Today's news on the draft issue

Today's news on the draft issue http://dailydraftdispatch.org

Not Enough Troops In Iraq? Fred Kagan takes a swipe at Donald Rumsfeld this week in the current issue of the Weekly Standard. Andrew Sullivan links approvingly and agrees with Kagan's primary complaint: Rumsfeld went to war with too few troops in Iraq, and this has been the primary reason for the vast array of problems we've encountered there. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_01/005422.php

News from May 2004 (worth recalling): Selective Service eyes women's draft The chief of the Selective Service System has proposed registering women for the military draft and requiring that young Americans regularly inform the government about whether they have training in niche specialties needed in the armed services. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/171522_draft01.html

Soldier Suing Army Sent Back To Iraq A specialist who is suing the Army for requiring him to serve longer than the term of his enlistment contract has returned to Iraq. David Qualls and seven others are challenging the military's "stop loss" policy that allows it to extend active-duty deployments during times of war or national emergencies. http://www.kirotv.com/news/4071923/detail.html

Fresh Horrors at Guantanamo A leading civil rights group says that government records pertaining to an investigation of prisoner abuses at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba are still being withheld, and those it has received under a court order are so heavily censored that they "raise more questions than they answer." http://www.antiwar.com/ips/fisher.php?articleid=4324

Highlights on important draft issue news

War-resister says comrades killed civilians A former Marine on the front lines of Iraq, a witness for an American seeking to become the first U.S. service member granted asylum in Canada, said Wednesday several men in his unit were “psychopaths” who enjoyed killing unarmed Iraqi civilians who posed no threat. http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-547489.php

Soldier has cousin shoot him in leg to avoid occupation duty Take Army Spec. Marquise J. Roberts of Hinesville, Ga. He had served seven months in Iraq, returned home, and then was scheduled for redeployment there. While on a visit to family members in Philadelphia, he allegedly persuaded a cousin to shoot him in the leg so he could avoid going back to Iraq. http://www.whittierdailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,207~12044~2634289,00.html

Why I Refused a 2nd Deployment to Iraq Note from editor: I received an email a few moments ago from wife Monica. In it she has told me a total of 22 people in Sgt Benderman’s unit have refused to deploy to Iraq. 17 have gone AWOL and 2 have attempted suicide. The status of the remaining 3 is unknown at this time. We at the POAC fully support the decision to refuse deployment to Iraq which has been made by Sgt Benderman, and the others in his unit. http://oldamericancentury.org/voices_004.htm

Over 5,500 soldiers don't show up for occupation duty But not all young people are eager to die for Mr. Bush. Military recruiters are having difficulty finding enough cannon fodder to fill their quotas. More significantly, men and women already in uniform are rebelling. They're refusing to fight for Mr. Bush and his secret ambitions. They're deserting by the thousands. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2004/12/13/hsorensen.DTL&type=printable

Families plan to skip military draft Opposed to the Iraq war, some Ashland and Talent teens and their parents are getting their ducks in a row, fearing a revival of the military draft. They are creating conscientious objector files and searching out safe-haven countries, all in case what they consider likely or even inevitable comes to pass, regardless of who is elected president. http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2004/1007/local/stories/08local.htm

U.S. Army Reserve Becoming "Broken Force" Faced with lengthy and grueling deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Army reserve is rapidly turning into “a broken force” and may not be able to meet its operational requirements in the future, its commander acknowledged in a memorandum made public late Jan. 5. http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=586113&C=landwar

A New Poverty Draft: Military Contractors Target Latin America For New Recruits It is not just the military that is facing difficulty in recruiting people to deploy to Iraq. ... Private US corporations have begun recruiting outside of the country. In recent months companies like Halliburton have launched ad campaigns and recruiting drives in several Latin American countries, promising huge salaries for fighting age men and women to serve in Iraq. http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/23/1541224

Homeless Veterans: Soldiers Go From Fighting in Iraq to Fighting A New War At Home Now, with the occupation of Iraq and some 150,000 troops deployed there and thousands more who have returned, a new generation of soldiers are facing the same realities experienced by their colleagues who fought in Vietnam and in other conflicts. Some of them are suffering from the effects of depleted uranium; others from posttraumatic stress disorder or mental illness sparked by their time in the zone of combat. Others find they have no place to live http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/23/1541248

Beware Attempts to Revive Military Draft On its anti-terrorism Web site, the Pentagon posted a plea for volunteers to serve on the draft boards and appeals boards that will decide whether men (current draft law does not affect women) can get deferments or exemptions. The law created the boards as an insurance policy, in case of an emergency need for more troops. http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/122503D.shtml

Government looking at military draft lists The Selective Service System (SSS) and the U.S. Department of Education now are gearing up to compare their computer records, to make sure all men between the ages of 18 and 25 who are required to register for a military draft have done so. http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_more.php?id=62232_0_10_0_C

Agency initiates steps for selective draft The government is taking the first steps toward a targeted military draft of Americans with special skills in computers and foreign languages. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/164693_draft13.html

Reject Draft Slavery I oppose HR 163 in the strongest possible terms. The draft, whether for military purposes or some form of "national service," violates the basic moral principles of individual liberty upon which this country was founded. http://www.antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=3719




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