propitiate

lepyttää, saattaa suosiolliseksi puhekieltä To conciliate, appease, or make peace with someone, particularly a god or spirit.
1720, w:Alexander Pope|Alexander Pope, The Iliad of Homer, Book 1, lines 191-192:

Let fierce Achilles, dreadful in his rage,

The god propitiate, and the pest assuage.

But polite and politic it is, to propitiate your hostess.

He heard . . . one of the soldiers singing as he cleaned his rifle—the men always sang over this business, as if to propitiate the gun god.

By saying unequivocally that conscription is not an option, the Bush administration and the Rumsfeld Pentagon, while propitiating the ghost of Vietnam, are also profiting from the success of the all-volunteer military.