Argument: Southend argues that a draft may be inevitable. “Of the 130,000 troops currently deployed in Iraq, 60,000 are members of the National Guard or Reserves, and their support for the war has also fallen due to repeated extensions of their service. An opinion poll last month in Stars and Stripes, the Army's official newspaper, showed that 49% of the soldiers in Iraq are either 'not likely' or 'very unlikely' to reenlist.”
So, in other words, something’s gotta give.
Evidence of the military’s worries about future troop levels were on a Department of Defense website that called for people to serve their country on their local draft boards (Read the Hot Gun Spy entry about this website as reported on Oct. 24). The site has since been removed by the Pentagon because of intense media questioning.
Counter-Argument: Pat Schuback, a spokesman for the Selective Service System, argues that there are no immediate plans for reinitiating the draft, and that the employment information on the Department of Defense website was nothing more than routine policy. Schuback told the San Francisco Chronicle, "There are no secret discussions. We aren't doing any planning that we don't do on a routine basis. It's a plan on paper. We're just an insurance policy. If we're needed, we're here; we're ready."
I am glad Schuback is ready. However, the bigger question is whether or not the youth of the United States are ready to be drafted to fight an unjustified war that our government initiated preemptively and unilaterally. If the establishment thought the burning of draft cards was unsavory in the 60’s, then wait until they see what I do with mine.
For more information, or for further developments on this story visit StoptheDraft.com.
Posted by Paul Hina at November 11, 2003 09:55 PM