Rangel Calls for Reinstating Military Draft

[Logan13]

Rangel(D) Calls for Reinstating Military Draft
AP
11/19/06
WASHINGTON — A senior House Democrat said Sunday he will introduce legislation to reinstate the military draft, asserting that current troop levels are insufficient to sustain possible challenges against Iran, North Korea and Iraq.

"There's no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm's way," said Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.

Rangel, a veteran of the Korean War who has unsuccessfully sponsored legislation on conscription in the past, said he will propose the measure early next year.

At a time when some lawmakers are urging the military to send more troops to Iraq, "I don't see how anyone can support the war and not support the draft," he said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Standby Reserve, said he agreed that the U.S. does not have enough people in the military.

"I think we can do this with an all-voluntary service, all-voluntary Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy. And if we can't, then we'll look for some other option," said Graham, who is assigned as a reserve judge to the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals.

Rangel, incoming chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said he worried the military was being strained by its overseas commitments.

"If we're going to challenge Iran and challenge North Korea and then, as some people have asked, to send more troops to Iraq, we can't do that without a draft," Rangel said.

He said having a draft would not necessarily mean everyone called to duty would have to serve. Instead, "young people (would) commit themselves to a couple of years in service to this great republic, whether it's our seaports, our airports, in schools, in hospitals," with a promise of educational benefits at the end of service.

Graham said he believes the all-voluntary military "represents the country pretty well in terms of ethnic makeup, economic background."

Repeated polls have shown that about seven in 10 Americans oppose reinstatement of the draft and officials say they do not expect to restart conscription.

Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told Congress in June 2005 that "there isn't a chance in the world that the draft will be brought back."

Yet the prospect of the long global fight against terrorism and the continuing U.S. commitment to stabilizing Iraq have kept the idea in the public's mind.

The military drafted conscripts during the Civil War, both world wars and between 1948 and 1973. An agency independent of the Defense Department, the Selective Service System trains, keeps an updated registry of men age 18-25 -- now about 16 million -- from which to supply untrained draftees that would supplement the professional all-volunteer armed forces.

Rangel and Graham appeared on "Face the Nation" on CBS.

[breacherup]

I am currently employed by the US Army as an instructor in urban warfare. I cannot state strongly enough, how impressed I am with the young Americans that I meet and teach. In talking to them I do not get the impression that they are under educated or that they come from the poorest households in America. These young people are highly motivated and ready to train and serve. I don't imagine that young people drafted would feel the same way.
This is political theater, Mr. Rangel's own service record is impressive, but I think he's just trying to make some noise.

[RA]

Guys a big terd in a suit. Its just propaganda...a vote for the draft would be political suicide

[RA]

I am currently employed by the US Army as an instructor in urban warfare. I cannot state strongly enough, how impressed I am with the young Americans that I meet and teach. In talking to them I do not get the impression that they are under educated or that they come from the poorest households in America. These young people are highly motivated and ready to train and serve. I don't imagine that young people drafted would feel the same way.
This is political theater, Mr. Rangel's own service record is impressive, but I think he's just trying to make some noise.

Agreed 100%..

Its also nice to hear something nice about the troops

[J.S.N.]

he should volunteer. oh wait he's like old. meh cannon fodder.

[breacherup]

he should volunteer. oh wait he's like old. meh cannon fodder.

while I disagree with Mr.Rangel about the draft and the socio-economic makeup of the US Army, when it was his time (Korean War) he served.

[Logan13]

while I disagree with Mr.Rangel about the draft and the socio-economic makeup of the US Army, when it was his time (Korean War) he served.

Agreed. At least he is not some silverspoon politician, he has seen war.

[Tock]

Guys a big terd in a suit. Its just propaganda...a vote for the draft would be political suicide

Well, it shows he's not doing this just to pander to his constituents . . .
For him, this is principle over politics.


IMHO, though, it should be a 100% volunteer military, until it gets to the point where reservists get called up to go overseas. Reservists need to be here in the US to take care of domestic emergencies. But when they need more boots on the ground in places like Iraq or Korea (or in the near future, Iran), ya, that's when they need to start drafting people to ensure the military has what they need to do what the Commander-In-Cheif deems necessary.

Of course, this entire Iraq war has been entirely unnecessary, a complete waste of time, money, and lives, and all because the American people elected an idiot with no foreign policy experience, and only 8 years experience as a low-level governor (low-level meaning he's only been responsible for 1/5 of what goes on in Texas politics, as the other 4/5 was split off into other state-wide offices back in the 1870's, so as to keep the governorship a weak position).

Yep, Americans voted for this fool, and as they say, Americans get the government they deserve, and no more.

[RA]

Well, it shows he's not doing this just to pander to his constituents . . .
For him, this is principle over politics.

Thats 100% bullshit tock. He knows the issue will go nowhere and he knows its a good scare tactic that he can beat up the president with...a democrat with principles, that would be a new one.

[Ufa]

edit

[Teabagger]

Seems like the only way to scare kids into going into college.

Good one. Never thought of it in that vein.

[ecivon]

while I disagree with Mr.Rangel about the draft and the socio-economic makeup of the US Army, when it was his time (Korean War) he served.

He didn't have a choice in regards to serving in Korea ... unless you had a deferment, which were very hard to obtain during the Korean war, he would have been compelled to serve under the threat of imprisonment, or he left the country and Canada didn't, to the best of my knowledge, offer conscientious objector defector status in those days. That's why so many GI's defected overseas. I'm suspicious of his motives and call BS on him. There had better not be any draft -- if there is it had better be across the board including every politicians' and officials' kids, including Barbara and Jenna. Every US citizen owes a lifelong debt to every soldier and if wounded, or killed, complete lifelong financial support for their surviving dependents. Objecting to the war in Iraq is not unpatriotic, nor does it mean you don't support the troops that are there, it is simply a statement of distrust and disgust for the politicians that put us there in the first place. Unless you've been in a war, shot at so close you can hear the bullets whizzing right by your ear, seeing an rpg flying right at you and being in blasts so huge it is unimaginable and seeing your buddies blownup you have no idea what wars are about. But then when you come home and find that the government and politicians have deserted you and your family it is mind numbing.

[singern]

Although the idea of reinstating the draft would never be passed for obvious reasons, I for one have no problem with it. What is wrong with serving your country, and perhaps developing a little character.

Every time I see some punk walking around with his pants around his knees, I just want to kick his ass and send him to boot camp.

[Phreak101]

The draft should never be used unless the US is under direct threat and/or invasion.

Political suicide.

[ecivon]

Although the idea of reinstating the draft would never be passed for obvious reasons, I for one have no problem with it. What is wrong with serving your country, and perhaps developing a little character.

Every time I see some punk walking around with his pants around his knees, I just want to kick his ass and send him to boot camp.

I agree with you in principle, but what you are saying and why you said it could best be done by parents and society teaching kids responsibility and having more hands on control/influence while they are growing up. The idea that we plant in kids' heads at an early age is that they have rights, don't have to listen to adults, including parents, that they can do what they want with impunity. The effect you are saying it would have on kids in regards to bootcamp though would be a positive behavior influence and I agree, though not across the board as a draft.

[singern]

The draft should never be used unless the US is under direct threat and/or invasion.

Political suicide.

Too late.
By the time you organize the logistics, and political red tape associated with the draft, gather the troops for training, arm the troops with minimal hardware and supplies, and position them.
We will be using money with Ahmenajads picture on it..

[breacherup]

He didn't have a choice in regards to serving in Korea ... unless you had a deferment, which were very hard to obtain during the Korean war, he would have been compelled to serve under the threat of imprisonment, or he left the country and Canada didn't, to the best of my knowledge, offer conscientious objector defector status in those days. That's why so many GI's defected overseas. I'm suspicious of his motives and call BS on him. There had better not be any draft -- if there is it had better be across the board including every politicians' and officials' kids, including Barbara and Jenna. Every US citizen owes a lifelong debt to every soldier and if wounded, or killed, complete lifelong financial support for their surviving dependents. Objecting to the war in Iraq is not unpatriotic, nor does it mean you don't support the troops that are there, it is simply a statement of distrust and disgust for the politicians that put us there in the first place. Unless you've been in a war, shot at so close you can hear the bullets whizzing right by your ear, seeing an rpg flying right at you and being in blasts so huge it is unimaginable and seeing your buddies blownup you have no idea what wars are about. But then when you come home and find that the government and politicians have deserted you and your family it is mind numbing.

I have seen war. I have been sent to many places to do horrible things by politicians of all stripes. The sweet secret is that at no time while under fire,bleeding or watching a mate die, did I ever give any politician a thought. Soldiers fight and die for one another.

[Logan13]

Top House Democrats to bar military draft plan
11/20/06
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A reinstatement of the military draft, being pushed by a senior Democrat, will not be slated for consideration in the House of Representatives, the chamber's newly elected top leaders said on Monday.

"We did not include that" in legislative plans for early next year, said Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who will be House majority leader when the new Congress convenes in January under Democratic control for the first time in 12 years.

New York Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel, who is in line to chair the House Ways and Means Committee next year, has renewed his call for the draft, saying the war in Iraq is being fought by American soldiers who disproportionately are from low-income families and minorities.

Over the weekend, Rangel said he would seek passage next year of the universal draft legislation he has long sought. "If we're going to challenge Iran and challenge North Korea and then, as some people have asked, to send more troops to Iraq, we can't do that without a draft," Rangel said on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.

Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California told reporters on Monday that she does not support reinstating the draft, which was suspended in 1973 near the end of the Vietnam War and replaced by the all-volunteer army.

As Ways and Means panel chairman, Rangel will have a significant role in U.S. tax and health-care policy. That post will not necessarily give Rangel an effective forum for pursuing his military draft legislation, Pelosi observed.

Instead, Pelosi said Rangel was trying to underscore that the U.S. war effort should be a "shared sacrifice" and his legislation was "a way to make that point."

Previewing next year's legislative agenda, Pelosi emphasized pocketbook issues, saying Democrats will try to ease the "middle-class squeeze."

"We want to take the country in a new direction, not just for privileged America," Pelosi said in a jab to President George W. Bush's Republicans who had been in control of Congress.

Among Democrats' top priorities are increasing the minimum wage, expanding aid for college education and further lowering prescription drug costs for senior citizens.

[singern]

Democrats just love the Status quo,
Politicians have made a career out of making the DRAFT a four letter word. Is it really so terrible a sacrifice to give your country 2 or 3 years of duty or civil service?