairness, Young Johann was probably still playing with his Lego when that movie came out in 2004 so I should cut him some slack (and his food into bite-sized pieces until he’s old enough to use a knife and fork).  And I do like one point he makes well:

The troops in Iraq are stuck in a paradox. A majority of the British people (62 percent) want to bring the troops home now. A majority of the troops (72 percent) – if they are like the recently-polled American soldiers – want to come home now. And a majority of the Iraqi people (78 percent) want the troops to go home now. So the unwilling are occupying the unwilling on behalf of the unwilling – in the putative name of democracy.

Get out of that, Dubya.

Oh, yeah: you can’t, can you?