Posted on 10/07/2004 1:25:30 AM PDT by L.N. Smithee
Bush, Rumsfeld trying to reinstate military draft
If you are a parent of or are close to someone between the ages of 18 and 26, please consider the following: There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (companion bills: HR163 and S89) to implement a renewal of the military draft as soon as next June.
The Bush administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the public's attention is on the elections. Information can be found in detail at this Web site for the Library of Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov.
If this bill passes, it will include all men and all women from ages 18 through 26 in a draft for military service. In addition, college deferments will be eliminated and the United States will be signing an agreement with Canada that will no longer permit anyone attempting to avoid the draft to stay within Canadian borders. This bill also includes the extension of military service for all those who are currently active. Reasoning for this, according to the Selective Service Web site, is to increase the size of the military in case of terrorism. This is a critical piece of legislation; this will affect our undergraduates, our children and our grandchildren.
Please take the time to write your representatives and let them know how you feel about this legislation. Though this is an unpopular election-year topic, military experts and influential members of Congress are suggesting that if Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's prediction of a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan (and permanent state of war on terrorism) proves accurate, the United States may have no choice but to draft.
Is this really an administration that we can trust? Is this really what the majority of us believe is necessary? We all need to wake up to what is really happening in this country -- Republican parents, especially.
ROGER PARSONS
DULUTH
This is the editorial from the Duluth News-Tribune, published October 6, 2004:
Our View: False letter on Bush draft should not have appeared
A letter that appeared in Tuesday's News Tribune suggested that the Bush administration was behind an attempt to reinstate the draft. As evidence, the writer cited by number two bills in the Senate and House and urged readers to write their representatives opposing them.
In fact, there are no Republican-sponsored bills concerning the draft, and the two measures requiring conscription of all young adults, rich and poor, were sponsored by Democrats in early 2003 as a tactic against the then-impending war. Specifically, co-sponsor Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington wrote: "If we need to reinstate the draft in order to make the administration consider the chilling consequences of war, so be it."
That political explanation notwithstanding, the rumor of a GOP draft has gathered steam over the past two years, manifesting itself in a letter bouncing around the Internet on sites such as the St. Louis Rams message board, socialistworkers. org, aljazeerah.com and most appropriately, urbanlegends. com and the news group alt. usa.kooks. Portions of that letter were lifted without attribution in the letter by Roger Parsons of Duluth that appeared in the News Tribune. Though prior to publication Parsons assured the newspaper's letters verifier that he indeed had written the letter, and that it had been submitted only to the News Tribune, that was not true and we regret our part in disseminating false information. An apology is due to the Bush administration and to our readers -- including several who alerted us of the fraud -- and we hereby humbly extend one.
Reached by the newspaper Tuesday, Parsons also apologized and immediately sent the letter that appears on this page. While we accept his apology, it is the last writing of his that will be published by the paper for the foreseeable future.
Bush isn't trying to reinstate draft
Sometimes in these impassioned times, it is easy to grab hold of some piece of news and believe it to be true without checking the facts first. Such is what I did when I wrote a letter to the editor about the Bush administration quietly trying to reinstate the draft.
I should have checked the information I wrote first.
The Bush Administration is NOT pushing the bills I cited. In fact, Democrats introduced the legislation in January of 2003 in an effort to discourage people from supporting the pending war with Iraq. Their actions were politically motivated, but the Bush administration had no direct involvement in the legislation.
Furthermore, what I wrote and what the News Tribune published was mostly information that is available elsewhere on the Internet. I borrowed quite liberally from this (though it was my belief that I was paraphrasing the words of a political science professor at my daughter's college). So the words were not really my own and I should have quoted what I had read rather than misrepresenting it.
For both of these actions I am truly sorry and sincerely apologize, and I apologize as well to the newspaper for any embarrassment I may have caused them.
ROGER PARSONS
DULUTH
I just wish that Mr. Parsons had provided his daughter's college and the alleged professor that passed this nonsense along to her. He must really be feeling like a sucker right now if he's paying her tuition.
Aw, crap. That should have been "EAT CROW." Oh well, you know what I mean.
Even after the bill was killed this week, they still post URGENT threads about a draft.
Our country is chock full or morons.
I guess these are the FLAT OUR LIES that Susan Estrich was talking about that they were going to be doing...
I guess these are the FLAT OUT LIES that Susan Estrich was talking about that they were going to be doing...
"I borrowed quite liberally....."
Naturally.
Just another example of the press not doing their job of checking the facts. I watched various news coverage following W's speech yesterday. An MSNBC talking head asked a guest if Kerry ever really called the coalition "coerced and bribed." The guest said he did not believe that was true and they just took his word for it. A simple Google search would have provided them with many sources of the quote. Lazy and biased.
The dumbest thing about that Kerry statement is that nowadays he is implying that the way he would get the allies on board in Iraq is by coercing and bribing them -- what else is saying, "What do you need" to France, Germany and Russia like he suggested in the first debate?
Read thread & posts #74 & #75
I hope Bush refutes this draft BS loud and clear on friday, because just ignoring it is giving it momentum.
Cheney should have a few loud, clear Halliburton comments as well. By ignoring them, he gives the Halliburton thing momentum as well.
Too bad the rest of the media can't be so forthcoming right off [CBS]. The democrats have done everything they could think of to sway this election, including this bogus draft email! Rangle should have sanctions imposed against him for using this bill as a threat. Instead, he spun it around against Bush. I'd be ashamed to be a liberal, but liberals have no shame.
I hate to be the thread police, but I posted this yesterday :)
Still, nice to see a newspaper own up to its error.
Ping
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