A Draft After the Elections?

[Guest guest]

Sat, 25 Sep 2004 14:38:01 -0700 (PDT)

" J

A Draft After the Elections?

 

September 25, 2004

A Draft After the Elections?

 

by Murray Polner

While President Bush has thus far never said whether

or not he would bring back the draft (Sen. John Kerry

stated that he opposed a draft on Sept. 22, 2004 in

West Palm Beach, Fla.), there are increasing rumors

and speculation that it will be reinstated after the

election, perhaps as soon as 2005. There is no hard

evidence that this is so nor that it is imminent, but

lots of people on both sides of the political aisle

are rightly concerned.

 

Obviously, Iraq has not been a " cakewalk " as was

widely trumpeted by its neocon promoters in the months

leading up to the American invasion. And if, as Donald

Rumsfeld once said, Iraq turns out to be " a long hard

slog " (it has), who then will be called on to do the

slogging?

 

It is fair to ask how many wars our imperial nation

can fight with its hard-pressed volunteer forces, many

of whom are now forbidden to leave when their

enlistments run out. Or, when they are finally

released, how many will re-enlist. The National Guard,

for example, failed to meet this year's quota of

58,000, recruiting 5,000 less people. A more pressing

question is, how many Americans will be forced to

fight, perhaps die for the crazed imperial dreams

concocted by a small clique of extremely influential

and well-funded neoconservatives, virtually none of

whom ever bothered to serve in the military they so

profess to love? And among Americans (the late Neil

Postman once described them as " amusing themselves to

death " ), unless their immediate family members are in

the military, how many Americans will care if a draft

is reinstated and more GIs must die fighting Iraqis

and Iranians who have never attacked us?

 

And even more ominously: There is increasing chatter

in Washington among neoconservatives and their pet

columnists of ever more wars ahead. They call it

spreading their version of democracy; I call it

aggressive and unjustifiable wars. Israel, America's

client state, is now hinting at an attack on Iran

while neocons here are suggesting that America's next

target should be Iran. Unanswered is what happens if

Iran strikes back at Israel and U.S. forces in Iraq?

In fact, the issue of Iran is now being discussed

behind closed doors at the White House. How many

dissenters do you think are present at these sessions?

 

This time Selective Service System (SSS) regulations

have been changed. This time, as SSS states, " a

college student could have his induction postponed

only until the end of the current semester. A senior

could be postponed until the end of the full academic

year. " Canada will no longer welcome anti-draft

people. A new SSS plan, obtained under the Freedom of

Information Act by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer last

May, proposes raising the age of draft registration to

34 years old, up from 25, and possibly including women

as well. People with special skills, such as

computers, foreign languages, medical training and the

like, will also be subject to being drafted. In

effect, if approved, it will be a universal draft

where everyone, including the kids of the rich and

powerful, will allegedly be eligible to serve in the

military.

 

But remember this: No congressional son was drafted

during the Vietnam War and today there are virtually

no congressional sons or daughters serving as enlisted

combat personnel in Iraq. Since 9/11, it is almost

impossible to name a single prominent pro-Iraq war

activist, those who demand an all-out war against

terrorism, whose son or daughter has enlisted for

active military duty.

 

The truth is, no draft can ever be fair. Other than

delighting America's living room hawks, the same

favoritism and deference to influence and wealth – the

well-documented kind George W. Bush received when he

was granted a hard-to-get slot in the Texas Air

National Guard because of his father's influence

will certainly prevail in any future draft. Anyone

with political pull and family connections will always

be able to avoid active military duty, or if not,

receive plum, safe jobs.

 

All a draft can do is help transform yet another

generation of Americans – your kids – into potential

cannon fodder. It also contributes to the further

militarization of this country. " How many men and

women, " rightly asked Father Andrew Greeley, the

Chicago Sun-Times columnist, " will be required to

pacify Iraq and turn it into a freedom-loving

democracy? How long will it take, how many lives must

be sacrificed … ? "

 

Since World War I, the world has experienced

continuous bloodletting, almost always enhanced by

conscription. The Korean and Vietnam wars were both

sustained because of the continual supply of new

draftees, at least until the system broke down in the

late sixties when it became clear to our centrist

elites that the United States had been defeated at a

cost of 58,000 GI lives, hundreds of thousands of

others wounded in body and mind, and some three

million Vietnamese – mainly civilians – dead.

 

And who bore the brunt of our recent wars? Draftees

did.

 

The two world wars, Korea, and Vietnam were largely

fought with drafted soldiers who were killed or

wounded in combat in far greater numbers than

better-trained regulars. The lesson is clear: The more

potential cannon fodder Selective Service can impress

into the military, the more savage the war becomes,

the longer it goes on and the greater the number of

casualties. Another draft will allow policymakers to

rely even more on war rather than diplomacy. It would

certainly mean more military adventures abroad, more

military and civilian deaths, and ultimately more

unrest at home.

 

Many pro-draft politicians are doubtless waiting for

the post-election period when a " safe " effort will be

made to reintroduce conscription under the guise of

fighting terrorism. For far too many, another draft

means recapturing the mythical ethos of WWII – the

" Good War " – and the pre-Sixties, when no one cared

enough to protest governmental policies. In this

imaginary Eden, there was no racial or religious

conflict, women knew their place, support for tyrants

abroad was justified in the name of fighting

Communism, and young men called to the colors went

willingly and patriotically to proudly serve their God

and country. But please note that today many if not

most pro-draft people in Congress and the White House

are non-veterans.

 

Late last spring an article appeared in the Baltimore

Sun, written by Nick Leonhardt, a high school senior.

In it, he wrote:

 

" Some anxious teens and their parents feel relieved

that both President Bush and Senator John Kerry deny

plans to reinstate the draft. But cynical youths

already believe that candidates routinely break

promises after they are elected. The man who shakes

their hands during the presidential campaign may

demand salutes after his inauguration. "

 

America, and especially its young, should oppose

conscription because it is a form of slavery and

tramples on our freedom, which should never be

sacrificed for ideological pipe dreams and political

manipulation.

 

Another draft is a terrible idea in a very troubled

time.

 

 

 

=====