Is there a Draft in the Air?
by C. L. Cook
The number one for Iraq at U.S. Central Command let fly a balloon in an interview with National Public Radio today, saying reintroducing the forced induction of Americans into the armed services is an option that has never been "off the table," letting hang the implicit question of a return to the draft that created mayhem throughout the United States the last time it was enacted, during America's war against Vietnam and South East Asia.

Much has changed in the interim, and Americans by and large do not expect their children could find themselves, without enlisting, patrolling the streets of Falluja or the outskirts of Kandahar.

 

 

 

Last year, Democrat representative Charles Rangel proposed just such a draft in the belief, he said, that middle class, largely white Americans who support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may be less enthusiastic were it their kids shipping out. There's no indication Iraq's newest "war czar," Lieutenant General Douglas Lute is going along with Rangel's angle, but when pressed by NPR reporter, Michele Norris on the draft issue he admitted it was something to be considered in the Pentagon and Washington, saying;

"I think it makes sense to certainly consider it, and I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table, but ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another. Today, the current means of the all-volunteer force is serving us exceptionally well. It would be a major policy shift — not actually a military, but a political policy shift to move to some other course."

The pressure on the Pentagon and America's armed services is building towards what has been described as a "breaking point," as soldiers are seeing the number of  deployments increase, and their duration stretched. Enlistments are still below targets, and the mood in the country is shifting away from support of the wars and occupations, leading to fears of a downwards spiral of fewer and fewer "boots on the ground" willing to do the dirty work of garrison duty. Says Lute;

"As an Army officer, this is a matter of real concern to me. Ultimately, the American army, and any other all-volunteer force, rests with the support and the morale and the willingness to serve demonstrated by our — especially our young men and women in uniform. And I am concerned that those men and women and the families they represent are under stress as a result of repeated deployments."

This isn't an uniquely American problem. In Israel, where military service is mandatory for both males and females - though many of the well-heeled and well connected manage their way around service - the Israeli Defense Force too is concerned, as the numbers of draft dodging youth is rising to as many as one in four called up refusing to show up.

 

Last month, Defense Minister, Ehud Barak said the IDF was becoming "an army of half the people," an allusion to the growing ranks of no shows. Senior defense staff countered that they were soon to release a so-called "battle plan" to address the matter.

Not content to wait for marching orders from the army, Israel's school principals organization offered to provide the IDF with student files to check against claims made on mandatory military enlistment forms. Though initially receptive to the principal's idea, it seems that would be illegal under Israel's current privacy laws.

 

President Richard Nixon abolished the draft in 1973 amid public draft "card burnings" and growing anti-war demonstrations across the country. Then, Canada was one of the safe havens for American draft dodgers, the country taking in more than fifty thousand, though today Canada's government is not inclined to offer sanctuary.

 

 

AP


IDF


NPR