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Pending Draft Legislation Targeted for Spring 2005
Special thanks to
Action Alert for this article
The Draft will Start in June 2005There is pending legislation
in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which
will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin at
early as Spring 2005 -- just after the 2004 presidential
election. The administration is quietly trying to get these
bills passed now, while the public's attention is on the
elections, so our action on this is needed immediately.$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. Selective Service 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
this is 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.
Congress brought twin bills, S. 89 and HR 163 forward this
year,
http://www.hslda.org/legislation/na...s89/default.asp
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.
College and Canada will not be options. In December 2001,
Canada and the U.S. 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 U.S.
Homeland Security director, 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. Even those voters who
currently support US actions abroad may still object to this
move, knowing their own children or grandchildren will not
have a say about whether to fight. Not that it should make a
difference, but this plan, among other things, eliminates
higher education as a shelter and includes women in the draft.
The public has a right to air their opinions about such an
important decision.
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/alert/?alertid=5834001&content_dir=ua_congressorg
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