Commentary - Nov 15, 2004
- The Draft will Start in June 2005
by Strait Gate Ministries
Pending Draft Legislation Targeted for Spring 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 has been 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.
The public has a right to air their opinions about such an important
decision.
"Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one,some bigger than others"
.
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