DU SCOOP! MILITARY DRAFT ALERT! Must-read .PDF - Plans for Bush Draft!!

[Dems Will Win]

SPECIAL MILITARY DRAFT ALERT!

A military draft planning document, recovered through the Freedom of Information Act, is now online at the Blatant Truth Web site:
http://blatanttruth.org/selective_service091304.pdf

Here is Blatant Truth's Draft page:
http://blatanttruth.org/draft.php

Please distribute this post and the official SSS draft document, the Feb. 11, 2003 “Issue Paper”, to all college newspaper editors, in LTTEs and mass e-mails to your personal lists.

This is a SPECIAL MILITARY DRAFT ALERT. In May, the Seattle Post Intelligencer published an article about a document they received through the Freedom of Information Act. It was revealed that the SSS is currently “designing procedures” for the implementation of a “Skills Draft” and had held a top-level meeting on it with Deputy Undersecretaries at the Defense Department. This draft would change the essential mission of the Selective Service and require “virtually every young American”, male and female ages 18-34, to register for the Skills Draft and list all the occupations they are proficient in to fill labor shortages throughout nearly the entire government. If enacted, the Skills Draft proposed in this FOI-recovered document would change America as we know it.

The Pentagon is suffering from immediate labor shortages. Recently, the inactive Ready Reserve had to be called up for the first time since the Gulf War to fill 5,600 job shortages in the Armed Forces. DoD said in the recent IRR callup “20% of the call-ups are truck drivers, 12% are supply specialists who can use a computer to track supplies, 10% are Humvee mechanics, 7% are administrative specialists and 6% are combat engineers” (USA Today, August 8, 2004).

Although Congress would have to approve new legislation to create a Skills Draft or reinstate the combat draft, Family Circle reported in its July 13 issue that Karl Rove has polled GOP members of Congress in September 2002 to see if they would support the President if he requests reinstatement. The Republicans said they would vote for the draft. They would likely support the new legislation needed to create the Skills Draft. While Bush and the Republicans are of course keeping the return of the draft and the new skills draft as quiet as possible, many anti-draft organizations have recently begun warning of a “Coming New Draft”.

The Issue Paper document was revealed through the Freedom of Information Act by Seattle Post Intelligencer reporter Eric Rosenberg, who wrote a partial explanation of it that was printed May 1, 2004:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/171522_draft01.html

Rosenberg’s article was edited, however, and some key points about this document were omitted in the published article. What follows is a full explanation of the document. (Link to the document itself is at the top of the post)

This .PDF document is real, having been acknowledged by the DoD and the SSS when they said no action is being taken on it at the present time. However, given the current manpower shortages for certain skills and nurses, if Bush gets back in, expect all the options outlined in the Issue Paper to be implemented by the end of December of this year, and at the least a non-combat skills and medical draft to start next year, if not the male combat draft, ages 18-25.

Despite Rumsfeld saying the draft is not needed, this is the same neo-con administration that has repeatedly lied to and misled the American people. Draft-age youth and their families are left looking at a “long, hard slog” in Iraq (Rumsfeld secret memo), the neo-con plans to invade still more nations, and then having to take Rumsfeld and Cheney’s word not to worry about the draft, that they “are not considering it at this time.”

Although official word is that this secret list of options is not being implemented—the Issue Paper options have NOT been rejected and the 6-page proposal is rather sitting in the Pentagon, waiting. In addition, the SSS itself has said that it is “designing procedures” (Seattle PI, May 1, 2004) to implement the skills draft, meaning designing the compliance cards and the data fields needed to keep track of “virtually every young American” and their skills. Acting Director of the SSS Brodsky has also said the Skills Draft is the “top priority” of the Selective Service for 2004.

From the FOI document, we now know that on February 11, 2003, Charles Abell, the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, and William Carr, Deputy Undersecretary for Military Personnel Policy, met with Lewis Brodsky, the Acting Director of the Selective Service and some other officials. This is the highest-level meeting you could have about the Selective Service, outside of Rumsfeld and his inner circle. They were there to discuss the urgent “issue paper” now revealed, which starts: “With known shortages of military personnel with certain critical skills, and with the need for the nation to be capable of responding to domestic emergencies as a part of Homeland Security Planning, changes should be made in the Selective Service System’s registration program and primary mission”.

Although it would require changes in current draft law, the far-reaching proposal shows how far the Republicans are going to plan and prepare for a huge expansion of the draft. The Issue Paper options include:

- Change the very mission of the SSS to become a massive conscription service in the War on Terror for the entire government.

- Conscript men and women in a critical skills non-combat draft up to age 34 with no deferments of any kind, except “essential community service” (like the Medical Draft).

- Allow a non-combat draft for shortages in critical skills, without calling a combat draft.

- Fill labor shortages of all kinds throughout not only DoD but the whole government, especially high-paying professionals like computer networking specialist or linguist.

- Create a massive database of “virtually every young American” ages 18 to 34. This database would be used to draft in war and to recruit in peacetime. State and even local governments would be given access to the names for recruitment and help in emergencies.

- Create a single-point, all-inclusive database, in which every young person would be forced to send in a “self-declaration” of all of their critical skills, chosen from a long list of occupations like the Armed Forces Specialty Code. The self-declaration is similar to IRS compliance and the filling out and signing of your tax forms. All young people would be required to keep the government updated if they acquired a new skill. SSS Compliance forms will be available at every Post Office. The usual penalties of imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine would apply to all non-registrants.

- A draft or recruitment could be for any one of the skills you self-declare on the compliance form, not your current or primary skill. This greatly increases your chance of being drafted if you are 18-34

- Bring the Medical Draft (HCPDS) up to speed and fully test it through readiness exercises.

- Reduce induction time from being able to deliver all inductees in 193 days down to just 90 days for skills inductees.

This secret paper urges the mission be changed “promptly”, meaning they really need it, it would draft for the Pentagon as well as the enormous Homeland Security branches as well as other government agencies, even state and local!

For obvious political reasons, the decision was made by Bush, Cheney and Rove to sit on this 6-page proposal until after the election in November. Yet the SSS was told to go ahead and begin “designing procedures” for the Skills Draft in 2004 and make it their “top priority”. It can be expected that if Bush gets back in, and the DoD and SSS are still asking for the Skills Draft, the “Next Steps” part of the document will be put into action and the most expansive option to change the SSS mission will be rapidly legislated.

In the secret planning meeting document, the next steps strongly recommended by SSS Acting Director Brodsky were:

1. “Promptly” redefine the SSS Mission to draft men and women up to age 34 for skills, and deliver them within 90 days or sooner to the Department of Defense. Program a massive database to be ready to enter millions of names of those registering their critical skills.

2. Expand mission to deliver personnel in skills draft to the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies, including FEMA, NSC, Border Patrol, INS, Customs, Corporation for National Service, Public Health Service and other federal, state and local government agencies.

3. Form interagency task force to provide Administration with recommendation on this skills draft for the entire DHS and the rest of the government.

4. Obtain White House Statement of Administration Policy on the future of the SSS.

5. Be prepared to market the skills draft, raising the non-combat age to 34 and the drafting of women to the Armed Services and Appropriations Committee.

This proposed expansion of the draft, forcing all people under 35 to register with the SSS, man or woman, is primarily proposed, according to the document, because the cost of providing contract professionals, like computer network specialists, would be “prohibitive”. In this way, the proposed Skills Draft would help preserve Bush’s massive tax cuts for the wealthy by lowering the massive budget deficits.

That’s the new Skills Draft and the secret document behind it. But what about the Combat Draft?

Selective Service has been registering young men for over twenty years and at any moment the President can go to Congress and ask them to reauthorize conscription for the male combat draft for ages 18-25. It doesn’t take much to imagine a re-elected Bush going to Congress and saying “We cannot cut and run from Iraq or the War on Terror. I need you to reauthorize conscription.”

And they would not have to pass a whole new draft law to do it. All that is needed is a “trigger resolution”, which could be passed in the dead of night—and bingo! No debate, no regular bill, just a short resolution passed quickly and the draft for men 18 to 25 is back.

That is why the Democratic draft legislation being offered by Rangel and Hollings is totally irrelevant. These are known protest bills and actually propose drafting women for the combat draft, just to make sure they will never see the light of day. Rangel and Hollings offered them to raise the issue and confront Bush. Hollings even said he wouldn’t vote for his own bill!

They are not needed—and the press and the Republicans will bring them up as red herrings to distract everyone from what is really going on: the Republicans, and the SSS are quietly, behind the scenes, oiling up the draft machinery—getting ready to reinstate for the Spring of 2005. Taken singly, each of the clues indicating the return and expansion of the draft might seem insignificant but when you add them all up with what the selective Service is doing to gear up the combat draft, a clear pattern emerges, leading to the inescapable conclusion that a Bush re-election will see not only a Skills Draft, but a return of the Combat Draft as well.

What is the proof? The government’s own document, the SSS Performance Plan for Fiscal Year 2004:

http://www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html

The Selective Service System, or the SSS, has for decades operated at a low level of readiness. Readiness Exercises are conducted on a multi-year cycle but historically these have been little more than getting draft board volunteers together and going over the procedures of what would happen under reinstatement and training new members every summer. And the draft boards themselves have become 80% vacant over the decades.

In the current 5-year cycle of exercises, however, the SSS is clearly ramping up the draft machinery to an unprecedented level.

-snip-

“Strategic Objective 1.2: Ensure a mobilization infrastructure of 56 State Headquarters,
442 Area Offices and 1,980 Local Boards are operational within 75 days of an authorized
return to conscription.”

Tie that to this objective:

“An annual report providing the results of the implementation of these performance
measures will be submitted by March 31, 2005.”

-snip-

75 days from March 31, 2005 is about June 15, 2005. According to the 2004 plan, the draft boards will be “operational” then, meaning that they will be set up in 1,980 local offices around the country. If Bush asks for reinstatement on April 1, Congress could pass it that night and the first batch of over one million 20 year-olds would face the national lottery as soon as that date, June 15, 2005.

Here is how the $28 million is being spent according to the official document. Although the Senate rejected the funding request to bump up the SSS budget to $28 million, the SSS says in one paragraph of the Performance Plan that budgets will be “adjusted” to cover the additional cost for 2004:

-snip-

“Strategic Goal 1: Increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the Manpower
Delivery Systems (Projected allocation for FY 2004 – $7,942,000)

Strategic Goal 2: Improve overall Registration Compliance and Service to the Public (Projected allocation FY 2004 – $8,769,000)

Strategic Goal 3: Enhance external and internal customer service
(Projected allocation for FY 2004 – $10,624,000)

Strategic Goal 4: Enhance the system which guarantees that each conscientious objector is properly classified, placed, and monitored. (Projected allocation for FY 2004 – $955,000)”

-snip-

In analyzing each of the 2004 goals in detail it is obvious that there are hidden “activation bombshells” in this so-called “Performance Plan”. Goal number 1 in particular brings the combat induction process up to 95% operational readiness, going so far as to actually hold a mock lottery drawing this year and to issue sample orders to report for the famous medical exam. The document does not reveal the day in 2004 the mock lottery is to be held.

In addition, the Medical Draft, or Health Care Personnel Delivery System (HCPDS in the document), is for the first time brought up to full readiness by next year. This draft would take men and women up to age 44 if they are doctors, nurses or one of 60-some medical specialties. No medical deferments allowed. Previous readiness exercises merely went over what would happen with HCPDS and updated the guide. The 2004 plan actually develops a readiness exercise for the Medical Draft that would be conducted next year. Plus HCPDS must be ready to conscript by June, being part of the system.

Goal number four is particularly ominous.

-snip-

“Strategic Objective 4.1: Ensure a mobilization infrastructure of 48 Alternative Service Offices and 48 Civilian Review Boards are operational within 96 days after notification of a return to induction.”

“Strategic Objective 4.2: Develop a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the Alternative Service Employer Network to specifically identify organizations and associations who can, by law, participate in the Alternative Service Program. This network will provide jobs for ASWs at the local level. Prior to activation, SSS will develop a draft MOU for use when obtaining agreements with qualified employers at the local and national level.”

-snip-

For 31 years, the Conscientious Objector system, called the Alternative Service, has lain dormant. The 2004 plan also calls for this to be brought up to speed and to be ready to decide cases and place COs in the Alternative Service by July 6, 2005 (96 days after March 31, 2005). The SSS is even going so far as to draw up the SOPs, the Standard Operating Procedures which identify local employers eligible to receive cheap AS workers and to also draw up the actual MOU, the Memorandum of Understanding the employer must sign to get their CO workers and allow their mandatory attendance to be monitored. This is the last obstacle to be hurdled before the draft could actually be ready for quick activation under the law.

In sharp contrast to all this preparation for a Spring 2005 draft by Bush, John Kerry has proposed a military plan that rejects any draft. By adding 20,000 active duty combat soldiers and 20,000 active “reconstruction specialists”. At a Wisconsin high school, Kerry pledged in June, 2004, that the draft would be “absolutely unnecessary”. When asked in April by 130 college editors in a conference call as to whether he would support a draft, John Kerry said unequivocally: “No. No draft” and he has criticized the use of the Guard and Reserve and now the Individual Ready Reserve as a “back-door draft”.

Kerry plans to spend an additional $7 billion to strengthen the Volunteer Army in what is essentially a “No-Draft Plan”. Moreover, Kerry is strongly opposed to the neo-con plan revealed in Wes Clark’s book, in which Clark was told by a senior Pentagon official that invasions of Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Sudan and Somalia were still to come over the next three years. Kerry promises a "reasonable foreign policy".

BUSH '04 = DRAFT '05

[Eloriel]

1. Somebody needs to take this over to

Freeperville.

Also email to AAR, BuzzFlash, etc.

[Dems Will Win]

2. This is the first FOI doc I know of on the DRAFT

We're all now in on Bush's real plan for America.

[Eloriel]

26. Needs a

:kick:

[Dems Will Win]

97. Here's a Flyer to hang up:

Printable pdf: http: http://somnamblst.tripod.com/draftalert.pdf

For more Flyers: http://somnamblst.tripod.com/

[JerseygirlCT]

27. Has anyone gotten this to the Kerry campaign?

Can you imagine if this issue blew up publicly?

Any good way to get it to colleges across the country?

Just wondering...

[H2O Man]

30. The best way to get it

to colleges is by contacting student groups and college papers. I'm from NYS; there has long been a progressive association of student unions in the state university system. I have a relative in journalism at one of the larger private universities. Find co-workers with relatives in college.

If we were to pool the talents of the numerous "think tanks" and loose-knit groups on DU, and put our tiny, insignificant personal differences behind us for one month, we could use this as a unifying issue that could insure a Kerry victory in November.

I have, for example, been focused on the Plame case .... and I will continue with that. But I plan to invest significant energies in this issue .... because it is related to Plame, to the neocon spy scandal, to 9-11, to Iraq ..... indeed, it is the very future of our country.

If everyone who reads this were to contact one college, one student group, one college newspaper, one faculty member, and/or one student, we're well on our way.

[Dems Will Win]

32. H20 Man is right

In the Plame Case we are at the mercy of Fitzgerald, and I understand there's a Justice Dept rule to not indict on a case like this in October before an election.

But with the draft issue, and now holding this damning and frightening document in our hands, we have the election in our own hands.

By the way in a March 13 article before he got the Issue Paper through FOI, Rosenberg wrote:

-snip-



Saturday, March 13, 2004

Agency initiates steps for selective draft
Congress shows little support for effort to draw skilled Americans

By ERIC ROSENBERG
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- The government is taking the first steps toward a targeted military draft of Americans with special skills in computers and foreign languages.

-snip-

Nonetheless, the agency has begun the process of creating the procedures and policies to conduct such a targeted draft in case military officials ask Congress to authorize it and the lawmakers agree to such a request.

-snip-

Flahavan said Selective Service planning for a possible draft of linguists and computer experts began last fall after Pentagon personnel officials said the military needed more people with skills in those areas.

A targeted registration and draft "is strictly in the planning stage," he said, adding that "the whole thing is driven by what appears to be the more pressing and relevant need today" -- the deficit in language and computer experts.

The spokesman said it could take about two years to "to have all the kinks worked out."

-snip-

So this is the SSS admitting that after Rove polled the GOP members of Congress in September 2002 about the draft and after the Feb. 11, 2003, top-level meeting about the Skills Draft, "Selective Service planning for a possible draft of linguists and computer experts began last fall after Pentagon personnel officials said the military needed more people with skills in those areas"! So after the February meeting in the fall of 2003, the SSS began active planning and "designing procedures".

This is not merely an option or a routine planning document. They are going ahead with it.

[Dems Will Win]

99. SKILLS AND COMBAT DRAFT TIMELINE

SKILLS DRAFT AND NEW COMBAT DRAFT TIMELINE

Feb. 11 2003 - Top-level meeting between the head of the SSS and Deputy Undersecretary Abell in charge of Personnel and Readiness of the DoD on the SKILLS DRAFT. This is the meeting of the secret Issue Paper, revealed by the Freedom of Information Act in May. The SSS goes back encouraged enough to do some more planning.

Summer 2003 - Drive to start filling DRAFT BOARD vacancies by asking current board members to find new ones.

Fall 2003 - Karl Rove polls GOP Congress on reinstating the DRAFT, they agree to vote for it (Family Circle, July 13). DoD announces critical skills shortages in linguists, computer experts and engineers. SSS Director Brodsky orders the designing of the SKILLS DRAFT procedures, the reg card and the massive database needed to track every young American under 35 and their skills. Brodsky, who "plays" JE McNeil and other anti-draft leaders by calling them regularly and shmoozing them, lies to McNeil telling her that in February of 2003 the SSS had to "justify their existence" before a hostile committee--when in reality the SSS and DOD were having the SKILLS DRAFT meeting and he himself had just started designing the new system and making it his top priority.

Sept 2003 - Draft board recruitment ad goes up on Web.

November 2003 - Draft board ad scrubbed!

Dec. 2003 - Brodsky announces the SKILLS DRAFT to be the "top priority' of the SSS in newsletter and tells of rapid progress to come.

March 13, 2004 - Word of SKILLS DRAFT leaks out in a SF Chronicle story and the SSS admits it and tells reporters it’s just a planning contingency. In an attempt to throw the press off, the SSS also says it would take 2 years to gear up and work out the kinks for the SKILLS DRAFT and that there is no funding for it. Eric Rosenberg, the reporter on the story, finds out about the Feb. 11 meeting Issue Paper and files a Freedom of Information Act request to get it.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/03/13/MNG905K1BC1.DTL


May 1, 2004 – Article on SKILLS DRAFT leaves out key points of how skills conscription would be expanded to fill labor shortages throughout Dept of Homeland Security, 1/3 of government, how the SKILLS DRAFT can be called without a combat draft, how SKILLS INDUCTEES will be inducted within a mere 90 days of reauthorization, that the SSS wanted to “promptly” change the very MISSION of the SSS and so on. The article does, however, reveal many major point of sweeping plan. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/171522_draft01.html

Sept 13, 2004 – Issue Paper agenda memo of key Feb 2003 meeting posted on the Web at http://www.blatanttruth.org/selective_service091304.pdf

2004 – MOCK DRAFT LOTTERY HELD, SAMPLE MEDICAL EXAM REPORT ORDERS ISSUED TO MAIL LIST. Alternative Service geared up for first time in 31 years! Papers to place Conscientious Objectors with employers actually drawn up. SSS brought up to 95% operational capability, full Medical draft capability set for 2005, all DRAFT BOARD vacancies filled by Spring 2005! On March 31, 2005, the SSS Director must report to the Congress that the entire system is primed and ready to open 2,000 draft board offices and start inducting within 75 days, or June 15, 2005.

BUSH ’04 = DRAFT ‘O5

“There will be no draft when John Kerry is President.” - John Edwards

[Sydnie]

3. No Child Left Behind strikes again!

I just got the notification from my son's school today about the NCLB Directory Information that would be sent to the military.

The flyer says --

"{School District Name} has designated the following information as Directory Information: {Note : Local Education Agencies may, but does not have to, include all the information listed below}
Students Name
Participation in officially recognized activities and sports
Address
Telephone Listing
Weight and height of members of athletic teams
Electronic mail address
Photograph
Degrees, honors, and awards received
Date and Place of Birth
Major field of study
Dates of attendance
Grade level
The most recent educational agency or institution attended"

Seems like they are building a skills registry with all that info, and those with no skills can go be grunts!

My son has already told me that he would leave the country. Isn't it sad that we are back where we were in the 1960's in more ways than one now.

I also have a younger daughter. She and I were just discussing the possibility of her having to face the same choice as her brother when she was a little older.

I'm mad as hell and I don't want to take it anymore!

I don't want to see my children have to leave their home, their country, and their family just to try to stay alive and stay true to their beliefs!

[Dems Will Win]

6. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO TELL THE SCHOOL NOT TO GIVE YOUR

PHONE NUMBER OR YOUR KID'S NAME TO THE MILITARY RECRUITERS

DO IT TOMORROW! THEY HAVE AN OPT-OUT FORM YOU MUST SIGN BY FEDERAL LAW...

[Sydnie]

10. The flyer said

that I could opt him out of any disclosure by submitting in writting my request that he be excluded. I drafted that letter tonight.

Here is the content of that letter:

To: {School District}
RE: No Child Left Behind Act - Military Directory Information

To whom it may concern:

I would request that you not release any information concerning my son, {name}, included in the Directory Information, without my prior written consent. I do not, under any circumstances, want my son’s information released to any military recruiters, military directories or other agencies directly or indirectly associated with any military entity, representative, or affiliate.


Thank you for your attention to this matter.

He also has an appointment with the guidance counselor to retrieve an "official" form for me to sign as well. I won't sit back and watch Bush set things in motion that will force my children to die for any cause they don't believe in. Hell, no! They can have my child when they rip them from MY COLD DEAD BODY!

IMG]

[Scooter24]

36. Before you send it..

Rewrite it to include EVERYONE. Do not just include the military because there have been cases cited where they are not able to pick and choose who they give the information too. It's either Everyone or Noone. Make sure you make that point across clearly and also send a copy of it to the school adress by certified mail as well as taking a copy to them in person. This prevents any "accidents" on their part.

[strategery blunder]

49. Delete the word 'would' in 1st sentence

It makes the letter more direct and will help prevent the school from playing verbal acrobatics to avoid your demands.

[Pallas180]

7. If American children go into their army, neo-cons can continue their wars

it's better for us to send our children out of the country or to refuse to go, or conscientious objector, or to spend a year in jail for refusing than to become cannon fodder for private companies' oil wars run by the oil cabal that has taken over the US government.

Without our children they have no people to continue their wars, except for the private armies/mercenaries they have already hired at
high prices. Let those mercenaries fight their wars at $1000 a day...
let the oil companies pay out of their pockets for their private wars and pipelines.

We need to be converting cars to use corn oil, and putting up solar
screens to convert to other energy. The sooner we the people do that
the sooner the oil companies will get the message that we say :" go fuck yourself."

[Soliton]

11. Draft

There will be no draft as long as recruiting goals are being met. They're being met. The only public figure calling for the draft is Charlie Rangle.

[jukes]

20. Soliton

you're living in fool's paradise of your owm making.

[H2O Man]

22. If what you claimed were true.....

then Rep. Charles Rangel would be the only person who attended the meeting outlined in the "issue paper." And the policy would be that which Charles Rangel has put forward.

However, considering that Charles Rangel was not at the meeting, and this policy is significantly different than his proposal, we can safely conclude your beliefs are incorrect.

[Dems Will Win]

25. Hear - Hear!

[AngryOldDem]

47. Do You Have Kids?

You are FOOLING yourself if you think that the draft ISN'T coming back.

And you are FOOLING yourself even more if you delude yourself into thinking that the Bush administration is being upfront and honest with us about this issue.

We all know about the Rangel bill. It's not pertinent to this discussion.

And DON'T imply that I, as a mother, should NOT be concerned about this.

[nadinbrzezinski]

57. Talking points from the RNC

Reruitment quotas are NOT being met... but you woudl not know that since you what is firmly on the ground...

[Blue Gardener]

63. Then why are they not letting people OUT!

Stop Loss is keeping people in that want to get out. How do you explain that? Seems to me if we don't have enough people to fight this war now, we are going to have to get more bodies from somewhere.

[alfredo]

69. He did that to draw bush out on issues relating to

troops strength needed to fight bush's wars. It also put a shot across their rich folks bow by making it very difficult for Biff to dodge the draft. the GW Bush's and the Dan Quayle fortunate sons will have to do their part.

[OneTwentyoNine]

80. Yeah sure...thats why Recruiters are walking around Wal Mart parking lots

I know,thats another totally fabricated part of F9/11. Just because Moore has recruiters on film trying to get guys to join up in Wal Mart parking lots means nothing.

Give Bush four more years and we'll need half the country to sign up and die for his illegal Wars.

David

[drdigi420]

73. Hemp is better than corn for biofuel

[Renew Deal]

4. I would like to note for those that don't know...

That Dems Will Win has been researching this issue for a very long time and is very knowledgeable.

[jody]

5. The cited document is only a routine planning paper. NT

[Dems Will Win]

8. It is not routine. It is a secret meeting by the top people on a

Third Rail political issue. You think Rove would say before the election "let's get that draft going!"??

Plus the SSS Director himself said the Skills Draft is a top priority and they admitted they were "designing procedures" to implement the Skills Draft.

Planning to change the very mission of the SSS, asking that the expanded draft be considered "promptly", designing a massive database on virtually all young Americans under 35 is hardly what I would call a routine planning document. Plus they would draft for Homeland Security and other government agencies. This would be a different country.

They are talking about what data fields would need to be collected on everyone under 35, for heaven's sake!

[Dems Will Win]

9. I have to go to bed

Talk amongst yourselves and I'll answer all questions in the morning...

[wildflower]

12. Just to be clear...is this different from what was posted a few months ago

here? As I recall there was a link then to an sss.gov document on-line. It was about calling up people under 35 with skills in medicine, linguistics, and IT. Is this new?

Just wanted to make sure I was clear on this.

-wildflower

[H2O Man]

13. I think it is.....

Context is everything. And you have to put this in the context of what has been learned in the past few months. Certainly many people have suspected this administration was going to have to have a draft if it escalated the violence in the Middle East. The neocon spy case has shown that a small group of officials that have infiltrated the national security apparatus are using a plan devised in the 1990s to try to gain a control of the Middle East. Earlier this week, General Wesley Clark said that he expects a "crisis" with Iran to be the White House's October Surprise.

It's also important to put it into the context of Senator Byrd's book, "Losing America." He writes about how the administration is using "national security" to undermine federal workers' labor rights. If the administration can fill positions in over a dozen federal agencies with "military personel" rather than union labor, those "soldiers" will be working for a fraction of the pay that a government employee gets. Byrd writes about how the administration is using the Patriot Act to destroy our constitutional democracy, and militarize our foreign and domestic policy.

When we re-examine this document in that light, it is worth having the draft be part of the national discussion on politics, especially for college students and others in the 18 to 34 age group.

[LeftHander]

14. I have a 14 year old and I am worried....

I do not want her to be in any way a part of any violence.

If Bush is elected it seems that we can be sure of an escalation of war.

If Bush is elected I personally feel the America I was born in does not exist. It was taken over...

As much as I don't want to say it but If Bush is elected with revelations about the plans to renew a draft I will be forced to move my family and leave this country.

I already have problems with exposing my daughter to the rabid right wing people in her school, some students, some teachers and some parents of her friends.

As the campaign winds down I feel that this election will become a referendum. Continued war or taking the hard steps to work together as a world community.

[knitter4democracy]

58. Me too

My kids are only 4 and 2, but my husband's a doctor--no age limit for them, apparently. We'll leave. I don't know what else to do.

[JerseygirlCT]

92. Me three. They can't have him! nt

[Dems Will Win]

19. There was an article in the Seattle Post Intelligencer BUT

we never saw the actual doc until now. The Seattle PI reporter not only had his article edited, he did not have the space or the context to communicate all the ramifications of the document. For example, nowhere in the published 2 articles did it state that the draft would be expanded to fill labor shortages throughout the Dept of Homeland Security (now 1/3 of the government).

The document itself is a huge revelation for those of us working on the draft issue.

[H2O Man]

15. A Message to College Students

A MESSAGE TO COLLEGE STUDENTS


(1) " Freedom means not only the opportunity to know, but the will to know." - Robert F. Kennedy

A Selective Services "Issue Paper" which was recently uncovered through the FOIA proves that the Bush Administration is prepared to reinstate military conscription in 2005. That "Issue Paper" is reproduced here, in this series of essays by "Dems Will Win" and "H2O Man" for the Democratic Underground. It is our hope that these papers will be reproduced, and the message spread, on college campuses across the United States.

Because of the extreme nature of this information, and the threat that it poses to our constitutional democracy, we believe that this should be of extreme interest to all college students. It should be as alarming to republican students as it is to democratic students. It should be as important to Methodists as to Muslims. And it should serve as a wake up call to every young American from the age of 18 to 34.

On February 11, 2003 a meeting of high-level administration officials detailed a plan to draft both male and female Americans, ages 18 to 34, on an "as needed" basis. The plan includes the creation of a huge, single-point database, described in the "issue paper," which will allow the military to select individuals based upon "skills," to be assigned to local, state, national, or international positions. It represents a significant step towards the end of democracy, and the militarization of American society on every level.


(2) "Only hours after the September 11 attacks, the administration installed a 'shadow government' of about a hundred senior executive branch officials to live and work secretly outside Washington......this shadow government consists of one branch only, the executive...the Congress has not sanctioned the shadow government, nor were members of Congress even made aware of its existence until the story was leaked in March 2002. .... (It) is presumed to continue its operation outside congressional oversight." - Senator Robert C. Byrd, "Losing America," pages 78-79.

The new Bush administration draft policy needs to be viewed in the context of the new form of non-democratic government that Senator Byrd refers to as the "shadow government" in his book. Byrd makes clear that this country is at a crossroads: we can either continue as a democracy as defined by the United States Constitution, or we can become a military state, as defined by the Patriot Act. But we cannot be both.

The "issue paper" resulted from a 2-11-03 meeting between Charles Abell, the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness; William Carr, Deputy Undersecretary for Military Personnel Policy; and Lewis Brodsky, the Acting Director of the Selective Services. Their meeting began by addressing what they call "known shortages of military personnel" that have "critical skills" needed to help the country deal with "emergencies as part of Homeland Security Planning."

They advocate changes in the current Military Services Act <50 U.S.C., App.451 et seq> to allow for the drafting of Americans ages 18 to 34 to fill a significantly enlarged number of fedral, state, and local positions that go beyond foreign military exercises. Their expanded mission includes but is not limited to the Department of Homeland Security; FEMA; NSC; Border Patrol; INS; Customs; CNS; PHS; and others.

Every American will be required to be registered from their 18th birthday until their 35th birthday. They will be obligated to update and inform the military on every potential "skill" that they acquire. These educational, technical, cultural, and "hobby" skills will be recorded in a massive database.

In his book, Senator Byrd notes that the Patriot Act undermines the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The first ten amendments are known as the Bill of Rights, which are referred to as the fundamental rights and privileges guarenteed to all citizens as protections against potential violations by the government. The Constitution, and especially the Bill of Rights, is what has distinguised the United States of America from other countries. It is what generations of Americans have gone to war to protect for future generations.

Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis made a famous call for protecting these rights. He noted that "the right to be left alone (is) the most comprehensive of rights, and the most valued by a free people." A "free society" is not defined as a giant military bureaucracy. If it were, the old Soviet Union would have been recognized as a freedom-loving state. And today we would look up to North Korea as a shining city upon a hill. But they are the opposite of democratic states. They are the type of countries that keep massive databases on citizens that they can use to select people with "needed skills" to be conscripted into service of the state. We cannot afford to allow anyone to move the United States in that direction.


(3) "It is beneath human dignity to lose one's individuality and become a mere cog in the machine." - Mahatma Gandhi

In the past three years, the Bush administration has taken this nation on a reckless course that threatens our future as a constitutional democracy. He has ignored the constitutionally mandated separation and balance of powers in the federal government; instituted a "shadow government" that most citizens remain unaware of; advocated a Patriot Act that suspends the Constitution; and militarized both our foreign and domestic policies.

The daily evidence of that is found in the war in Iraq. Over 1000 Americans have been killed in that war, and thousands more seriously injured. And for what? Although the Bush administration lies to deny it today, documentaries such as "F 9-11" and "Exposed: the War in Iraq" show the film clips of administration officials lying to the American public, by blaming Saddam Hussein for the 9-11 terror attacks, and claiming he posed an immediate threat to our national security with his Weapons of Mass destruction.

The extent of this administration's need to lie to the public to achieve its goals has become more apparent in the unfolding investigations of the Plame and neocon spy scandals. Last summer, after Ambassador Joseph Wilson corrected the "Niger yellow cake uranium" misinformation that was included in President Bush's State of the Union address, officials from the vice president's offices exposed Wilson's wife as a CIA operative. In the last month, we have learned that this same group of neoconservatives was "sharing" sensitive documents with an extreme right-wing Israeli group in Washington. It appears this group may have been responsible for forging the Niger documents. More, it is becoming clear that this group of extremists that misled the American public about the true reasons they planned to invade Iraq were planning to have the United States attack or invade several other Middle Eastern countries.

Their plan to expand the theater of war appears to target both Iran and Syria. In order to accomplish the occupation of Iraq, they have had to utilize the National Guard in an unprecedented manner. This includes forcing Guardsmen to stay in the service long after their discharge dates. This is, of course, a form of conscription. It was a silent draft.

In order to continue with the militarization of the Middle East, the neocons recognize that they must militarize the United States. And this is described in the "issue paper" regarding the draft being prepared for 2005.


(4) "Action is with the scholar subordinate, but it is essential.Without it he is not yet man. Without it thought can never ripen into truth." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Military service is honorable. It should be respected. No one should take the soldier's job for granted. Yet this president does just that. And he takes for granted that your life should be available for his dishonorable whims. He demands that every American aged 18 to 34 be prepared to serve as a "cog" in his machine's effort to supplant the Constitution with the Patriot Act.

President Bush is moving in the opposite direction that the great presidents in our nation's history have moved us. I am reminded of John F. Kennedy's saying, "Let me then make it clear as the President of the United States that I am determined upon our system's survival and success, regardless of the cost and regardless of the peril. ... In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role in defendng freedom in its maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility -- I welcome it."

We are at a point of maximum danger to our form of constitutional democracy. But that threat is not from a terrorist hiding in a cave in Afghanistan. They are from a group of extreme right-wing "neocons" that do not believe in the system of government that our Founding Fathers defined with the United States' Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The 18 to 34 year old generation's patriotic duty is not limited to serving in the military. That is an individual's decision. It shouldn't be made by administration officials who are more concerned with Halliburton's profit margins than your constitutional rights. Protect those rights. And help protect your country.

We need college students to take action now. Read the "issue paper" regarding the draft. Tell other college students about it. Discuss it in your classrooms and your dorm rooms. Submit these essays to your college newspapers. Post it on internet sites. Share it with your friends and relatives in your hometown.

Most of all, register to vote. Get as many people as you can to register. Then vote in the November election. Your choice is between the Constitution and the Patriot Act. Vote for John Kerry, and support the United States remaining a constitutional democracy.

[H2O Man]

16. George W. -- Why Didn't YOU take that step?

"WHY DON'T YOU TAKE THAT STEP?"


(1) "Man, I ain't got no quarrel with them Vietcong!" -- Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali; 2-17-1966

The 2004 election campaign has been the Vietnam War generation's attempt to come to terms with an ugly and divisive chapter in our nation's history. As the national discussion grows angrier, some people have suggested we would be better served to discuss Iraq, rather than Vietnam. But, as General Wesley Clark reminds us, we can not discuss the war in Iraq until we understand the war in Vietnam.

By 1966, the American public was largely convinced that the war being waged in Southeast Asia involved national security. Today we recognize that the North Vietnamese victory in and of itself created no significant impact on our society. Yet the lies and distortions on the part of our nation's leaders resulted in the death of over 58,000 Americans in Vietnam.

Today, we see that some of our leaders continue to lie about Vietnam, and about their reasons for not serving in the war. They even lie about the honorable service of the democratic candidate for president, and about his supporters -- both democrats and republicans -- who also served in Vietnam.

It is important to study the history of the call to serve in Vietnam, in order to appreciate the true nature of the republican call for young men and women to serve today in Iraq. As part of the discussion of this issue, it is important to examine the case of Muhammad Ali.


(2) "I am the greatest!" - Muhammad Ali

On February 25, 1964 Cassius Clay knocked out Charles "Sonny" Liston in 7 rounds to win the Heavyweight Championship of the World. It was one of the greatest upsets in sports' history. In the following days, accompanied by Malcolm X, the new champion told the press that he had converted to the Nation of Islam, and had changed his name to Cassius X. Within a week, he again changed it, and has been known since as Muhammad Ali. This was one of the greatest upsets in the cultural phenomenon known as the "1960s."

Two years before he won the title, Ali had been classified 1-A, or available for the draft, by the Selective Services. After he announced his membership in the Nation of Islam, aka the "Black Muslims," he was ordered to take the military qualifying exam. He easily passed the physical exam, but failed the mental aptitude test. He was "re-tested" by three army psychologists, who determined that the results were accurate, and that Ali was not malingering. Ali was thus reclassified as "1-F," or not qualified under currant standards.

As American involvement in Vietnam increased, our country was dealing with the Civil Rights movement at home. Malcolm X had been assassinated after urging black Americans and Africans to view the civil rights struggle as part of a larger, international struggle for human rights. And Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would say that in 1966, younger black Americans began to talk about the civil rights movement and the violence in American cities in terms of its relationship with the violence in Vietnam.

It came as no surprise when the young Islamic heavyweight champion was suddenly "re-classified" as 1-A on February 17, 1966. The press immediately began to hound the 24-year old Ali with questions about the Vietnam War, the Gulf of Tonkin, and President Johnson's policies. Finally, after taking the tenth call of the day, Ali told a reporter, "Man, I ain't got no quarrel with them Vietcong. They never called me 'nigger'." ("Muhammad Ali," by Thomas Howser; pgs 144-5)

The following day, writer Jimmy Cannon ranted, "Clay is part of the Beatle movement. He fits in with ... the boys with their long dirty hair and the girls with the unwashed look and the college kids dancing naked at secret proms .... and surf bums who refuse to work and the whole pampered style-making cult of the bored young." (New York Journal American; 2-22-66)

On May 13, 1966, the US Attorney's Office contacted the FBI with a request that Ali be placed under surveillance and investigated as a potential threat to national security. Compare this action to the current "Patriot Act," and it becomes clear how history repeats itself. In Thomas Howser's fantastic book on Ali, he details the extent the government began to go to follow Ali's every move. (page 150-170)


(3) "I doubt that he had ever, at the beginning, anticipated what would happen to him in America, between his public embracing of the Black Muslims and his resistance to the draft....I'm convinced he was unafraid of whatever the future held. His behavior convinced me of his total sincerity in the action he had taken.....and he never exposed the slightest vestige of fear. Not ever. Not over his future. Not over the threat of jail." -"Cosell," by Howard Cosell, page 196.

Ali filed for "conscientious objector" status, based upon his religious beliefs. On August 23, 1966, he appeared before a retired Circuit Court judge for a C.O. hearing. The conservative judge ruled in Ali's favor. despite this finding, the Department of justice wrote to the Appeal Board to over-rule the judge's decision.

On August 25, 1966, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, L. Mendel Rivers, addressed a Veterans of Foreign wars Convention in New York. He focused on the threat that Ali posed to US national security, "Listen to this! If that great theologian of Black Muslim power, Cassius Clay, is deferred you watch what happens in Washington. We're going to do something if that board takes your boy and leaves Clay at home to double-talk. What has happened to the leadership of our nation when a man, any man regardless of color, can with impunity advise his listeners to tell the president when he is called to serve in the armed forces, 'Hell no, I'm not going'." (New York Times, 8-26-66)

The US Army Intelligence and Security Command began to follow Ali's every move. Dozens of his relatives and friends were interviewed. His business dealings and his personal life were put under a microscope. Even an appearance on the Johnny Carson show was analyzed for a report to FBI Director J Edgar Hoover.

On March 14, 1967, he was instructed by the Army to report for duty in Louisville, Kentucky on April 11th. His lawyers were able to change the date to April 28 in Houston, Texas. In one of the most significant events of that decade, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. would deliver his historic "A Time to Break Silence" address at the Riverside Church in New York City on April 4, 1967. This was not the first time King publicly opposed the Vietnam war; however, it was the first time he linked it to the Civil Rights movement, and directly attacked LBJ's war policies.

King also suggested in this speech that young men file for C.O. status in opposition to the war machine. The government would later admit to taping conversations between King and Ali during this period. The two discussed the draft, the war, and the interest that African nations had in King's movement.

When Ali appeared in Texas, most Americans thought his only choices were either going into the army, or going to jail. Reporters asked him if he was going to "take that step" as he entered the government building. Ali ignored all of them, except Howard Cosell. When Howard Cosell asked him, Ali said, "Cosell, why don't you take that step?" Cosell answered, "I did, in 1942." (Cosell, page 216)


(4) "There is another alternative, and that alternative is justice. If justice prevails, if my constitutional rights are upheld, I will be forced to go neither to the Army nor jail." -Muhammad Ali, (FBI file)

Ali was immediately stripped of his boxing title, and of his ability to earn a living, by a combination of boxing commissions and the US government. Yet he became a symbol of courage to the young white students on college campuses across the country. He helped to blend the civil rights and the anti-war movements in America.

"I'm expected to go overseas to help free people in South Vietnam, and at the same time my people are being mistreated and brutalized here, and this is really the same thing that is happening in Vietnam. So I'm going to fight it legally, and if I lose, I'm going to jail. Whatever the punishment, whatever the persecution is for standing up for my beliefs, even if it means facing machine gun fire that day, I'll face it before denouncing Elijah Muhammad and the religion of Islam," Ali told college students. ("A/K/A Cassius Clay" documentary on Showtime)

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Ali's conviction on draft evasion, and he was facing five years in prison. Yet he did not back down. Howser's book shows that his determination drew the attention of Robert and Ted Kennedy, and helped to convince them of the errors of the US policy in Vietnam. (page 199)

Others felt differently. In March, 1971, Alabama Congressman George Andrews yelled to his fellows in the House of Representatives: "Where on earth is the Justice department in this country? Why on earth is not that man Cassius Clay in the penitentiary where he should be?" (Congressional Record; 3-30-71; p. 8630)


(5) "The Supreme Court ruled on his case in May 1971. It was now as much a conservative court -- based upon Nixon appointments -- as a liberal court. But it didn't matter. They all voted alike. By a count of eight to nothing the conviction was reversed. The court simply decided that Muhammad Ali was sincere in his religious convictions. .... And he had no bitterness. 'The people who were against me thought they were right'." (Cosell, pgs 234-5)

Ali's Supreme Court decision was not so simple as Cosell reported. Thurgood Marshall had recused himself. The first vote was 5 to 3 to uphold the conviction. A heated debate resulted in a change to 4 to 4, meaning Ali would still go to prison. Finally, Justice Potter Stewart came up with a compromise, based on the third of the three points needed to qualify a person for CO status. All 8 justices agreed Ali was sincere.

Today, when our nation listens to the heated debate about John Kerry's experience in Vietnam, where he was wounded in a war he was opposed to, and when we hear information on how George W. Bush avoided serving in the war he supported, it may be more important than ever for Americans to re-examine the case of Muhammad Ali.

Kerry went to Vietnam, and came home and expressed his opposition to an immoral war. Ali was a conscientious objector, who was attacked by his own government, and lost millions of dollars and three and a half years of his career, and risked going to federal prison for his beliefs. But George Bush, who "believed" in that war, risked nothing. George, tell us, why didn’t you take that step?

[coeur_de_lion]

83. H2O, with your permission I would like to send this to

a couple of democratic activist college students that I know. They could help spread the word in their university, and I think they have contacts in a few other local universities as well.

[H2O Man]

84. Please do.

You operative, you.

[richabk]

17. Logistical question about the draft

Let's suppose a draft in reinstated.

We've seen what's happened to people and communities with National Guard members being called up -- incomes reduced, crucial first responders absent. (And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't hazard pay non-taxable)?
So if more people are to be removed from their communities, how will this effect the nation? We are told to go about our business -- shop, go on vacation. But, what happens when a sizable piece of your populace can't because they aren't there? This is not WW2 (or 3, I hope) yet, but at this rate I'm beginning to wonder what path this administration is trying to take us down.

[H2O Man]

18. One question:

I'm just curious -- how would you know, as an individual, if this was WW3, or not? What would define the situation as WW3 for you? And other DUers? And I'm being serious, not rhetorical. Bill O'Reilly has been calling the present situation WW3 for some time. If CNN and MSNBC said it was, would that make it so? Or if Donald Rumsfeld had a map with an updated series of "circles and arrows and paragraphs on the back"? Because your sentence about "what path this administration is trying to take us down" is the absolute key -- we all need to be asking that.

Actually, more of us do. Because clearly many of the contributors to DU have been asking just that for years. These serious questions can take many forms. Some people focus on the draft; others on Plame, on the neocon spy scandal, on the Sibel Edmonds case, on the unholy relationship between this administration and Saudi Arabia as it relates - directly - to 9-11, to the assault on the Unite States' Constitution via the "patriot act," and a huge realm of related issues.

[richabk]

21. Hmm...never thought of that

Was WW2 called WW2 when it was actually going on or was it given that name later on? What was it called at the beginning when Germany first invaded Poland?

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

23. WW3?

I keep hearing World War IV. The shitheads like to count the Cold War as WW3 because "they" "won" "it".

[HarveyBriggs]

24. Too bad it's not a Rich White Dude draft.

Intersting Bush is planning a Blue Collar draft.

Saves the messy embarassment over rich folks having to pull political strings to get their kids cushy non-combat jobs stateside.

Very ugly stuff.

Bet they'll try to sell it saying, "Hey, they were unemployed anyway!"

Harvey Briggs

[PATRICK]

28. Hideaways for the elite

it should be studied how a "skills draft" can be cleverly crafted to offer an even safer haven "with honor" to the right kind of people. As easy as making a position that the boss's mistress can fill without having to type.

You know that has to be part of the plan and an easy end run around a few honest Dems who want a universal draft for everyone as a deterrent to wars of adventure.

Any sensible proposal, any necessary action, any crying need for the nation in the hands of the wrong people, with the benefit of trust and office is a sucker ploy. You can list policies the Democrats invented or backed and Bush turned them all oily black from his Midas touch.

[Ron Green]

29. Sometimes the general hysteria about the Draft obscures the

issue of whether the State or the Market will define our nation. If the private corporate operators are still on board for no-bid contracts and bigger pieces of foreign operations, then we are losing our state to fascism. But if we demand that our tax money support a Universal Service system which not only provides a standing army but also enables a conservation corps and international development force, then we're maintaining a representative power in the global village. The pendulum has swung 'way toward the market in the past three decades; it must swing back the other way.

[H2O Man]

33. I agree with much of your post....

though the choice of the word "hysteria" takes away from it. First, neither the state or the market has to define our nation. The quality of the lives of the people is what is best in defining any society. And that society that produces the greatest percentage of happy, fulfilled citizens is the healthiest society.

Your comments about the conservation corps and an international development force are absolutely on target. The CCC and WPA were among the most progressive governments programs ever. They worked. And they provide such a progressive alternative to a militarization of our society that most Americans would embrace them.

As Muhammad Ali used to say, "wars on nations changes maps; war on poverty maps change."

Concern about the draft is neither hysteria or paranoia. There is important evidence that indicates this administration is looking to expand the theater of war in the Middle East, and that it recognizes a need to have a draft. I can safely say that we could list 1000 reasons to indicate the administration is willing to sacrifice American lives to achieve their economic and political agendas.

[sweetheart]

38. The market allocates resources?

You say we've swung towards the market. I have to ask. Are we still
subsidizing the petroleum economy? cotton? steel? indeed... we are
centrally planning the economy by bribes. That is a kleptocracy, but
hardly a free market system.

Then in that free market when labour resources are in ultra-competition to keep their skills marketable, we need state intervention because the allocation mechanism of free markets fails
to supply resources to the permanent war economy? Or rather as the
government is bankrupt and can't pay market rates, labour must bite
the bullett and let the draft break its collective negotiating capacity.

That is no shift of resources towards the global villiage.

Either the resources are for a war, where ultimately they are wasted,
or they are used in civilian economy, where they achieve their
highest utility. The draft is part of disempowering the country
and allowing the state sector to suck up entrepreneurial oxygen
badly needed to reinvigorate the civilian economy after all this
disruptive militarism.

[Ron Green]

44. Right. That's assuming the draft will further militarize our society.

The other scenario might be, as Rangel suggests, that the draft will actually democratize the military, which would be only one branch of "national service" supplied by conscription. I believe that the idea that young people MUST do some time for their nation is fundamentally a good idea. The question for me is to what extent an unfettered (and even enabled, by crooked lawmakers) "free" market will call the shots.

[sweetheart]

46. democratizing the military

I love that euphemism. The military is a rigid caste system and
drafting more untouchables in to the cannon fodder ranks whilst
career officers fail to defend the constitution, is but
eloquently orwellian.

I agree with 100% national service, and that most of those services
should be for nationbuilding and "department of peace" like. That
is not what we're discussing however. The government has failed to
defend the country, has mixed us in to criminal aggressive wars and
has made the country a target for every bloody terrorist on the
planet. Its militarism, war, hate, fear and lust, or a total end
to the military-solves-any-problems thinking. The military is a
total waste of resources, and were we to spend nothing on it, and
send everyone back to get a REAL job, we'd all benefit.

Funny thing about the police state is that they keep telling the
taxpaying bankrollers, that more police, war and police bullshit will
make us a more civil society. Better they are all fired. Nobody
is threatening the USA with war. When someone does, we can worry
about it then. This warmongering is way beyond constitutional, and
any american citizen who wants to opt out, it is their right.

[Ron Green]

48. So you prefer a mercenary force to a conscripted one?

I know that's a black/white way to put it (the army I served in was some of both), but I see private contractors and soldiers of fortune billing us for conducting these bullshit adventures.

[H2O Man]

51. That's an old debating tactic that needs to be retired.

It can't be said that it has outlived its usefulness, because it was never useful. Saying that if you disagree with "choice A" implies that you must therefore support "choice B" represents a short-cut to rational thinking. Most of the participants on this forum are opposed to wars such as the one in Iraq, which implies that we would prefer to not have any Americans partaking in it. This is very different from saying we oppose all wars. Thus, it has nothing to do with a choice between "a mercenary ...(or)conscripted" military.

[Dems Will Win]

52. Hear! Hear!

You beat me to it Waterman!

[Ron Green]

53. I acknowledged that it's a black/white statement....

but the issue is not just this phony war in Iraq, or even the other neo-con horseshit that the RW is trying to enact. There's also the issue of the nature of how our country is served, both militarily and by a civil corps of young people fulfilling their service to their nation. By "preferring to not have any Americans partaking" in a given war, we are closer to a non-participatory society. As we withdraw more and more from what our country has done "in our name," we allow the powerful to outsource what should be our civic duty.

[Dems Will Win]

54. I say no mandatory national service but one with generous

scholarship money after 2 years. Hey, wait! That's John Kerry's plan!

And we should have a participatory society without any war at all. If we strive for it we can achieve it.

[Ron Green]

55. I'm with you that we can achieve it.

Although I believe that the natural state of man is brutish, I also hold that a representative democracy can sustain a higher purpose, and that our nation, in this Lone Superpower time, is the only hope for it to happen. I would differ with your (and Kerry's plan) in that I would make it mandatory at age 18 until age 20, with a subsistence wage. After 2 years, an option to sign up for a living wage, depending on skills and need. The armed forces could come out of this pool of young people, but the primary focus would be service to the nation, and by extension, the world. Imperialistic tendencies would be curbed to the extent that international aid, education and development are part of the plan.

If this utopian plan goes down in flames, so be it. What we've got going now around the world can't be any better.

[Dems Will Win]

60. I think what you may be missing is that for many people

mandatory service between 18 and 20 could be very counter-productive in their lives. Many will find it productive I agree. But everyone's different.

That's why the voluntary approach is better in the end. Plus I think you might not have thought of the numbers involved.

There are literally 3.75 million people aged 18, 3.75 million people aged 19 and 3.75 million people aged 20.

If you're going to hire all these people, even at subsistence wages, it is going to be mighty expensive. That's why voluntary service and increasing scholarships and tuition tax credits so that everyone can go to college is something we can afford and would also be would be a great investment for the country.

Hey, wait! That's John Kerry's Plan!

[sweetheart]

61. sounds good

It sounds like a good recruitment plan. Incorporated in to that,
myself i would end the national guard, and have a "single service"
with many branches.

However, our increasingly technological military cannot train a full
warrior in 2 years. Maybe to shoot a tank gun, but in more complex
areas, not. Then we end up with a 2 tier military...
the professionals and the drafted.

If the professionals were mercinaries, i have no beef with that.
Ronin (japanese for wandering samurai) or freelancers (literally
free lances) are as old as war itself. Its not really about defending
our shores in trench warfare, and if it came to that, there would
surely be enough volunteers to cover the meat-packing needs... rather
its about this iraq war sort of nonsense.

The draft should not be used for this "war for profit", as our kids
are not to be wasted, nor their goodwill intended to defend america
in time of emergency. Instead, the goodwill is squandered in
iraqi deserts against a hardened insurgency that will surely
defeat them, as it did the soviets in afganistan and ourselves
in vietnam. It is the right of citizens to avoid being sent to war
for criminal purposes.

For that matter, we should uphold the nuremburg precedent and turn
over bush and his republican mafia to the ICC for trial on
conspiracy to wage aggressive war, and crimes against humanity.

[Dems Will Win]

90. kick

[H2O Man]

59. There are several flaws there.

The most obvious is that while we debate theory, young Americans are indeed fighting in Iraq. Some are killed. Others are wounded. Still others are wounding and killing other human beings. This is being done in the name of America. Yet there is reason to believe that the majority of Americans do not support the war in Iraq. So the only thing "non-participatory" in the war is the majority of the citizens' opinions.

Second is that people ages 18 to 34 are adults, and should be able to participate fully in the decisions regarding how they will live their lives. The fact is the United States Constitution recognizes this as their right. You appear to be advocating that a large group of adults not be allowed to participate in enjoying the Constitutional rights that all Americans are supposed to enjoy.

Two more very quick things: if people ages 18 to 34 decided that they wanted folks 45 to 63 to be subjected to conscription, and forced to fight wars that 18 to 34 years olds thought were noble, no one would think that to be a valid patriotic concept.

Second, if the United States is threatened by an outside threat, I am confident the young Americans will be up to the challenge. Plenty will volunteer. We need to have more confidence in the younger generation.

The real threat comes not from an outside force. It comes from within, specifically those who think they have some right to select other people to fight, kill, and die for their interests, financial and otherwise.

[Ron Green]

64. Of course the threat now comes more from within than without,

now that we're in a post-cold war world (I would argue that even the cold war came from within; consider John Foster Dulles). To that threat, a large universally conscripted corps will ensure that every American family has a stake in a national effort of peace and building. As for the freedom to decide of 18-year-olds, I suggest that their brief and unwilling enlistment is a reasonable price to pay for the privileges they enjoy. At 20, after a couple of years of discipline, travel and exposure to those from other parts of the country and the world, they'll be much more capable of making important life decisions for themselves.

A final thought: I do not believe that we would have left Vietnam as soon as we did without a drafted military. And I don't think we'd be in the scrape we are if we had one now.

[NEOBuckeye]

70. The Neo-Conservatives must be exposed and removed from power

That the radical bullshit of a handful of self-righteous ideologues and war-profiteers could escalate to this level with such little public scrutiny is extraordinary. My question is, how long will it take before the American people wake up to the reality of their nonsense and FIGHT BACK?

[Scooter24]

31. It seems like the dates work with the theory...

Supposedly the new draft system will be ready to go on March 15, 2005. This system is being tweaked to where it would now only take 75 days to get the first group of men from call-up to basic training.

So lets think hypothetically -- They call up the first group on March 15, 2005. 75 days later, June 1, 2005, the first group of men enter basic training. Since the 2005 troop rotations have been planned out thru October 2005, the new group of draftees will be entering their final few months of training as the 2004-2005 rotation schedule comes to an end. Now, I'm not sure how long training takes, but 7-8 months or maybe less for infantry or a truck driver seems reasonable. This would put that first group into Iraq right in the first few months of the yet to be disclosed 2005-2006 rotation plan.

Of course, this is only with my limited amount of knowledge in understanding the military but it does make some bit of sense.

[H2O Man]

35. Thank you!

This post is a wonderful example of how well DU works when we put our heads together. What you have noted here is such an important piece of the puzzle! It makes perfect sense. I'm very impressed.

[Dems Will Win]

40. From my study of it, the 2005 DRAFT would unfold in the following manner:

IF GEORGE W. BUSH GETS BACK IN:

November, December, 2004 - Congress approves change in mission of SSS and approves legislation creating skills draft for DoD, DHS, other branches, etc. (see most expansive options in the Issue Paper)

March 31, 2005 - SSS Director receives report that the agency is up to 90%-95% readiness and that all 1,980 local draft board offices are ready to open within 75 days, or June 15, 2005.

April 1, 2005 - Bush tells the Congress "we're not going to cut and run from Iraq, I need the draft re-instated". The GOP passes it in the dead of night.

May 2, 2005 - ALL young people under age of 35 must be registered by this date with the SSS, self-declaring under penalty of the skills they possess. ALL medical personnel under the age of 45 must also register with a similar form (at your friendly local Post Office)

June 15, 2005 - First Draft Lottery for combat, Age 20 only, men only.
All local and State draft boards open. First medical exam report orders go out. First skills lotteries for nurses, linguists and computer networking specialists held as well

July 6, 2005 - Alternative Service branch ready to place CO workers with regional employers or governments.

July, 2005 - Draft Boards hear appeals on Conscientious Objector, Essential Community Service (Only Skills Draft examption) status cases. First exams conducted for combat draft. First skills draftees ordered to report for duty--no medical exam, no training required. It's easy!

September, 2005 - First draftees delivered to basic training. New training shortened to 6 WEEKS.

November, 2005 - First draftees in Iraq and Afghanistan--in time for Christmas...

This does not include the likely invasions of Syria and Lebanon by then. Since these would be "new theaters" and thus not considered double deployments, Bush would be free with the draft to invade these two little guys at first with guys and gals who already have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan! An Iranian invasion would require a huge buildup and at least a half million soldiers, so think 2006 for Iran.

It's just Dems Will Win's humble opinion...

[ArkDem]

34. It is very obvious that the election will turn on this document.

We need to get it to Dan Rather!

[H2O Man]

37. A number of posters have been

e-mailing Dan and CBS about the draft issue. This is an opportune time to send it to them. Safe to say they are open to ways to turn the draft debate back on the republicans.

[Dems Will Win]

45. Anyone have a list of college paper editor e-mail addresses?

[Comadreja]

39. Dan'l webster said

"Where is it written in the Constitution, in what article or section is it contained, that you may take children from their parents and parents from their children, and compel them to fight the battles of any war in which the folly and wickedness of the government may engage itself? "Under what concealment has this power lain hidden, which now for the first time comes forth, with a tremendous and baleful aspect, to trample down and destroy the dearest right of personal liberty? Who will show me any Constitutional injunction which makes it the duty of the American people to surrender everything valuable in life, and even life, itself, whenever the purposes of an ambitious and mischievous government may require it? . . . "A free government with an uncontrolled power of military conscription is the most ridiculous and abominable contradiction and nonsense that ever entered into the heads of men." : Daniel Webster, Speech in the House of Representatives, January 14, 1814

[Dems Will Win]

41. He started out by declaring:

“Is this, sir, consistent with the character of a free government? Is this civil liberty? Is this the real character of our Constitution? No, sir, indeed it is not.

"The Constitution is libeled, foully libeled. The people of this country have not established for themselves such a fabric of despotism. They have not purchased at a vast expense of their own treasure and their own blood a Magna Carta to be slaves!"

Amen, brother!

[raysr]

42. I got an e-mail about this

it's got Rangel, Conyers and McDermotts names on it as sponsers. No explaination of why they sponsered it though. That they we're tired of minorities and poor whites dieing in Bushs' unending war.

[Dems Will Win]

43. NO, this is something else. That was the Adam Stutz e-mail, filled with

inaccuracies and the DEm protest bills BS.

This is the Bush Republican draft plan in black and white from the horse's mouth!

Rangel had nuttin to do with it.

Read who the meeting participants were and then read the Issue Paper again, especially the last page.

[laylah]

50. Kickin' it for wo/man kind! n/t

[ursacorwin]

56. this is great work!

thanks so much, to the original poster and all of DU! people here are so cool.

that said. shit! i was only about %50 sure that this was coming, but what you've put together has moved me firmly in the convinced column. and of course i'm shitting bricks, as i will surely qualify for the skills part- i do semitic langs, know computers well, and was already in the marine corps.

but my personal issue aside- it's time to start planning for the underground. the real one. this is so much more than about keeping troops in iraq. i don't mean to piss anyone off, but let's face it: likudniks control our government. the iraq war served no real purpose, not even those related to oil, anyone paying attention can see that. the only people to benefit from a chaotic iraq and a us military presence in the region are the likudniks. not even israel, you'll notice me saying here- regular normal people in that nation are even less safe now than we are.

i'm am becoming convinced that the real plan is total war. aipac-likud/neocons/straussians/the usual cabal vs. everyone else in the world. i've heard and read too many things not to plan for it at this point. and i'm going to stand up now and say that any woman who needs to hide has a place in my home; this is something all of us should be prepared to do. i won't leave this country until they start shooting liberals, and i may not even leave then. they want to fight, i say, let's give it to them.

and my dean wonders why i'm not done with my program yet. sheesh.

thanks again for the efforts, DU. i'm forwarding this to everyone i know. i hope all of you are doing the same.

[Dems Will Win]

82. Keep it goin'

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

62. I am thirty and skilled

If this administration, or even the Kerry administration for that matter, wants to force me to go anywhere, they can have my corpse. And I will take down many, many of the goons they send for me before that.

[NEOBuckeye]

67. Amen, Brother.

To paraphrase what Ali said of the Vietcong, I have no fight with the Iraqis. They haven't made my life miserable. But the greedy, anti-Christian Bush-led GOP has.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

76. Gen X and Gen Y United

We aren't afraid to fight. We grew up with guns and gangs and fascist police and jail and prison.

But we do NOT feel indebted to the country that gave us all of the above.

Pro-war dem's take note: a draft will bring Falluja home to YOU.

[Codeblue]

65. OY!

You've already reached one college student here! I just turned 19 last weekend...but I have dual citizenship with Canada so I should be good if this happens with a Bush win this November.

People keep saying that those people that will leave America and not fight back or pussies and traitors. I disagree. If Bush wins, I'll give it some time before I decide to leave or not, but if I have to I will. The people that want to stay and fight...more power to you all! But those people think of America as their home; I do not. I've never thought of America as home and always wished I could live somewhere else. So I will leave if I deem it necessary to do so.

I don't know what else to say except that I try to pass on all sorts of things I feel to be true, and I'm always dismissed either as a loon or as a traitor to America. I'll try to spread this around, but I fear the only people who will take it seriously are people that have been worrying about the draft for years already.

[Dems Will Win]

66. kick

[sheelz]

68. big kick!

[Hubert Flottz]

71. Kick

:kick:

[Dem2theMax]

72. Kicked, bookmarked and gonna be sending out emails too.

:kick:

[leftchick]

74. Thanks for all of your Great work DWW....

I wounder how the freeps would react to this information. On second thought, I am sure they will never understand it until their number comes up.

[Dems Will Win]

75. If everybody could nominate this thread for the Home page

That would help!

[Dems Will Win]

77. Kick

[Dems Will Win]

78. kick

[AngryOldDem]

85. Can't Nominate It, Just Tried, But I Can Give It A....

:kick:

[Dems Will Win]

93. kick

[Dems Will Win]

79. kick

[Dems Will Win]

81. kick

[Just Me]

86. Well, hell,...how else can the neocon NWO be accomplished?!?!?

I sure do wish that people recognized the scope of the neocons foreign policy (which essentially incites another world war). No way we can wage war on a bunch of countries without expanding our military and very HIGHLY unlikely enough will volunteer.

[H2O Man]

87. Great post.

Right on target.

[Lefergus70]

88. Kerry should run hard with this.

I can imagine him shouting, "The Republicans have a plan to restore the draft (Waves it in the air)". "They need more young men for their policy of perpetual wars - wars that bind us to them forever. Let them deny that this document paper doesn't exist. Bettter still, get them all on record they would never, never restore compulstory military service in this country. But then again, can you believe them? Can you trust them?"

[Dems Will Win]

89. kick

[cthrumatrix]

91. share this with people...becuase your media will NOT

[Dems Will Win]

94. KICK

[saigon68]

95. KICK

[Dems Will Win]

96. kick!

[WillyT]

98. And Kick Again !!!

:kick:

[fortyfeetunder]

100. Keep this kicked

:kick:

[Dems Will Win]

101. kick

[Dems Will Win]

102. kick