MILITARY CONSCRIPTION
"Didn't we learn anything from the Vietnam war? A war that we never should have participated in? It is time for our young men to learn about Civil Disobedience...better to stock the jails, than fill the graves"...Rita Rech.
MEN AGE 18 THROUGH 25
must register with the Selective Service System
Know the Facts
What is Selective Service Registration?
Registration is the process by which the U.S. government collects names and addresses of men age 18 through 25 to use in case a national emergency requires rapid expansion of the Armed Forces.
Will I Be Drafted?
Registering with Selective Service does not mean you are joining the military. And registering with Selective Service does not mean you are signing up for the all voluntary Armed Services.
What Happens If I Don't Register?
Young men convicted of failure to register may be fined up to $250,000, imprisoned for up to five years, or both. In addition to being subjected to prosecution, failure to register may cause you to permanently forfeit eligibility for certain benefits. Not registering is a felony.
Keep Us Informed of Changes
Once you register, the law also requires you to keep Selective Service informed of your address changes so you can be reached without delay.
U.S. Selective Service System
JUST SAY NO!
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood (against other human beings in the literal, mortal sense), but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the Darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high (religious and political) places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with Truth, and having on the breastplate of Righteousness;
And your Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of Peace.
Above all, taking the shield of Faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked.
And take the helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD...(Ephesians 6:10-17).
KUCINICH: IRAQ POLICY WILL LEAD TO DRAFT
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - America's policy in Iraq will lead to a resumption of the military draft, Democrat Dennis Kucinich told high school and college students Saturday.
"The body count keeps rising,'' Kucinich said, pointing to reports of more deaths in Iraq. We are not that far away from this country moving toward a draft,'' he said. ``It's just inevitable because the number of troops are going down and the U.S. commitments are worldwide and there is a point at which that is the next step.'' After his speech, Kucinich said he was not trying to stir up unreasonable fears. "These kids' lives are on the line,'' he said.
Kucinich took rival John Kerry to task for proposing to create two more divisions of troops at a time when many soldiers and reservists are not re-enlisting. "Where are those people going to come from,'' Kucinich asked.
He acknowledged that Kerry opposes the draft, but said ``I am the only person running for president who has challenged the president going in (to Iraq), challenged the president on staying in and offered a plan to get our troops out.'" Kerry has said he would expand the Army to raise two new divisions. He has not said he would send them to Iraq.
Kucinich proposes the United States turn over peacekeeping, managing oil assets and rebuilding contract awards in Iraq to the United Nations so American troops can come home. He also wants the United States to help pay for the U.N. occupation; pay to rebuild what it has destroyed in Iraq and pay the families of civilians who were killed.
__________
"Nothing was certain until after Registration Day, June 5, 1917, when 10 million American boys between the ages of 21 and 31 were required by a new and controversial Selective Service Act to register their names with the government at local draft offices. Conscription was the old term for it, AND IT MEANT FORCING MEN INTO MILITARY SERVICE. Conscription ran against the American grain. It hadn't been tried since the Civil War, and then it had provoked bloody riots in the streets of New York and elsewhere. Senators and congressmen warned Wilson that there would be riots worse than those of the Civil War if he tried to press men into service.
But Wilson wanted his troops recruited and trained in an efficient manner; the volunteer system was outdated by the ruthlessness of modern warfare. The efficient way to raise an army, said Wilson, was to issue to all young and able-bodied men a number, throw the numbers into a fishbowl, draw the numbers out of the bowl and draft into uniform the men whose number came up first. Over the protests of (various legislators who called the law both undemocratic and unconstitutional), the Selective Service Act was passed into law. Thus on June 5, 10 million young Americans were expected to report to the polling places in their towns...
Everywhere there were reminders of the forthcoming event. Within a border of tiny American flags under the headline 'A Call to Arms,' newspapers carried the President's official proclamation:
The day here named is the time upon which all shall present themselves for assignment to their tasks. It is for that reason destined to be remembered as one of the most conspicuous moments in our history. It is nothing less than the day upon which the manhood of the country shall step forward in one solid rank in defense of the ideals to which this nation is consecrated. It is important to those ideals no less than to the pride of this generation in manifesting its devotion to them that there be no gaps in the ranks.
At seven in the morning...factory whistles blew and church bells rang in every hamlet and city in the country...This was the test day, the moment of truth for the government's war policy. Riots or disorders or even a less than perfect turnout at the registration places could seriously embarrass Wilson. The transformation of public attitudes so essential for waging war efficiently would then be shown to be incomplete.
By noon the apprehension among state officials turned to rejoicing. The young men of the country were indeed turning out...There was little trouble anywhere, and it was easily put down wherever it occurred..." Hooray For Peace, Hurrah For War, pp.87-88.
__________
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members (each other) as instruments of righteousness unto God.
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness...
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord...(Romans 6:12-16, 23).
WILSON'S CRUSADE AND BUSH'S CRUSADE
by James Bovard, October 2003
George Bush’s promise to “rid the world of evil” — which he made in the opening weeks of his war on terrorism — is reminiscent of the 1917 promises of President Woodrow Wilson to “make the world safe for democracy.” Wilson, like Bush, was leading the nation into war and sought to push the hot buttons in Americans’ idealism. Unfortunately, for both Bush and Wilson, the loftier their promises soared, the deeper the hooey became. Wilson portrayed World War I as a moral absolute. And because the United States was involved in a crusade to do absolute good, any criticism or opposition to government policies quickly became perceived as evil. In his superb new book, The Illusion of Victory: America in World War I, historian Thomas Fleming recreates the political and moral atmosphere of the period when America entered World War I. The parallels to the current war on terrorism are breathtaking. Fleming concludes,
Worst of all was Wilson’s tendency to utopianism — the truly fatal flaw in his dream of flexing America’s idealized muscles in the name of peace...
And make straight paths for your Feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
FOLLOW PEACE WITH ALL MEN, AND HOLINESS, without which no one shall see the Lord:
Looking diligently, lest any fail of the grace of God; lest any Root of bitterness (such as Thomas Woodrow Wilson) springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled...(Hebrews 12:13-15).
__________
For many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ (as Wilson did in 1917); and shall deceive many.
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars; SEE THAT YE BE NOT TROUBLED, FOR ALL THESE THINGS MUST COME TO PASS, but the end is not yet.
FOR NATION SHALL RISE AGAINST NATION, AND KINGDOM AGAINST KINGDOM; and there shall be famines, and perstilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
ALL THESE (the signs of the first World Wars of the 20th century) ARE THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS.
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
And many shall be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many...
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold (see 2 Timothy 3:1-5).
BUT HE THAT SHALL ENDURE TO THE END, THE SAME SHALL BE SAVED...(Matthew 24:1-13; 29-31).
...Wilson twisted the facts to portray a U.S. war against Germany as a battle of good versus evil. In the same way that Bush portrays terrorists as the worst and most implacable enemies of freedom, Wilson denounced the German government as “the natural foe to liberty.” Wilson portrayed submarine warfare as a crime against humanity — similar to Bush’s portrayal of Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction. Yet, the U.S. government soon changed its tune on submarines, relying on them as a key weapon against Japan in the Second World War. Wilson stirred anti-German sentiment by denouncing Germans as “imperialists.” Fleming notes,
One is almost boggled by the way Wilson fastened this term of opprobrium on Germany, while England and France between them had several hundred million people in their colonial grip. Wilson was correct that Germany had imperial ambitions — as did the United States. Many Americans had been harshly critical of abuses committed by U.S. forces after the United States seized the Phillippines. Indeed,
John White, an Ohio farmer, received 21 months in the penitentiary for declaring that the murder of women and children by German soldiers [in Belgium] was no worse than the crimes that American soldiers committed in the Philippines during the 1900–1902 insurrection there. At the time the U.S. government entered World War I, the Wilson administration possessed paltry information on the war’s realities. The British government had deluged the United States with a propaganda campaign and also managed to censor almost all the news coming from Europe (including Germany) to America. As a result, Americans assumed that France, Britain, and Russia were likely to win the war and that the Germans were struggling badly. Many Americans expected that it would not even be necessary to send an American army to Europe after declaring war. In reality, by April 1917 Russia was on the verge of being completely knocked out of the war and the French army was mutinying, as soldiers had lost all patience after years of being sacrificed by half-wit generals who still could not grasp the importance of the machine gun in modern warfare. Wilson, like Bush, saw nearly boundless executive power as a key to winning the war.
Fleming notes that in early 1918 Wilson sent the Senate a bill that gave him the power to reorganize the entire government; he wanted to be able to create, merge or abolish agencies and bureaus without so much as a by-your-leave from Congress, and generally operate as the autocrat to end all autocrats. One senator said the bill would make Wilson a king; all he needed to do was claim to rule by divine right and he and the kaiser would be twins. This is similar to the response that Sen. Robert Byrd (D–W. Va.) had to Bush’s Homeland Security Department bill. Similarly, some of the military and other appropriations bills that the Bush administration sent Congress aimed to greatly reduce legislative control and oversight of how the executive branch spends tax dollars. Dissent, and civil liberties Fleming drives home how the war hysteria and hatred of Germans that Wilson and his team whipped up quickly led to the suppression of free speech:
A Philadelphia socialist was sentenced to six months in jail for possession of an antiwar pamphlet, “Long Live the Constitution of the United States.” The U.S. Supreme Court eventually upheld the sentence; liberal Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes affirmed the legality of the Espionage Act under the doctrine that in time of war, antigovernment critics can be “a clear and present danger” to victory. The fans of Justice Holmes — who like to portray him as a hero of civil liberties — usually choose to ignore his role in sanctifying the Wilson administration’s crushing of dissent. Vice President Marshall said every American “‘not heartily of the government’ should have his citizenship revoked and his property confiscated,” Fleming notes. The Bush administration has not gone so far as to urge boundless government power over anyone who dissents. However, some conservatives these days are openly portraying any opposition to the war on terrorism as traitorous. Wilson massively exploited the war to throttle his political opponents.
On May 27, 1918, in the prelude to the congressional elections later that year, he announced, Politics is adjourned. The elections will go to those who think least of it; to those who go to their constituents without explanations or excuses, with a plain record of duty faithfully and disinterestedly performed. Yet, shortly before the November elections, “Wilson released a public letter ... crushing the enemy with the accusation of disloyalty in wartime.” The Germany army largely collapsed in October 1918. Wilson’s Democratic Party very likely expected to receive huge rewards at the polling booths from voters for this achievement. However, the year and a half of war fever — of demagoguery — of repression — of economic dislocation — thwarted Wilson’s ambitions. The Republican Party picked up the vast majority of competitive House seats and also scored major gains in the Senate. Thus, just when Wilson thought military victories would make him invincible, he lost control of Congress. The war to end all wars At the start of the war, Wilson sought to assure Americans (including millions of German-Americans), We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling towards them but one of sympathy and friendship.
But such warm feelings quickly dissipated as the war dragged on — and as Wilson became terrified at the prospect of a German victory in 1918. After the Armistice on November 11, 1918, the British perpetuated a naval blockade on Germany that starved tens of thousands of Germans. One justification Wilson offered for U.S. entry into World War I was that it would ensure that the United States would have a “seat at the peace table” and could thereby play a key role in reshaping the world. Yet the fighting had barely stopped before a series of new wars broke out throughout central and eastern Europe. Fleming notes, The French, still obsessed by their fear of Germany, were unilaterally turning the states born of the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires into military satellites on Germany’s borders. French officers and weaponry poured into Poland, Czechoslovakia and Rumania. Poland had raised an army of 600,000 and the Czechs 250,000; the Rumanians were industriously imitating them. All these armies began shooting at each other over disputed slices of territory. Ray Stannard Baker, Wilson’s press secretary, glumly informed the president that there were no less than 14 small wars in progress in supposedly pacified Europe.
Wilson saw the League of Nations as his legacy to America and humanity. During the 1920 presidential election, Wilson urged voters to judge every candidate by one simple standard: “Shall we or shall we not redeem the great moral obligations of the United States?” After all the bogus moralizing of the war years, Americans rejected Wilson’s scheme for world salvation. The League of Nations also went down to defeat because of all the tawdry deals that preceded the final signing. While Wilson constantly portrayed American sacrifices as key to making the world safe for democracy, the British and French exploited the war to forcibly expand their empires and place millions more people under their thumbs. Henry White, one of Wilson’s aides at the Paris peace talks, bemoaned, We had such high hopes of this adventure; we believed God called us and now we are doing hell’s dirtiest work.
One surprise in Fleming’s book is the role of Irish-Americans in the political destruction of Woodrow Wilson and his League of Nations. The Irish were bitter over brutal British repressions in their homeland. The Irish immigrants in America strongly opposed provisions in the League of Nations that would have sanctified the existing power structure around the world — thereby helping perpetuate British colonial rule in Ireland, India, and many other places. Wilson largely scorned Irish-Americans as troublesome low-lifes. They paid him back with massive rallies, superbly organized information campaigns, and other efforts to whip up opposition. Many Americans feared that, if the U.S. Senate ratified Wilson’s League of Nations without amendments, the U.S. army could be forced to fight abroad in defense of the British colonial empire. World War I also resulted in the rise of an American Taliban on the home front. Prohibition probably never could have been put on the statute books or in the Constitution if not for the exploitation of war fever. Banning alcohol was portrayed as a means to protect troops and to avoid wasting grain and other ingredients for alcohol. Destroying freedom on the home front thus supposedly became vital to helping create freedom abroad. One of the gravest lessons of World War I is that “idealism is not synonymous with sainthood or virtue. It only sounds that way,” as Fleming notes. We should not judge politicians’ intentions by the breadth and dazzle of their promises. Lies are lies, regardless of whether the liar promises to save humanity.
James Bovard is author of Lost Rights (1994) and Terrorism and Tyranny: How Bush's Crusade is Sabotaging Peace, Justice, and Freedom (Palgrave-Macmillan, September 2003).
What Do You Mean 'We', Mr. President?
By Kathy Fisher
Unknown News
11-2-3
About two weeks ago I was speaking with a soldier on leave, who lives with his parents. Like so many, he turned twenty while in Iraq. He told me how much he hated being in Iraq, the sordid details I won't go into. I guess he figured he could talk to me, seeing as I have a rather large sticker on my rear view window that says "Support the troops - bring them home."
As we continued to talk, I thought he was actually going to break down and cry when he said, "I don't want to go back to that fucking death hole! I'd rather go to jail, but I don't know how to go about it or who the hell to talk to." I told him the smart thing would be to get lost, and not go back at all. He has no wife or children. I also let him know his commander and chief went AWOL back in the day when the average Joe's son was being slaughtered on an hourly basis in Nam. Those days THE BIG LIE was that we were fighting "the communists." Today it's "the terrorists."
Of course, I don't think he's going to listen to me, but I still think that any American soldier deployed in Iraq who gets his or her feet back on U.S. soil should do everything they can to keep themselves here. The smart thing to do, of course, is not to volunteer in Bush's blood for oil program in the first place. But this poor kid, like so many others, got snookered. They are young fresh out of school, or still in high school when the recruiters come. Young kids think they're invincible. They're caught up by the moment and the propaganda. They don't read any newspapers let alone get themselves on to a good website to see first-hand what a war is really about, and by the time they find out it's too damn late. Once they get in, it's too late to ask questions.
I think it is our duty as parents to educate and warn our kids now, not tomorrow - before they do something stupid and end up caught in the Bush quagmire like this precious young man. What a terrible situation to be in, to find out you were used because you were vulnerable, and when you come to realize what has happened to you, there is nothing you can do about it. It is like being stuck in quicksand. A quagmire. Iraq has become the Black Flag Hotel, with one very big difference, these are not roaches that are being killed - it's our children! Our husbands! Our wives!
Mr. President, you said in the rose garden yesterday that we are not leaving Iraq. We. You said that we are not going to be intimidated. We, Mr. President - we? You're not there. You're safe, not at all in harm's way. Put on a uniform, get your wimpy fat ass to Iraq, live and walk in our soldiers' shoes for one stinking day without your round-the-clock staff of Secret Service bodyguards, and then you can say .... we, Mr. President.
A note to all soldiers on leave who don't want to go back to Iraq or Afghanistan or Syria or wherever the fuck they've sent you.... Ask Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Mike Savage, Steve Malzburg, Dick (get out of the cave) Cheney, Donny Rumsfeld, Condy Rice and all the rest of the flag-waving Chicken Hawks to do the rest of your time. After all, they did say they supports the troops!
© 2003, by the author.
States With Driver’s License Legislation Report Increased Selective Service Registration Compliance
WASHINGTON, DC (June 2003) – States that have joined the national movement to require young men to register with Selective Service before they can renew their driver’s licenses have seen dramatic positive results from their efforts, with increases in registration rates as high as 11 percent. Results of the fourth annual state-by-state registration compliance report released last month by the Selective Service System show that most of the 32 states, two U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia, that have driver’s license legislation showed dramatic increases in compliance rates. The state-by-state report of state registration compliance rates are based on the percentage of draft eligible men who were born in 1983 and had registered by December 31, 2002.
Nationally, registration compliance in 2002 increased to a record 89 percent for men reaching age 19 during the year, up by two points from 2000’s high of 87 percent. Virtually all young men living in the United States are required by Federal law to register with Selective Service when they turn 18. While failure to register is a crime punishable by a fine up to $250,000 and/or up to five years imprisonment, the government rarely prosecutes men in peacetime who fail to register. However, many Federal opportunities – including eligibility for student loans, job training, Federal employment, and citizenship for male immigrants – are denied to young men who fail to register. Young men who are required to register and do not do so by the time they turn 26 are permanently barred from these opportunities. In addition, cities and counties over the years have taken their own steps to ensure registration. Chicago and New York City, for instance, require young men to be registered if they want municipal jobs with the city, such as police officers or fire fighters.
Over the past few years, a movement among states to link driver’s license registration and Selective Service registration has been growing. Selective Service has the challenge of reaching more than 5000 young men in America who turn 18 every day with a message that they’re not always interested in hearing. “It’s especially gratifying to see state governments take this issue so seriously,” said Lew Brodsky, acting director of the Selective Service System. “By tying registration directly to something that is a top-of-mind association for pretty much every young man in America – the ability to get a driver’s license – states are sending the clear message that they support registration and expect young men to take their responsibilities seriously.”
In most states with such legislation, Selective Service works with the Department of Public Safety or Motor Vehicles to include a consent statement on all applications or renewals for driver’s permits, licenses, and identification cards. The statement informs the applicant that by submitting the application he is consenting to being registered with Selective Service if he is required to do so.
In 2002, states and territories that had begun transmitting registration data made significant gains in their compliance rates. They include Hawaii, posting 11 percent; Georgia (10 percent), Colorado and Illinois (8 percent), Alabama and Arkansas (6 percent), and Ohio and Florida 4 percent).
PRIVACY ACT STATEMENT
The Military Selective Service Act, Selective Service regulations, and the President's Proclamation on Registration require that you provide the indicated information, including your Social Security Account Number. The principal purpose of the required information is to establish or verify your registration with the Selective Service System. THIS INFORMATION MAY BE FURNISHED TO OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES FOR THE PURPOSES STATED BELOW:
Department of Justice - for review and processing of suspected violations of the Military Selective Service Act (MSSA), for perjury, and for defense of a civil action arising from administrative processing under such Act.
Department of State and U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service - for collection and evaluation of data todetermine a person's eligibility for entry/reentry into the United States and for United States Citizenship.
Department of Defense and U.S. Coast Guard - to exchange data concerning registration, classification, induction, and examination of registrants and for identification of prospects for recruiting.
Department of Labor - to assist veterans in need of data concerning reemployment rights, and for determination of eligibility for benefits under the Job Training Partnership Act.
Department of Education - to determine eligibility for student financial assistance.
Bureau of the Census - for the purposes of planning or carrying out a census or survey or related activity pursuant to the provisions of Title 13.
Office of Personnel Management and U.S. Postal Service - to determine eligibility for employment.
Department of Health and Human Services - to determine a person's proper Social Security Account Number and for locating parents pursuant to the Child Support Enforcement Act [ 42 U.S.C. 653 (e) (2) ].
State and Local Governments - to provide data which may constitute evidence and facilitate the enforcement of state and local law.
Alternative Service Employers - to exchange information with employers regarding a registrant who is a conscientious objector for the purpose of placement and supervision of performance of alternative service in lieu of induction into the military service.
General Public - Registrant's name, Selective Service Number, date of birth and classification.
Failure to provide the required information may violate the Military Selective Service Act. Conviction for such a violation may result in imprisonment for up to five years and/or a fine of not more than $250,000.
Last Updated April 30, 2002
©2003 Selective Service System
OVER THERE?
Military Draft Unlikely for 'War' On Terrorism
By Carter M. Yang
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived...(2 Timothy 3:13; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-17...KJV).
W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 18 — Even as the nation's armed forces mobilize for what the commander in chief vows will be an all-out war against international terrorism, THERE IS LITTLE CHANCE THE GOVERNMENT WILL TAKE THE DRASTIC STEP OF REINSTATING THE MILITARY DRAFT.
"We will win the war," President Bush said at the Pentagon on Monday. "An act of war was declared against America, but this will be a different type of war than we're used to." Tens of thousands of reservists are now reporting for duty in preparation for that as yet undefined war effort, but experts agree it is highly unlikely that ordinary citizens will be called to duty — something that hasn't happened since the Vietnam War.
'ALMOST NO CHANCE,' SAY EXPERTS
"There is almost no chance that they're going to institute the draft," says ABC NEWS Military Analyst Anthony Cordesman. "This is not 1940, it's not Korea and it's not Vietnam."
The United States military has been an all-volunteer force for the last quarter century. And there are many reasons why the government will likely not induct civilians into that force in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
"The problem with the draft is that it normally has short-term stints of military service," says Kurt Campbell, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense. "But in a sophisticated military organization … it takes a couple of years just to understand your job..."
What we need are truly well-trained professionals capable of operating very high-technology equipment," agrees Cordesman. "And the fact is that draftees can't provide those capabilities."
LARGE SCALE GROUND WAR UNLIKELY
Department of Defense officials say the military is preparing to wage a "sustained and broad" campaign against terrorists and those who support them. But the operations the Pentagon is planning are likely not on the same scale or of the same nature as America's last armed conflict — the 1991 Persian Gulf War, when the United States deployed more than a half-million servicemen and women to the region in the successful effort to repel Iraqi forces from Kuwait. "It's very hard to imagine a military operation on the scale of 'Desert Storm,'" says Campbell. "We're not going to have the same kind of staging areas and I don't think we'll have the same potential uses of ground forces."
Campbell and other military experts say the United States will likely rely heavily on air and sea power and special forces units, which rarely operate in groups larger than one hundred.
"Draftees are what you need for a mass army when you are fighting a mass enemy in conventional warfare," says Cordesman.
"The real challenge for us is to avoid situations where we would need to use large numbers of people in a large, on-the-ground effort," Campbell adds.
Michael O'Hanlon, AN EXPERT on defense issues with the Brookings Institution, says even if such an effort does become necessary, it is unlikely to have the manpower requirements that would necessitate a draft. "Even if one imagines a major ground war against Iraq or Afghanistan," he says, "these are the sorts of things that we've been planning to do with our active duty force for a long time."
During Operation Desert Storm, some 265,000 reserve and National Guard members were mobilized. Bush, who has the authority to call up as many as 1 million reservists, last week ordered the mobilization of some 35,000 to perform "homeland defense" and civil service functions "THE TROOPS WHO WILL BE CALLED UP UNDERSTAND BETTER THAN MOST THAT FREEDOM HAS A COST AND THAT WE'RE WILLING TO BEAR THAT COST," the president said Monday...
(Please log on to "The Chikenhawks" at www.nhgazette.com).
Understand the Parable of the Sower...Matthew 13 (KJV)...
And stand fast therefore in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage...(Galatians 5:1).
...O'Hanlon says the only scenario under which regular citizens might be called on to bear some of that cost is if the United States moves to occupy one or more countries over a period of several years. "If we had a five-year occupation … and needed to help shepherd in new governments before we could withdraw — just as we did in Germany and Japan after World War II," he says, "then conceivably you would get into the kinds of manpower requirements that would advise in favor of a draft." "But that's a quite remote possibility," he adds. "A few percent probability at most."
Selective Service System On Standby
Since 1980, every able-bodied American male has been required by law to register with the Selective Service System within 30 days of his 18th birthday. It is that system which will swing into action in the unlikely event that Congress passes and President Bush signs legislation authorizing a draft.
RED ALERT - MILITARY CONSCRIPTION
From Robert H. Ballan
rballan@northnet.or
10-26-03
Dear All,
I just went to http://www.sss.gov/fslocal.htm and applied to interviewed as a potential member of a local draft board. You can do this also. The application can be filled out online and it is not lengthy. The fact that the Selective Service System is interviewing for these positions sends an unmistakable signal to us that legislation bringing back forced induction into the military which has been lying dormant in the House and Senate is about to move quickly into law.For those of us with draft age children, grandchildren or young family members, this is serious issue - a life, disability and death issue. At present, the U.S. military is now all-volunteer but that is about to change. There are those that are willing to be put in harm's way, if ordered to do so by their nation, regardless of the morality of the situation. There are many that are conscientiously opposed to participation in war in any form or in unjust wars. If we leave the Draft Boards to those with right wing beliefs, we will have right wing draft boards. I prefer to participate in the system, in a legitimate way to ensure that our youngsters get the fairness and balanced consideration that the seriousness of the situation warrants.
Admittedly, as a conscientious objector, opposed to all war, I would probably not be appointed by the governor nor even recommended by the Selective Service System. However, I'm trying to fullfil my duty to my country. There may be others who upon reading this message feel the urge to participate in the system to ensure its fairness and compliance with the law. However, I intend to notify my congressman and senators that reinstituting military conscription will inexorably lead to the expansion of our military interventions and adventures in foreign lands and ask them to oppose it.
It is time to start educating your children regarding conscientious objection. It is also time to start organizing volunteer community draft counseling organizations. Those of you that are interested in serving either as Draft Board members or volunteer counselors, it's time to step up. We can all write letters and express our opposition. As much as anything this is an opportunity to test our ability to network. Get the word out. Let's not allow the public to be taken by surprise.
Best regards,
Robert H. Ballan
Norwood, New York
US PREPARING FOR MILITARY DRAFT IN SPRING 2005
by Adam Stutz • Wednesday January 28, 2004 at 09:50 AM
The current agenda of the US federal government is to reinstate the draft in order to staff up for a protracted war on "terrorism." Pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills S 89 and HR 163) would time the program so the draft could begin at early as Spring 2005 -- conveniently just after the 2004 presidential election!
Dear Friends and Family,
I urge you to read the article below on the current agenda of the federal government to reinstate the draft in order to staff up for a protracted war on "terrorism."
Pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills S 89 and HR 163) would time the program so the draft could begin at early as Spring 2005 -- conveniently just after the 2004 presidential election! But the administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed NOW, so our action is needed immediately. Details and links follow.
If voters who currently support U.S. aggression abroad were confronted with the possibility that their own children or grandchildren might not have a say about whether to fight, many of these same voters might have a change of mind. (Not that it should make a difference, but this plan would among other things eliminate higher education as a shelter and would not exclude women -- and Canada is no longer an option.)
Please send this on to all the parents and teachers you know, and all the aunts and uncles, grandparents, godparents.... And let your children know -- it's their future, and they can be a powerful voice for change! Please also write to your representatives to ask them why they aren't telling their constituents about these bills -- and write to newspapers and other media outlets to ask them why they're not covering this important story.
The Draft*
$28 million has been added to the 2004 Selective Service System (SSS) budget to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. SSS must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation. Please see website: http://www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html to view the SSS Annual Performance Plan - Fiscal Year 2004.
The Pentagon has quietly begun a public campaign to fill all 10,350 draft board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots nationwide.. Though this is an unpopular election year topic, military experts and influential members of Congress are suggesting that if Rumsfeld's prediction of a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan [and a permanent state of war on "terrorism"] proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to draft.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5146.htm
Congress brought twin bills, S. 89 and H.R. 163 forward this year, entitled the Universal National Service Act of 2003, "To provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons [age 18--26] in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes." These active bills currently sit in the Committee on Armed Services.
Dodging the draft will be more difficult than those from the Vietnam era remember. College and Canada will not be options. In December 2001, Canada and the US signed a "Smart Border Declaration," which could be used to keep would-be draft dodgers in. Signed by Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Manley, and US Homeland Security Director, Gov. Tom Ridge, the declaration involves a 30-point plan which implements, among other things, a "pre-clearance agreement" of people entering and departing each country. Reforms aimed at making the draft more equitable along gender and class lines also eliminates higher education as a shelter. Underclassmen would only be able to postpone service until the end of their cur-rent semester. Seniors would have until the end of the academic year.
*This article by Adam Stutz is from the "What's Hot Off the Press" column of the newsletter of Project Censored, a media research group at Sonoma State University that tracks the news published in independent journals and newsletters. From these, Project Censored compiles an annual list (more than 20 years running) of 25 news stories of social significance that have been overlooked, under-reported, or self-censored by the country's major national news media. The mission of Project Censored is "to educate people about the role of independent journalism in a democratic society and to tell The News That Didn't Make the News and why."
Comment
From Spacek
Spacek@ameritech.net
10-26-03
Yes, just go along with this 'draft', like a good little Nazi, you think you can change things from the inside of a draftboard? You're nuts! You just want to play 'godling' and decide who goes, who stays. Yours stay, mine and 'others', go. B... everybody 'stays', because we are all conscientiously opposing a draft, not letting the ptb, soon to be the ptw (powers that 'were'), call the next shots. Nobody is 'going' anywhere, we need every man (and womwn) jack, one of us, to STAY and defend the constitutional republic and what's left of it!
"They would have to revisit the entire process of how a call-up would work," says Campbell. "Very little thought has been given to how you would re-institute it." According to current plans, men ages 20 to 25 would be eligible, with 20-year-olds the first to be drafted. A lottery based on birth dates would be used to determine the order in which people are called up.
"You wouldn't want to get to the situation we had in Vietnam where the rich could 'buy' their way out and educate their way out of the draft," says O'Hanlon. "That was a divisive approach that I think we would want to avoid." During most of the Vietnam War, any college student was eligible for a deferment from the draft. Current Selective Service guidelines, however, would allow a college student to postpone his induction only until the end of the semester.
A system is also in place to draft a "very small percentage" of the nation's doctors and nurses into military service if the need arises. All health-care workers between the ages of 20 and 45 — both men and women — would be obligated to register. As with a general military service draft, a so-called medical draft would require the approval of Congress and the president.
"The Selective Service System remains in a standby, caretaker status," the agency said in a statement today. "At this time, there has been no indication from the Congress or the administration that a return to the draft will be necessary."
NAMES GIVEN TO MILITARY RECRUITERS
District complies with federal act by giving student information; Parents concerned military ads may be misleading
By Alex Katz, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND -- Saturday, November 15__The Oakland school district turned over names and phone numbers of almost 4,000 students to military recruiters this week, in a controversial move required to comply with federal law. A provision of President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act gives recruiters special access to names, phone numbers and addresses of high school juniors and seniors.
Schools sent "opt-out" forms home with students in English, Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese. About 600 students returned the forms to prevent their information from going to recruiters, district officials said. The Pentagon says the law helps to find young people to defend the country. But some Oakland parents and school officials say recruiting and advertisements for the military can be misleading to children. Military marketing often focuses on adventure and money for college, without any mention of going to war, killing or dying, they say.
Student names and numbers are still off-limits to college recruiters and other government agencies. Previously, Oakland did not give out student information to anyone without parent permission. "I don't think (recruiters) give a realistic view of what the military is," said Venus Mesui, parent coordinator at the Street Academy, a small high school that has banned military recruiters from campus. Mesui also works at Fremont High, where she said recruiters' pitches center on money. It's hard for poor students to resist offers of signing bonuses and tens of thousands of dollars for college, she said. "We're talking about teenagers, 16, 17 years old," Mesui said. "Some of them don't have three dollars in their pocket to buy lunch."
Also, she said, "You know the military is now. They're not coming home and when they do, they're coming home in boxes."
The district sent names and contact information of juniors and seniors to Jack Meng, an education specialist in a South Bay U.S. Navy recruitment office. Meng could not be reached for comment Friday. Under the No Child Left Behind law, the Oakland schools stood to lose more than $25 million in federal funds if the district did not give out names to recruiters. The school board voted last year to comply with the law, but stressed that parents would be informed they could sign an "opt-out" form to keep their children's names and numbers private. "Most of us felt like it wasn't a good idea because it would be difficult for parents to be informed," said board member Gary Yee, a former captain in the U.S. Air Force.
Fremont High journalism teacher Michael Jackson had a less critical view of military recruiters. "Some kids love the structure (of the military), and that's really good for them," said Jackson, whose son is stationed in Iraq. Also, Fremont High is no stranger to recruiters from colleges, nonprofits, political organizations and even religious groups, Jackson said. "I've taken kids to numerous assemblies that almost turn into prayer meetings," he said. In the past, recruiters have always been able to call a good number of Oakland students without information from the district.
Fremont High senior Anthony Petty said giving students' names to recruiters helps the country. Also, "I think it's good that they're getting troubled teens, if nothing else, to explore the world," Petty said. Still, Petty said recruiters don't always give a complete picture of military service. "I don't think it's like they're lying to people, but they're not necessarily being up front with them."
ARMY RESERVE BATTLING AN EXODUS
By Robert Schlesinger
The Boston Globe
11-24-03WASHINGTON -- The US Army Reserve fell short of its reenlistment goals this fiscal year, underscoring Pentagon fears that the protracted conflict in Iraq could cause a crippling exodus from the armed services. The Army Reserve has missed its retention goal by 6.7 percent, the second shortfall since fiscal 1997. It was largely the result of a larger than expected exodus of career reservists, a loss of valuable skills because such staff members are responsible for training junior officers and operating complex weapons systems.
"The Army has invested an enormous amount of money in training these people, and they're very hard to replace," said John Pike of globalsecurity.org, an independent research group in Washington. With extended deployments and increasingly deadly attacks by Iraqi guerrillas, Defense Department officials are scrambling to combat a broader downturn in retention and recruitment that they fear is on the horizon. The US Army, the primary service deployed in Iraq, is offering reenlistment bonuses of $5,000 for soldiers serving there. The Army National Guard is extending an official thank-you to members by arranging services to honor returning soldiers. The Massachusetts National Guard is offering rewards ranging from plaques to NASCAR tickets to members who lure recruits. And throughout the branches, recruitment advertising is up and programs are being launched to make the military seem more family-friendly.
The Army also is resorting to a policy called "stop loss" that allows the Pentagon to indefinitely keep soldiers from leaving the service once their time has expired. The policy, used during war, is designed to prevent staffing shortfalls in key sectors. As the military ponders unpalatable measures -- further Reserve or Guard call-ups, back-to-back tours of duty -- to fill the global obligations, any personnel shortfalls could prove disastrous. "It's a slippery slope in the sense that there's kind of a snowball effect," said Andrew F. Krepinevich, executive director of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington think tank that focuses on defense issues. "It's very difficult to work your way out of, very difficult to put Humpty Dumpty back together again once you break the force."
While Pentagon officials have insisted that recruiting and retention figures are mostly at or above expected levels, thanks in part to a soft economy that offers little competition, signs of trouble are emerging. Recruiting for the Massachusetts National Guard, a backup to the professional Army and Air Force, was down 30 percent this year. Nationwide, the Army National Guard has fallen 13 percent short of its recruiting goal, although that deficit was offset by fewer than expected troops leaving the service.
Perhaps the most troubling statistic is the drop in retention for the Army Reserve, first disclosed by Army Chief of Staff General Peter Schoomaker on Wednesday in testimony before Congress. The drop was due to the Reserve falling 9.3 percent short of its retention goal among career soldiers. "They've got a fair amount of experience with these things and generally manage to fine-tune them so that they pretty much have in place all of the various incentives and bonuses ... that they'll pretty much come in on their number. So if they were off by 6 percent, that's significant," Pike said.
It was the second time in the past seven years that the Reserve has fallen below its intended reenlistment figure, according to Steve Stromvall, an Army Reserve spokesman. In the 12 months that concluded at the end of September 2001, the Reserves was 1 percent short of its number. That the shortfall was entirely among career soldiers is important because they are considered the Army's backbone. "They're critically important," said Cindy Williams, a specialist on military personnel issues with MIT's Security Studies Program. "That's where the leadership is going to come from in the next decade."
They are people like Staff Sergeant Scott Durst, a 15-year veteran of the Army Reserve who extended his enlistment after a tour in Bosnia but will not sign on for another tour after Iraq, though it will means he loses the opportunity for retirement benefits. "Not even a chance, no," said his wife Nancy Durst, a high school art teacher. "He didn't sign up to be a Reserve to be doing active-duty orders every year." She added that her husband, a member of the 94th Military Police Company, has spent too much time away from their home in southern Maine and their two teenage daughters.
"I fear there will be a negative impact on retention of these Guard and Reserve personnel," said Senator Susan Collins, a Republican of Maine who sits on the personnel subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "There's an old saying in the Army that they enlist the soldier but reenlist the family, and the new one-year 'boots on the ground' policy for service in Iraq has really upset a lot of the families with whom I've talked."
According to internal Pentagon surveys conducted last spring and summer, the overall percentage of troops intending to reenlist remained steady from last year, at 58 percent. But among those serving in Iraq, only 54 percent who were surveyed agreed, while 46 percent said they did not want to reenlist. Michael O'Hanlon, a defense specialist at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, called the figures "at the threshold of tolerable. In and of themselves they're not catastrophic, but the problem is they could get worse because as people increasingly confirm the reality of returning to Iraq another time these numbers can be expected to drop further. If you wait too long to address the trends, then it's too late."
In 2003, the Army's retention goal was 67 percent. Like the recruiting shortfall in the Guard, the unexpected drop in the Reserve's 2003 retention was offset by stronger than expected recruiting. The Army, which oversees the bulk of troops in Iraq, is not the only branch of the armed services facing hardships in recruitment and retention because of the Iraq war. Air Force Major Joe Allegretti, chief of the Defense Department's Joint Recruiting Advertising Program, cited a poll of youths conducted from April through June in which half said the war in Iraq made them less likely to join the military, and only one-third said it made them more likely to join. Sergeant Major James Vales, senior Army counselor in charge of overseeing active-duty retention policy, said his shop of 740 career counselors has been answering concerns from members of Congress and Army leaders about trying to prevent a talent drain. "We have some things in the works to kind of offset any problems that we may see in retention," Vales said, citing options ranging from family-friendly policies like support groups and child care to his most important tool: cash. "Most of [the effort] is increasing our retention bonus dollars... The biggest thing soldiers respond to is monetary incentives."
Reserve and Guard leaders are working to improve relations with stateside families by setting up support networks, including "marriage enhancement seminars" run through the Army Reserve's chaplaincy and designed to address such issues as long separations during deployments.
Guard leaders also have sent teams into Iraq to work on the problem. Several soldiers spread between Iraq and Kuwait try to act as trouble-shooters for unhappy Guard members, checking back twice weekly with Guard headquarters in the United States, said Colonel Frank Grass, the Guard's chief of operations. And thanks to "stop loss," members of the Guard and Reserve cannot leave the military until 90 days after they have been deactivated.
- Robert Schlesinger can be reached at schlesinger@globe.com
November 08, 2003
A Post-Election 2004 Military Draft?
The question of whether the U.S. government will reinstate the military draft was one of the topics of conversation on CNN's "In the Money" program on Nov. 8. The guest was David Lindorff, a regular contributor to CounterPunch and a correspondent for Salon.com. Lindorff recently wrote a piece for Salon entitled Oiling up the draft machine? in which he reports that the Pentagon is quietly moving to fill draft board vacancies nationwide. Here's some of what Lindorff had to say on the issue during the CNN program. I've paraphrased the questions, but Lindorff's answers are verbatim. – Mark Hand
Q: How close is this draft idea to becoming a reality?
Lindorff: I think what we’re seeing here with the call-up of the reserves and marines to go back into Iraq is being presented as kind of a desperate move now in the Times today because they simply don’t have the bodies to go in there next year.
Q: Who in Congress or Washington would ever support such an idea?
Lindorff: I can’t see them doing it in an election year. I think that the work they’re doing now is really because if they need it they’ll have to be able to move to it quickly after the election. You basically could see a situation come November – if they keep tamping down the numbers for now as long as they can during a campaign – to suddenly needing to get those troops in there if things are turning worse. So they have to a have the machinery ready. It takes six months to go from the actual start of a call-up to getting the first guys delivered to boot camp.
Q: What about the argument that the draft would not supply qualified people to operate in today’s military?
Lindorff: I think what we’re finding out is that’s a myth. The new McNamara is Rumsfeld who’s been pushing this idea of the super high-tech army with very few actual people on the ground. And we’re finding out that that doesn’t work. Take a look at the helicopter shoot down. That tragic event occurred because a basic rule of helicopter landing sites was ignored. And that is that you secure the area because helicopters are so vulnerable going up and down. That site was not secure because they did not have the personnel on the ground to simply secure the perimeter. And the other thing is that we’re talking now about a low-intensity conflict, an occupation, which requires bodies. If you don’t have the bodies to do the occupation through selective use of force, you have to use overwhelming force, and then you end up killing lots of civilians and angering more people, and that’s what we’re doing now.
Posted by Mark Hand, November 08, 2003
Military Draft Could Include Women, Pacifists
Michael Betsch, CNSNews.com
The U.S. Selective Service System is ready to reinstate the draft if ordered by Congress and President Bush.
But in this unconventional war against terrorism, pacifists and women may be surprised to learn of their potential to be called to the service by Uncle Sam. During a recent regional Selective Service conference, one item discussed was the inclusion of health care professionals in a wartime draft, noted Region II Director Col. Keith Scraggs. According to Scraggs, a health-care draft "could be a likely scenario if we have a shortage of medical folks and this thing drags on out." That scenario would occur only in the event that "the active forces, the reserves and guard couldn't handle it," he added.A health-care draft is not a new concept to the U.S. military, said SSS Director of Public and Congressional Affairs Lew Brodsky. "There used to be a doctors' draft in this country from 1950 to 1973, but it was limited to a handful of doctors only and specific kinds of doctors before you had the kind of specialties that we have today," said Brodsky.
The issue of a health-care draft was also raised and discussed by members of Congress in the late 1980s. Brodsky said the Senate Armed Services Committee was concerned about the possibility of a military conflict that involved weapons of mass destruction and incurred heavy casualties.
Brodsky said Congress argued that in a modern war the "military medical capability might not be sufficient to handle that crisis. It might be understaffed and might need more people quickly. "Looking at the numbers of medical personnel required, the time frames and the kinds of skills required – it would have to include women," said Brodsky.
While noting that women historically have never participated in a U.S. military draft lottery, Brodsky said that in today's war, "it's frankly doubtful that we could achieve the numbers required" if female health workers were not drafted. More than half of those graduating from medical schools today are women, Brodsky remarked. "If you're talking nurses, you've got 90 percent-plus nurses in this country are women." "We're not registering any of those folks," Scraggs said. "It's on the shelf, ready to go in case we need it."
However, Bill Galvin, a counseling coordinator at the anti-war Center on Conscience and War, wants to ensure that all plans to activate a military or health-care draft remain 'on the shelf.' "The draft presents a problem of crisis, especially for conscientious objectors," said Galvin. Part of that crisis stems from the mandatory Selective Service registration requirement for all American men between ages 18 and 26. Galvin believes the registration requirement serves solely as a vehicle to enlist "support for military policies."
Brodsky disagrees. "Our answer to that is registration is not military and there's really no basis for being a conscientious objector to Selective Service registration." Galvin's opposition to Selective Service registration requirement doesn't stop with the military; it extends to Department of Motor Vehicles locations nationwide. "There's an increasing number of states now that are linking draft registration to obtaining a driver's license," Galvin said. "There are states where, if you haven't registered, you can't get a license or you can't renew your license.
"And if they don't register by the time they turn 26," Galvin noted, then they are "permanently barred from all federal financial aid, most federal jobs and job training." But, Brodsky maintains the Selective Service System is not on a mission to draft conscientious objectors and place them in the line of fire. "We exist as much to serve the conscientious objector community as we do the military community." In fact, those deemed to be conscientious objectors by a draft board of their peers "are subject to assignment to civilian service in the community," Brodsky said. "It could be with a public-spirited hospital, an old age home, or working in AmeriCorps, working on the farms for the public good, whatever."
Although Galvin would prefer the dissolution of the Selective Service and its registration requirement, he realizes that is not likely to occur, especially during wartime. As such, Galvin acknowledged that his pacifist organization and its volunteers "encourage people to actually write up the answers to [conscientious objector] questions now and try to gather something to support it, and get this thing on file with the church."
But it's not that simple to get a draft exemption, Brodsky said. "Conscientious objection is not self-determined. A man is not a conscientious objector because he says he is; he's a conscientious objector because he proves he is, or at least shows compelling evidence to a board of his community peers. "If everybody had the ability to declare themselves conscientious objectors, it would be kind of like anarchy in a draft," said Brodsky. Copyright CNSNews.com
BRING BACK THE DRAFT
Republican Senator Nebraska's Chuck Hagel Says 'All Of Our Citizens' Should 'Pay Some Price'For US Iraqi Operation
WorldNetDaily.com
4-21-04
A Republican U.S. senator is calling for a return of the military draft so the cost of the Iraq operation could be borne by people of all economic strata. Speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on post-occupation Iraq, Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said, "There's not an American ... that doesn't understand what we are engaged in today and what the prospects are for the future."
Hagel, a member of the committee, says all Americans should be involved in the effort. "Why shouldn't we ask all of our citizens to bear some responsibility and pay some price?" Hagel said, arguing that restoring the draft would force "our citizens to understand the intensity and depth of challenges we face." The senator also argued re-instituting the draft, which ended in the early '70s, would cause the burden of military service to be spread among all economic classes of people.
"Those who are serving today and dying today are the middle class And lower middle class," he claimed.
Hagel's call comes just days after the Pentagon moved to extend the missions of some 20,000 of the 135,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, noted a report from Agence France-Presse. The Bush administration has been criticized for not using enough troops as the coalition works to keep order in Iraqi cities.As WorldNetDaily reported, a pair of bills was introduced in Congress last year that would bring back the military draft.
S. 89, the Senate version of the legislation, indicates its purpose is "to provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes."
The bill was introduced Jan. 7, 2003, by Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C. Says the text of the bill: "It is the obligation of every citizen of the United States, and every other person residing in the United States who is between the ages of 18 and 26 to perform a period of national service as prescribed in this Act unless exempted under the provisions of this Act." This service, which would be for a minimum of two years, can be either in the military or "in a civilian capacity that, as determined by the president, promotes the national defense, including national or community service and homeland security."
Under the bill, "conscientious objectors" may request a deferment from military training, but must still provide service "that does not include any combatant training component." Alternatively, the objector can be transferred to a civilian service job. The House of Representatives version of the bill, H.R. 163, is sponsored by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.
The bill differs from an earlier attempt to re-institute the draft. As WorldNetDaily reported, the "Universal Military Training and Service Act," introduced in December 2001, applied only to men and only those from 18-22 years of age. Also, the earlier bill required just six months of service. Libertarian presidential candidate Aaron Russo has launched a petition drive against the draft.
Last fall, media reported on the fact the Selective Service System had posted a notice saying the agency was looking for people to serve on local draft boards. Since then, the appeal has been changed to assure the public that "there is NO connection between this ongoing, routine public outreach to compensate for natural board attrition and current international events. Both the president and the secretary of defense have stated on several occasions that a draft is not needed for the war on terrorism, including Iraq." Libertarian commentators claim the government is getting things prepared so if the draft is re-instated, conscription can begin as quickly as possible. Recently, presidential candidate Ralph Nader also has warned about attempts to bring back the draft.
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc. http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38139
Mike,
David Spooner's son Nathan just died in Iraq...Jim Chojnackie.
Some Additional notes of the Draft
A Little Child Shall Lead Them
By Judith Moriarty
NoahsHouse@adelphia.net
10-19-03
Wars have long echoes. It is said that the greatest sin towards our fellow man is not to hate but indifference, and that man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn. The echoes of past wars live under bridges, in abandoned cars and in city parks. The children of those born to veterans drenched with Agent Orange, or the genetic damage, due to numerous vaccinations, pills, and exposure to depleted uranium (it cuts through metal like butter), and massive amounts of pollution, are the Littlest Echoes. You won't hear their laughter or expressions of awe catching fireflies in the night, nor the sound of little feet following daddy around the house, wanting just one more story, or that special tossel to the head and hug, that only daddy can give as he tucks his little one in bed.
Indifference and man's inhumanity to man, is most exemplified in the suffering of those children, no less loved, no less precious than those of foreign lands. Lands thousands of miles away; under scorching desert sands, jungle villages, or crowded cities. Children are the Earth's most precious resource and childhood, a short span of wonderment, discovery and innocence. What depravity of man's mindless-perverse genius, uses his intellect--his talents--his creativity to invent diabolical weaponry that shatters, shreds, napalms, sucks the oxygen from the air, or melts the flesh of other human beings and innocent children? What lunatic irrationality poisons air-land-and people with radiated weaponry that lays waste the land for billions of years and mutates the genes of whole lands--bringing forth grotesque monsters?
696,628 U.S. Soldiers were sent in 1991 to fight a War in Iraq. 467 U.S.Soldiers were wounded during the War. 148 U.S.Soldiers were killed during the War (half by friendly fire). 183,000 U.S. Soldiers are now disabled. 9,600 U.S. Soldiers are now deceased. Depleted Uranium 238 weapons are an unacceptable threat to life, a clear violation of international law and an assault on human dignity. Depleted Uranium 238 weapons are a non-conventional weapons type, as it is considered a nuclear based weapon of mass and/or indiscriminate destruction, continuing to kill combatants and civilians in a most inhumane way, long after its use.
Radiation poisoning causes the mutation of the DNA structure of an individual, causing genetic mutation which are passed on to offspring. Babies are born with their internal organs outside their bodies, without sexual organs, without spines, with no heads, with abnormally large heads, deformed flipper limbs and abnormal brain function. In Basra Iraq, numerous children are being born with such grotesque deformities. Terrorism? I am perplexed and stupefied, trying to imagine how you bomb a country for over ten years, subject it to inhuman sanctions, poison it with depleted uranium, and then proclaim that through "Shock and Awe" missiles raining down, cluster bombs shredding the limbs from children, Daisy Cutters sucking oxygen from the air--exploding eyeballs, that you've come to "liberate" them into McFreedom, finally setting them loose from a murdering dictator?
Here we are in the 21st century with weapons enough to destroy the whole of the planet ten times over. Ha, a supposed Think Tank on every corner of Foggy Bottom-Washington D.C., politicians done up like pet nanny goats, puffing and pontificating playing the blame game and stables full of Public Relations 'experts' of every ilk, from moth balled gray generals, to designer suited puppets, and not a one of them with an ounce of common sense or discernible intellect amongst them. The people knew.
Yes, the people of the Earth, who reside in the real world of pain-suffering-deprivation-hunger-joblessness--decayed infrastructures, Enron-Worldcom-Tyco etc., rip offs--closed clinics--rusted mill towns--soup kitchens--and corporate thuggery, knew and know, the insanity of a world at war. And so it was that last October saw millions upon millions, upon millions, marching-singing-protesting--for sanity--for peace TO NO AVAIL. INSANITY NEVER LISTENS TO THE VOICE OF REASON. Insanity bloated--gorged--and satiated with the lust for power-control-dominion, are the forever lost trio on the Yellow Brick road searching for a heart--a brain--and courage. Finding none they invent it.
They imagine themselves as wizards--gatekeepers--crusaders and warriors. Proclamations are issued forth through the lap dog--salivating media stooges, that the god of perpetual war is on their side. This vengeful--annihilating god says, "Bring 'em on....wanted dead or alive...
...We are on a mission, a crusade to rid the world of terrorism through famine--torture--assassination--napalm--chemicals--mother bombs--and cluster bombs. Sure some innocents will die mere collateral damage that's the cost of freedom!"
Faceless--nameless--their echoed cries are smothered, beneath their collapsing farm house walls, the market place, in desert tents. A bloodied severed hand clasps a doorknob--a little dark-eyed boy--his arms severed, lies amidst the shredded remains of his family, and a rag doll little girl is lifted gently from the debris, by her "liberated" grandfather her feet gone---her little hand hangs lifeless in this extravaganza of bombs bursting in air of "Shock and Shame". And the gatekeepers--the crusaders--wizards-- our costumed warrior, with his testicles strapped in flight suited pride declared a victory. One can picture them, far from the stench of charcoal burning bodies and shredded flesh, climatically gleeful in their ornate war rooms slurping down the best of scotch in celebratory madness.
The cannon fodder sent off in a flurry of flags--patriotic fervor--and marching bands? These youngsters, a few months removed from skateboarding, roaming the malls, gathering at night with their friends in parking lots, ghetto tenements, decaying mill towns, rural villages, and small town U.S.A., believed a man in a glitzy recruiting bus promising them the education that their unemployed miner or farmer dads could never afford. They joined in the hopes of a better future, a way out of their dead end no jobs to be had lives. Others bought the freedom--democracy--save us from the terrorists. The bus never showed pictures of the dead, blind and maimed. It never showed the Littlest Echoes born with flipper arms--missing legs.
Reservists, some in their fifties, mostly joined the reserves to supplement their incomes. The poor always fight rich men's wars, and return forgotten--misused--begging for medical care and forever changed by the impossible the unspeakable. The millions upon millions, young--old--teacher--veterans--housewives--students--grandmothers--musicians--poets--artists--etc., who marched last October to stop a slaughter were labeled extremists and unpatriotic. The perverseness of our times has the impressionable--the uneducated--the stupid--the ignorant--the unthinking--the easily led, believing a lie. Most, are so mind-numbed, that they believe that Saddam was responsible for the Towers Disaster!
Most know nothing of the history of the region, nor their people, and don't care to know. Afghanistan, now back in the hands of the drug lords, is not even spoken of. The horror and devastation there, has a land poisoned with depleted uranium, with its infrastructure totally destroyed. There aren't enough billions in the whole of the world to keep up with this annihilating god on his mission to wipe terrorism from the earth. Catching the fog in one's hands would be an easier feat than something as obscure and ludicrous as this.
And now another October and millions more will march--sing--drum--and try to reason with costumed--leering clowns gone mad, rampaging down the Earth's midway. Thousands that were alive this time last year are now dead. Thousands more are limbless-blind-mindless--or forever genetically mutated, by inhaled particles of radiated uranium....with whispered echoes yet to be born, deformed in numerous ways. They will not be marching. It is up to those of heart-conscience-and sanity to carry their voice to the world.
Our Littlest Echo, sits pensive and wounded before us. He speaks loudly this little boy lost, of the carnage-the barbaric savagery of war. His little face needs to be taken to Washington and held before the world. He is everybody's child--he is the loudest voice--the most articulate of speeches--the most thoughtful of banners, of what we have become. The men in black helmeted uniforms with their clubs and shields need to unmask and see what the people cry peace for. This babe is the son of their loins--their future. They need to throw their helmets and clubs aside and join the world in its cry for survival for that's what it has come to.
And the Littlest Echo, and all whom he represents; be they a U.S. Soldier's son--an Afghanistan child or an Iraqi youngster----what have they to say if they could? "I am the lie that you believed. My stunted arms represent a world grown callous and cold, unable to lift the suffering-the helpless-the lonely--the dispossessed--the sick and the stranger from a world gone mad in its selfish egotistical pride that sees only to its own desires--lusts--and conquests. My stunted legs represent a world unable, through deformity, to run to the aid of another, to take a stand, to become involved locally-domestically or globally with others in bettering their communities and nations. My eyes see beyond your petty jealousies, your unforgiveness-one to another, your drunkenness, your abuses, your bias, prejudice, hate, anger, greed, ego, and arrogant self righteousness. You look upon me with pity--you need not. For I am just like you only inside out. If for a brief moment in time the deformities of your own natures--your spiritual void, your lewd lusts, your indifference and murder of the innocents; through war or domination, could be made manifest, it is you who would be the one to be pitied and I most whole. I am a world without song--without laughter--without joyful dance. Make me whole, make us whole. Go and speak where I cannot. You must persist, you are about Truth-Love-and Peace. You are about the saving of the whole of the Earth, believe me you are. This is the real mission, and you will win, for where there is great evil--love abounds even more. Tell them, shout it, sing it, we will have Peace, we will not be silenced."
The Littlest Echo
ANTI-DRAFT ADVISORY ON BALLOT
By ANNE AURAND
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: January 6, 2004)
Voters in April can consider whether Anchorage men should be excused from registering for the federal military draft. Scott Kohlhaas, Alaska Libertarian Party chairman, and supporters collected enough petition signatures to get the question on the April 6 ballot. Petitioners got about 10,000 signatures; the minimum necessary was 6,352.Virtually all American males between 18 and 25 must sign up for Selective Service. The ballot initiative, if approved, would create a task force "to study the effects of" making Anchorage exempt. The study would consider national security, government funding and other issues related to draft registration, Kohlhaas said.
The volunteer, appointed task force -- likely composed of military, government and citizen representatives, Kohlhaas said -- would report on its findings and conclusions and would figure out how to invoke a local exemption. Anchorage's mayor would write a letter to the Selective Service saying that Anchorage residents disapprove of registration requirements.
Such exemptions haven't happened anywhere else, but Kohlhaas hopes a local anti-draft message will start in Anchorage and spread. The Libertarians hope Anchorage's election will kick off a national anti-draft movement. "It's going to make us stronger in terms of an anti-draft movement," he said. "People against it are organizing. That's important."
Kohlhaas said Libertarians are planning a similar statewide ballot initiative for 2006. He said registration wastes money, considering the draft hasn't been used in 30 years. "This is not anti-military at all. This is about the draft," he said. "We're encouraging the all-volunteer force."
A city attorney approved the language that will appear on the ballot. But, Mayor Mark Begich said, local laws allow almost anything on the ballot so long as it's an advisory; approving the initiative wouldn't change any laws. The mayor said Kohlhaas really should be petitioning the congressional delegation since registration is a federal law. "It doesn't make any sense," Begich said. "I'm not sure what the purpose is here."
Begich said he would not support using any city funds to help pay for the local study. If the initiative is approved, "we'd just forward election results over to the Selective Service. I'll pay for the stamp."
Daily News reporter Anne Aurand can be reached at aaurand@adn.com or 257-4591.
From AxisofLogic.com
U.S. Military
Pending Draft Legislation Targeted for Spring 2005
By Action Alert
May 27, 2004,
The Draft will Start in June 2005
There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin at early as Spring 2005 -- just after the 2004 presidential election. The administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the public's attention is on the elections, so our action on this is needed immediately.
$28 million has been added to the 2004 Selective Service System (SSS) budget to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. Selective Service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation. Please see website: www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html to view the sss annual performance plan - fiscal year 2004.
The pentagon has quietly begun a public campaign to fill all 10,350 draft board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots nationwide.. Though this is an unpopular election year topic, military experts and influential members of congress are suggesting that if Rumsfeld's prediction of a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan [and a permanent state of war on "terrorism"] proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to draft.
Congress brought twin bills, S. 89 and HR 163 forward this year, http://www.hslda.org/legislation/na...s89/default.asp entitled the Universal National Service Act of 2003, "to provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons [age 18--26] in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes." These active bills currently sit in the committee on armed services.
Dodging the draft will be more difficult than those from the Vietnam era. College and Canada will not be options. In December 2001, Canada and the U.S. signed a "smart border declaration," which could be used to keep would-be draft dodgers in. Signed by Canada's minister of foreign affairs, John Manley, and U.S. Homeland Security director, Tom Ridge, the declaration involves a 30-point plan which implements, among other things, a "pre-clearance agreement" of people entering and departing each country. Reforms aimed at making the draft more equitable along gender and class lines also eliminates higher education as a shelter. Underclassmen would only be able to postpone service until the end of their current semester. Seniors would have until the end of the academic year.
Even those voters who currently support US actions abroad may still object to this move, knowing their own children or grandchildren will not have a say about whether to fight. Not that it should make a difference, but this plan, among other things, eliminates higher education as a shelter and includes women in the draft.
Americans Could Be Pressed Into Mandatory Community Service
News With Views | June 30 2004
The Universal National Service Act of 2003 sitting in this 108th Congress isn't getting much attention in the media, but has many Americans very concerned about what it will mean if signed into law by President Bush. In the Senate, S89 (Senate Bill), sponsored by Ernest Hollings, (D-SC) reads (search): To provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes.
The House of Representatives has a 'sister' bill, HR 163 (House Resolution), sponsored by Charlie Rangel, (D-NY) (search) which contains the same language. Both bills will make it mandatory for women to serve in the military as well as men; the age window for induction is 18-26.
This legislation has angered many Americans for a number of reasons. Milly Sundquist of Houston Texas is spitting mad. "How dare this government continue with further attempts to destroy the family unit by pressing women into mandatory military service! My daughter will turn 23 next year and is engaged to be married. She's extremely upset that this government could force her into the military and send her to someplace like the Middle East to be raped or beheaded by people who care nothing for human life or dignity."
Jim Williams, a dairy farmer in the mid-West has two sons, one currently serving in the Air Force. The youngest, now 21, is an integral part of the family farm operation. While Williams maintains his youngest son would be the first to sign up to protect America if attacked, such as was the case with Pearl Harbor, this proposed legislation is dangerous to liberty. He resents the federal government thinking they can just snatch his son off the farm and press him into some sort of "Nazi brown shirt" community service for homeland security.
Lauren Beecham, a paralegal studying for her law degree in NY, majored in world history and says Americans don't fully appreciate the danger behind this type of legislation. "This government thinks they can press free citizens into involuntary servitude for 20-30 hours per week in support of security for the Motherland. Americans don't understand how clever the communists are in their quest for global domination because they don't study history. Community service - especially forced community service- is rooted in communist doctrine." Ms. Beecham went on to state that this legislation would not withstand a Thirteenth Amendment challenge to the U.S. Constitution.
Section 1 in the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution states: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
July 22, 2004
ARMY TO CALL UP RECRUITS EARLIER
By Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker
WASHINGTON, July 21 - In what critics say is another sign of increasing stress on the military, the Army has been forced to bring more new recruits immediately into the ranks to meet recruiting goals for 2004, instead of allowing them to defer entry until the next accounting year, which starts in October. As a result, recruiters will enter the new year without the usual cushion of incoming soldiers, making it that much harder to make their quotas for 2005. Instead of knowing the names of nearly half the coming year's expected arrivals in October, as the Army did last year, or even the names of around one in three, as is the normal goal, this October the recruiting command will have identified only about one of five of the boot camp class of 2005 in advance.Army officials say that they have been unable to defer as many enlistments as in the past because 4,500 more recruits were needed at midyear to help meet a temporary increase of 30,000 soldiers in the active duty force, which is to grow to 512,000 by 2006. The increases are largely driven by the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In an interview on Wednesday, Lt. Gen. Franklin L. Hagenbeck, the Army's top personnel officer, said that the Army would use incentives like cash bonuses, educational benefits and choice base assignments to help meet its overall recruiting and re-enlistment goals next year, as it has in almost every year when it started with so few advance recruits. But he acknowledged that factors including the American casualties in Iraq and the improving job market made filling the ranks a challenge. "I worry about this every single day - recruiting and retention," said General Hagenbeck, who commanded forces in Afghanistan in his previous assignment. "We are recruiting a volunteer force during a time of war. We've never done that before." He also described plans to bring on as many as 1,000 new recruiters before the end of the year, and said the Army was looking to expand the role of private civilian contractors.
Still, some critics on Capitol Hill and among Army recruiters say that tapping into the bank of recruits is a telling sign that the Army is having problems filling its ranks to meet the deployments of more than 120,000 soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan. In recent weeks, the Army has said it will recruit thousands of sailors and airmen who are otherwise scheduled to leave the Navy and Air Force because of cutbacks. Starting this month, the Army may delay the retirements of soldiers with at least 20 years' experience if they are in jobs that face critical staffing shortages. The Army's top training forces at Fort Polk, La., and Fort Irwin, Calif., are being deployed for the first time, to Iraq, raising concerns among some officers that troops will not be given the most strenuous preparation possible before they leave the United States.
"The Army is stretched dangerously thin," Representative Ike Skelton of Missouri, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, in a hearing on Wednesday. "We are growing the Army as fast as we can," General Schoomaker said later in the hearing.
In interviews with recruiting officials, as well as in internal memos and e-mail messages obtained by The New York Times, this pressure to meet recruiting goals is evident. "Guys the mission is at risk!" Col. Peter M. Vangjel, a deputy commander of the Army Recruiting Command, wrote to battalion commanders and top enlisted soldiers in an April 21 e-mail message. "We can NOT miss this mission. I need your full support." Colonel Vangjel continued, "The CG is the next guy to talk to you about this," referring to the commanding general of the recruiting command, Maj. Gen. Michael D. Rochelle. "Don't let it happen." But in a June 23 memo to the same senior recruiters, Colonel Vangjel expressed disappointment, saying that in the previous several months, the command "experienced a downward production trend."
Army officials disclosed Wednesday that none of the Army's five recruiting brigades met their missions between March and July, forcing the service to tap into its bank of recruits to make up the difference. General Hagenbeck said that Army recruiting was shaped by a number of intangibles, most notably the economy, which attracts possible recruits into the private sector when it is strong and sends them toward the military during a downturn.
GENERAL HAGENBECK ALSO DESCRIBED TEH CRITICAL ROLE PLAYED BY PARENTS, TEACERS AND COACHES AS TO WHETHER HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES CONSIDER ARMY SERVICE - RECRUITERS CALL THEM "INFLUENCERS." Fears that these influencers would no longer endorse Army service were raised in April, he said, when the military's public standing sustained severe blows. An Army survey conducted as the nation was rocked by pictures of military police abusing and humiliating Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison - which coincided with a spike in combat deaths - raised concerns that the "influencers were drawing back," he said. A month later, though, those negative perceptions had diminished, the Army found, and there is no solid evidence that recruiting will be affected over time, the general said.
Once soldiers initially enlist, they usually wait one month to one year before they formally enlist and are shipped to basic training. As of June 30, there were 2,260 recruits in the delayed entry program, down from 12,236 recruits a year ago. By dipping into this personnel bank, some recruiting officials said, the Army is eating its seed corn. "They are stealing from the future to accomplish their current accession mission," said one Army recruiting official, referring to the enlisted recruits sent to basic training.
Some congressional officials said, though, that the Army was making a smart move. "But they must be prepared to put additional manpower and funding against recruiting to achieve the increased recruiting objectives and to restore the D.E.P. at the same time," said one senior House Republican aide, using the program's acronym. General Hagenbeck said the Army was doing that. Before the Sept. 11 attacks, the Army had moved hundreds of recruiters into other jobs, as the service was easily filling slots. In the current environment, General Hagenbeck said, 100 to 200 civilian recruiters will staff recruiting stations and seek out enlistees, and 650 to 1,000 soldiers will be moved into recruiter slots before the year's end.
General Hagenbeck said that all 10 of the Army's active-duty divisions had met their re-enlistment goals, but it is coming at a steep price. The Army is offering re-enlistment bonuses up to $10,000 a soldier. The retention budget has nearly doubled in five years, to a request for $204 million in the proposed budget for 2005.
Army officials and members of Congress say that much of the data on recruiting and retention trends are anecdotal, and may remain so at least through the next troop rotation to Iraq, when soldiers could leave the service as they emerge from a "stop loss, stop move" order that held them in their units for the duration of their deployments.
Please see: