The Draft
by Adam Stutz
Project Censored - Censored
Alert, Winter 2004
$28 million has been added to the 2004
Selective Service System (SSS) budget to prepare for a military
draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. SSS must report
to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant
for decades, is ready for activation. Please see website: www.sss.gov/perfplan
fy2004.html to view the SSS Annual Performance Plan - Fiscal Year
2004.
The Pentagon has quietly begun a public
campaign to fill all 10,350 draft board positions and 11,070 appeals
board slots nationwide.. Though an unpopular election year topic,
military experts and influential members of Congress are suggesting
that if Rumsfeld's prediction of a "long, hard slog"
in Iraq and Afghanistan [and a permanent state of war on "terrorism"]
proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to draft. www.informationclearinghouse.info/
article5146.htm
Congress brought twin bills, S. 89 and
H.R. 163 forward this year, entitled the Universal National Service
Act of 2003, "To provide for the common defense by requiring
that all young persons [age 18-26] in the United States, including
women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian
service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security,
and for other purposes." These active bills currently sit
in the Committee on Armed Services.
Dodging the draft will be more difficult
than those from the Vietnam era remember. College and Canada will
not be options. In December 2001, Canada and the US signed a "Smart
Border Declaration," which could be used to keep would-be
draft dodgers in. Signed by Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs,
John Manley, and US Homeland Security Director, Gov. Tom Ridge,
the declaration involves a 30-point plan which implements, among
other things, a "pre-clearance agreement" of people
entering and departing each country. Reforms aimed at making the
draft more equitable along gender and class lines also eliminates
higher education as a shelter. Underclassmen would only be able
to postpone service until the end of their current semester. Seniors
would have until the end of the academic year.
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