Today's (Dec. 28) Chicago Sun-Times featured a front-page story under the heading Hell no, he won't go. It recounts the situation of Chicagoan Steven Henderson who was honorably discharged almost two years ago after two tours of duty in Afghanistan. Now he has been called up for a tour of duty in Iraq of up to 18 months.
"It would take a miracle for me to put on a uniform again and to carry a weapon in Iraq," he said. "I have no intentions of going to Iraq."
"I find it appalling that two days prior to my final exams, two years after any formal training, and with two tours of combat duty served, the U.S. military would even consider reactivating myself or any soldier,'' he said. "To ask that of any veteran is crazy."
But it's allowed under the contract all enlistees sign. Soldiers can be called into active duty anytime within eight years of signing up
Further on, we learn that
Since the involuntary mobilizations started in the summer of 2004, about 11,000 soldiers have been called back into duty, more than in any previous war...
and
... only 200 veterans haven't reported. Although penalties can include jail time, typically soldiers lose their honorable discharge status, which could threaten their Army benefits and have implications for future employment.
Charles Rangel's proposal notwithstanding, reinstatement of the draft has remained almost unanimously taboo as a policy option for both parties. But involuntary mobilization is really a kind of draft. Of course, both the draft pool and the numbers mobilized remain small relative to the general population.
This reported incident of draft resistance, though tentative, is a significant addition to the parallels with the Vietnam War that have been increasingly noted of late. The print edition of the Sun-Times carried the headline "Hell no, he won't go", deliberately echoing the famous anti-war chant of the Vietnam years. It's noteworthy that the website features the much less provocative heading of "Third time's the harm." Did some kind of outcry prompt the revision?
So far, public opinion has balanced sympathy for the hardships of our troops with the reflection that after all, they volunteered. But it seems to me a different matter for people who have honorably completed their active duty.
The draft was such a large factor in the unpopularity of the Vietnam War that it led Nixon to institute the all-volunteer Armed Services that we have today. But it also led to a backlash against the 'lawlessness' of the draft resisters that fueled the rise of right-wing politics culminating in the regime currently in power in the US. "I hated the 60's," remains a kind of code among Republicans of a certain age (including the President).
How will this latest wrinkle in the Iraq War play out?