U.S Congress may push for military draft

Reuters | 1/27/03 | Vicki Allen

[kattracks]

WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - As the United States prepared for a possible war against Iraq, an influential senator added his voice on Monday to calls to reinstate the military draft, a step the Bush administration says is unnecessary and unwise.

South Carolina Democrat Ernest Hollings said he is sponsoring the Senate version of a bill offered in the House of Representatives by Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, who said a universal draft would bring men and women from all walks of life into the military instead of leaving it mostly to low-income people and minorities.

Rangel and Hollings held a joint news conference as weapons inspectors issued a report at the United Nations that said Baghdad had not fully complied with requirements that it disarm, a finding that the Bush administration has said could lead to war with Iraq.

Rangel opposed the congressional resolution authorizing a possible attack on Iraq. Hollings backed it. But citing tensions around the world, they said they worry that the volunteer force would not be enough to fight multiple wars.

"With prospects of continued military action in Afghanistan, a potential war in Iraq, the continued war on terrorism and growing tensions in the Korean peninsula, it becomes clear that we do not have the personnel to fight a multi-theater war," they said in a letter to colleagues.

"Our proposal ensures that all Americans answer the call of duty and that the size of our military forces meets our growing military needs," Rangel, a Korean War combat veteran, and Hollings, a World War II combat veteran, said in their letter.

Hollings said forces already are stretched too thin, as the Pentagon is extending service time of reservists to handle operations in Afghanistan and the troop buildup in the Gulf, which he said is a hardship on them and their employers.

The bill requires military or national service for men and women, ages 18 to 26, without exemptions for college or graduate studies. The president would set the number of people needed for military service, and those not selected for that would serve at least two years in a civilian post.

With the Pentagon against the plan, the bill was seen as having little chance in the Republican-led Congress. But Rangel said it raised issues that the nation should debate.

It already has caused the administration some discomfort as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week apologized to veterans for comments he made dismissing the need to bring back the draft, that was ended in 1973.

With the draft, Rumsfeld said people were "sucked into the intake, trained for a period of months, and then went out, adding no value, no advantage, really, to the United States armed services over any sustained period of time."

Rumsfeld said he had not intended to say that draftees added no value to the military, but that he was "commenting on the loss of that value when they left the service."

((Reporting by Vicki Allen; Edited by Bette O'Connor;

[kattracks]

Hollings and Rangel = congress?

[The Grammarian]

Hollings and Rangel = congress?

In their own minds.

[SunStar]

Race-baiters and class-baiters, the both of them.

[RKV]

The RATs will push for this and we should make sure every 18-25 year old knows which party is proposing this. As Napoleon said - "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

[EggsAckley]

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

LOL! Great quote!

[mystery-ak]

Only if Rangel and Hollings grandchildren are the first to be called.

[Route66]

Are these two actually trying to destroy their party? Do they really think this is the issue to get them back into the majority?

If we find ourselves in the situation where we need more in miltary service, we could likely get all the qualified and motivated recruits we need just from allowing the recruiters back into the high schools again...a practice which has been discouraged or stopped entirely in many large cities by liberals that now talk about reinstating the draft! Unbelievable...

[chilepepper]

This is a trap and needs to be shot down immediately...

The US does NOT NEED a draft for its military, although it might be a good idea for social reasons (to repair the damage done by the public school system)

ANYTHING Fritz Hollings proposes is to be deeply suspected as advancing World Socialism...

[ottersnot]

Well they're a lot smarter than me (LOL)as I can't see the class warfare scoring them points.
Hey dummies...er Dims,
Breaking Newsflash.
No person, rich or poor, is forced into the Military. This is the United States not Iraq.
We offer opportunity here. If you work hard you can do anything you want. You can actually do something called "studying" in school and get something called a "scholarship" which will earn you "knowledge" and thus something else you liberal nutcases are not real familiar with.....JOBS.

Is the phrase 'Stupid Liberals' considered redundant?.

[walden]

This guy is old-- maybe he doesn't understand that this is a different kind of war. As an example-- let's compare the number of war dead so far:

Enemy combatants: who cares?
Foreign civilians: a few hundred
U.S. & allied military: a few hundred?
U.S. civilians: around 3,000

Although the figures will change, I don't expect that the ratio will. It ain't WWII, folks. As for the rest of the Democrats calling for a draft-- I agree-- I'll make sure all of the soon-to-be-voting teens I know-- my kids and their friends-- know exactly which party wants to take a few years out of their life for completely bogus, grandstanding and manipulative reasons.

[leadpenny]

The bill requires military or national service for men and women, . . .

I like this idea. Let's see the NOW nags argue with it.

. . . ages 18 to 26 . . .

The SSS has completely different contingency plans. I believe the age of draftees would be narrowly focused on the 21 year olds.

The worst part is that I agree with Hollings and Rangel.

[Tacis]

There is nothing wrong with a national draft, at least conceptually. 9-18 months of military based national service for all young people would, over time, be a good thing for the country. It is in the detail that the concept goes to hell.

First, Rangel NEVERS does/says anything that doesn't have a balck race pimp perspective. We see the concept as building a USMC attitude toward the nation. Rangel sees it as giving his race pimps the opportunity to give the blacks an NAACP attitude toward the nation.

How many blacks would be excluded because of failure to meet minimum standards? What about all the illegal aliens? Can you envision the political indoctrination that would be advocated during trainng from smoking to dental hygene, AIDS, homesexuality, Muslims, the environment, and so on. The dems would finally be able to unionize our military.

Good concept, but he dems turn it into filth like they do with everything and Rangel is a black race pimp master.

[wearredcaps]

How about we draft unregistered aliens too. If I were young enough to be drafted, & was told to go to war. I don't believe I would go unless they went also. Bunch of bullcrap for us to go, & they stay & reap the benefits.
Wake Up America!!!

[Nick Danger]

U.S Congress may push for military draft

This isn't liberal media bending over backwards for Democrats. This is bending over forwards. It is irresponsible to run a headline like this.

This propoosal hasn't got a prayer. It is just a bunch of Democrats posturing and race-baiting. It doesn't deserve the time of day from an honest reporter.

[TexanToTheCore]

The Democrats are attempting to bring back the draft in order to kindle a new protest movement. No draft, no protests. These people should be put out to pasture.

[cynicom]

The draft will be coming, the only question is when.

[YoungKentuckyConservative]

What a SLANTED piece of $hit headline that is! =)

[MarkM]

These guys are just trying to undermine our military and take away some Americans freedom. Barry Goldwater was right when he said a volunteer military would give us a better military.

[ffusco]

What Idiots! They still think we're fighting WWll. A draft would not be selective enough to fill the technically challenging, multi-tasking military of the 21st century. And enlistment is Voluntary how could it be unfair to blacks? Its a ploy exploit frighten young people and families, anti-war propaganda disguised as a need to protect the country because "we are stretched too thin" nonsense. And it class warfare on top of that because it creates the myth that our battle field soldiers are poor blacks.

[EternalVigilance]

Whenever this subject arises, all Republicans should stick to these simple talking points:

1. We don't need a draft.

2. It is only Democrats who support reinstating the draft.

3. Republicans think the Democrats are nuts!