Bush Military Draft, February 2005.

A Bush-Cheney Military Draft in February 2005 should be yet another new line of attack in the coming days and weeks (despite Bush's lying statement last week that no draft will be necessary).  There was a thread on this earlier on Wednesday, which got buried quickly.

A definite Bush military draft in 2005 should be stressed, especially on college campuses, since this affects at least all 18 to 26 year olds, plus the parents and families of all 18 to 26 year olds.

A few quick, concise, simple lines posted on Xeroxed sheets around college campuses should read this way, to hopefully get people talking about this:
"BUSH IN 2005,
MILITARY DRAFT,
NO DEFERMENTS,
NO EXCEPTIONS."

I've found this to be one of the more effective ways to scare potential Bush voters back towards Kerry. Again, students and parents must be made aware that Bush will impose a military draft next year, with no deferments and no exceptions. Period. And Kerry won't.

There are additional points to help you discuss this.  Among the many articles on this on the internet is a short, concise Utne Reader article, which read in part:

...And "draft dodging" would not be as easy as it was during the Vietnam Conflict, since attending college, being female, or fleeing to Canada could not be used as shelters this time around. Adam Stutz of 'Project Censored' writes, "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." [Note: This rule was put into effect in 1971]. Meanwhile, shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, "Canada and the U.S. signed a 'Smart Border Declaration,' which could be used to keep would-be draft dodgers in [the United States]."...

http://www.utne.com/cgi-bin/udt/im.display.printable?client.id=utne_web_watch&story.id=11211

Please try to get this out there as a new line of attack.  In such a close election, if this sways even a small amount of people, it could potentially tip the balance. Please let's also somehow have the draft question repeatedly posed to Bush.  Maybe Kerry's people might read this message and run with it.

Sincerely,
-N.B.

•  Troops Moved From Germany and Korea...

  Oh yeah, if someone questions you about a draft not being a possibility, also mention

  1. The recent decision to pull troops out of Germany and Korea ("where the heck do you think they're going?");

  2. The extended tours being forced upon troops currently in Iraq;

  3. The recent (summer) recall of 6,000 already-discharged troops (those that left the service within the past 7 or 8 years, that is).

  -N.B.

  by npb7768 on Wed Sep 15, 2004 at 11:01:46 PM PDT

  •  One More Line

    To your poster:

    "Sons and Daughters"

    or

    "Men and Women"

    That makes some people really listen.  America's daughters drafted into service?  Egads!

    by teece on Wed Sep 15, 2004 at 11:37:47 PM PDT

•  I talked to a Vietnam veteran

  about this, and he said he thinks Bush will start a draft too.

  by Plutonium Page on Wed Sep 15, 2004 at 11:27:57 PM PDT

•  But

  Throwing out the Bush-will-draft card limits Kerry's ability to institute one in the future.

  How else can Iraq be solved?  Or will it?

  by lennywick on Wed Sep 15, 2004 at 11:36:00 PM PDT

  •  Kerry Won't Ever Have A Draft...

    Kerry would never have a draft. He's said that he's going to pull back our forces in Iraq, and get them out of the constant line of fire. He understands that the scenario in Iraq right now is a disaster, and staying the course will only lead to more bloodshed on each side. I really do think that he'll have the ability to get Europe more involved-- something Bush could never do.

    Also, Kerry would never move militarily against Iran or Syria or North Korea. Whereas Bush's crew will be moving against each if they get another four years, and therefore they will definitely need a draft.

    As far as Kerry limiting his ability to institute one in the future-- good point, but again, I don't think he'd ever have a draft, but if one happens to become necessary, let's use a Rove tactic and worry about that if and when the time comes. Let's instead focus on this Draft issue being a potential thorn in Bush's side over the next 48 days.

    by npb7768 on Wed Sep 15, 2004 at 11:57:14 PM PDT

  •  If the need arose for another draft under Kerry...

    I doubt the American people would object to it.

    by xsal on Thu Sep 16, 2004 at 12:28:17 AM PDT

    •  They sure as hell would!

      Maybe not if we were actually being attacked but, honestly, what are the chances of that?  

      by Asak on Thu Sep 16, 2004 at 03:05:38 AM PDT

  •  Good!

    If Kerry is seriously thinking about instituting a draft in anything but the most egregious circumstances (country being invaded), then he doesn't deserve to be elected anyway.  

    by Asak on Thu Sep 16, 2004 at 03:06:27 AM PDT

    •  Iraq

      By the way, how would drafting solve the situation in Iraq?  I mean, sure, let's just put another 200,000 targets on the street, who are even LESS trained and LESS well equipped than those currently there (we couldn't even get body armor for all the soldiers we have, where would we find another couple hundred thousand?).

      by Asak on Thu Sep 16, 2004 at 03:08:13 AM PDT

•  Wait a minute

  Okay. My intuition says that there will have to be a draft. But there are two things to keep in mind.

  First, lots of "draft scare" articles cite the same two bills, one in the House, one in the Senate. Last I checked, these bills weren't going anywhere, and were sponsored mainly to get people thinking about who shoulders the burden of the volunteer military.

  Secondly, every time I've tried to bring up the idea of the draft with others, they point out how astoundingly unpopular it would be (which I think matters not a whit if the need is severe); but more importantly, they invariably point out that it would probably be easier politically and not all that expensive to create enormous economic incentives to lure and retain more volunteers. I have no doubt that the military would rather go that route if they felt they could.

  So could they? I don't know enough about military operations, budgets, retention rates, etc to say. But it's a question that has to be answered.

  --MLK

  by Melissa O on Thu Sep 16, 2004 at 12:18:40 AM PDT

  •  They are right, no draft

    
    Those "others" are right -- even if we need to take drastic action to bring in more soldiers, there will NOT be a draft.

    There were about 3 million 18 year olds who graduated from high school last year.  

    The total number of people who join the military each year now is about 180,000 -- about 1 in every 18 high school grads (not everyone who joins is just out of high school, but it's a fair approximation for now).

    Even if we doubled the number of people coming in, which would easily be enough to triple the size of the Army, since that's where the bulk of the increase would go, we'd only be inducting 10% of eligible 18 year olds.  

    If we had a draft, it would either have to be hugely unfair -- a lottery where only 1 in 10 got chosen, for example.

    Or, we'd have to increase the size of the Army by a factor of 10, overnight.  That means building dozens of new bases.  We'd have no equipment to give them.  We'd have no instructors to train them.  It would be useless, no, worse than useless.

    There is no draft coming.

    It would be far, far cheaper, and far more effective, to just pass a whopping increase in pay and benefits (e.g., college funding).  All the studies show that economic incentives have a very strong effect on recruitment.  It works.

    by dburbach on Thu Sep 16, 2004 at 03:19:20 AM PDT

•  unless you want rioting in the streets

  there will be no draft

  after November, how many do you think will have seen Fahrenheit 9/11, after dvd release?

  unless you want rioting in the streets, there will be no draft unless there is another 9/11.

  not because of Iraq anyway.

  and if Israel does something crazy to Iran, we should NOT fall in dropstep with them, especially as an excuse for a draft.

  by freelixir on Thu Sep 16, 2004 at 01:23:37 AM PDT

•  aeou

  Glad I'm too old to "Bleed & sweat in the sand while you cum in your hand" for 18 months.

  by Phlip on Thu Sep 16, 2004 at 05:10:18 AM PDT