Selective Service Ready To Restore The Draft
Stop The Draft Before It Starts - http://www.NoDraftNoWay.org
- 1 March 2005
On March 31, the Selective Service System will report to President
Bush that it is ready to implement a draft within 75 days. We have
to organize now to stop the draft before it starts.
Despite what politicians say, there is a high probability that the
Bush Administration will attempt to reinstate the draft.
The U.S. military is in a quagmire in Iraq, facing a national popular
uprising against the occupation. Soldiers are dying every day. A
report issued in January 2004 by Jeffrey Record, a visiting professor
at the Air War College, said the Army is "near the breaking
point." The Pentagon has been forced to issue repeated "stop
loss" orders and recall soldiers who had retired or otherwise
returned to civilian life.
Out of 10 Army Divisions, part or all of 9 of them are either deployed
in Iraq or Afghanistan. Twenty-one out of 33 regular combat brigades
are on active duty in Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea, or the Balkans.
That's 63% of the Army's combat strength. This means the Army is
extremely overextended. The Bush Administration has been trying
to fill the gap with Reserve and National Guard troops, but this
is a temporary fix at best. The head of the Army Reserves has recently
written a memo saying that the readiness of his forces has been
drastically reduced through over-deployment and is "degenerating
into a broken force."
Meanwhile, official U.S. foreign policy is now the doctrine of "pre-emptive
war" and "regime change" wherever a leader runs afoul
of U.S. corporate interests. An invasion of Iran, Syria, Korea,
or Cuba -- all of whom are on Washington and Wall Street's list
of targets -- would require tens or hundreds of thousands of new
soldiers.
Enlistment rates not even able to maintain current force levels,
much less provide troops for new invasions and occupations. All
four services missed their enlistment quotas last year, and enlistments
in the Reserves, National Guard, and regular military are at a 30-year
low. Many current members of the armed forces plan to get out as
soon as their current enlistment ends. According to a poll conducted
by the military newspaper Stars & Stripes, 49% of soldiers stationed
in Iraq do not plan to re-enlist.
The President has given the Selective Service System a set of readiness
goals to be implemented by March 31, 2005. As part of these performance
goals, the System must be ready to be fully operational within 75
days. This means we can look for the Draft to be in operation as
early as June 15, 2005.
March 19 is the second anniversary of the war. On the weekend of
March 19-20, activists all over the globe will take to the streets
to demand and end to the war and occupation. No Draft No Way will
be mobilizing to take part in these demonstrations, which will take
place just a few days before the Selective Service System reports
to President Bush that it is ready to go. We must be in the streets
to let them know that we oppose the draft and will not be used as
cannon fodder in Iraq or in any new war.
Let's Organize NOW to Stop the Draft:
1) Come to NYC for the March 19 Troops Out Now demonstration. Join
the No Draft No Way! contingent in the march. http://www.troopsoutnow.org.
Or join the march and rally in Fayetteville, NC, outside Fort Bragg--for
more information, see http://www.ncpeacejustice.org.
2) Organize an anti-draft meeting at your school, church or mosque,
union hall, etc. Contact us at 212-633-6646 for help and speakers.
3) Organize protests outside the selective service office in your
area.
4) Donate to help build a network of educators, activists, and resisters
to fight the draft--before it returns. http://nodraftnoway.org/donate-new.shtml
5) Sign the No Draft Petition. http://nodraftnoway.org/petition.shtml
http://www.NoDraftNoWay.org
March 19 Troops Out Now! March on Central Park in NYC! Regional
Demonstrations Across the U.S. & Worldwide
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