Urgent Action Alert
New Draft Proposal Intended to Slow the Rush to War
January 8, 2003
Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) wants to hear from you, but has chosen a rather unusual way of drawing out the public voice. He introduced a bill to the House on January 7 that if passed, would reinstate the draft, and establish "Universal National Service." Rangel, who voted against granting President Bush the authority to invade Iraq, said in a New York Times column last week that "the Congress that voted overwhelmingly to allow the use of force in Iraq includes only one member who has a child in the enlisted ranks of the military." He believes "that if those calling for war knew that their children were likely to be required to serve...there would be more caution and a greater willingness to work with the international community in dealing with Iraq."
While this proposal may have a certain logic to it, CCW doubts a draft would really have such an effect on the US government’s move toward war. Many of us remember how it appeared to be the middle class opposition to the draft that brought the end to the War in Vietnam. The same logic would tell us that opposition to our children coming home in body bags will work as a brake on the war that seems looming just over the horizon now. But the draft that was in place prior to the Vietnam War did not prevent that war, just like the draft prior to the Korean War did not stop that conflict. In fact, conscription ended three years before US involvement in Vietnam did. President Nixon thought that ending the draft would end the massive opposition to that war--but he was wrong. Ending the draft neither ended the war nor the opposition.
The peace movement is active and vocal, and is being heard now more than in the recent past.The fact that war in Iraq was opposed by a strong third of the Congress and the majority of Democrats is a sign that we are being heard. Somehow, Rangel doesn’t think so and envisions the best way to get us to shout louder is to create a national crisis, which is just what might come of this. The threat to Conscientious Objectors under this proposal is particularly bad. COs who are drafted would go into the military as non-combatants. As the bill states, "Any such person whose claim is sustained may, at the discretion of the President, be transferred to a national service program for performance of such person's national service obligation under this Act."
Rep. Nick Smith who introduced HR 1358, the Universal Service bill last session has announced his intentions to reintroduce the same flawed bill in response to Rangel’s. But the Pentagon has said recently that it has plenty of troops for an invasion of Iraq. Furthermore, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said "We're not going to re-implement a draft. There is no need for it at all... The disadvantages of using compulsion to bring into the armed forces the men and women needed are notable."
Rangel argues for fairness, saying "service in the armed forces is not a common experience and that disproportionate numbers of the poor and members of minority groups compose the enlisted ranks of the military." It is true that in modern war, minorities have suffered a disproportionate share of the deaths in war. But the disproportionately high percentage of minorities in the military at low rank was not created by the all voluntary military, it was merely inherited by them. A draft would not solve this problem. Conscription would not be any less discriminatory of a system than recruitment is today. Exemptions for such reasons as medical conditions and hardship, and recognition of conscientious objectors would still be granted to those who could define their situations in a manner that the Selective Service System would recognize, but the racial and class biases would influence that recognition. That means that well educated, middle class whites would likely be afforded the most opportunity to be granted exemptions and CO status, as was the case under previous drafts.
Tell Rep. Rangel and your own Representative that no child should be an involuntary sacrifice to encourage Congressional caution. The draft is as wrong now as it was last year and the year before. Don't sacrifice our children on the altar of good intentions. Tell them to vote no to any proposals by Rangel, Smith or anyone else.
Contact your members of Congress
House of Representatives
The Honorable (Name)
United States House of Representatives
Washington D.C. 20515
Senate
The Honorable (Name)
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Capitol Switchboard:
(202) 224-3121
Center on Conscience & War (NISBCO)
1830 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20009
Tel: (202) 483-2220
Fax: (202) 483-1246
Email: nisbco@nisbco.org