Another sign of the draft returning.

[alfredo]

I found this at another BBS. I am not sure if it has been posted here, if it has, sorry.



http://www.beliefnet.com/story/158/story_15893_1.html


Brethren Agree to Revive 'Alternative Service' Draft Programs

By Kevin Eckstrom
Religion News Service
Leaders of the Church of the Brethren say they will follow through on a request from the Selective Service to have "alternative service" programs in place for conscientious objectors if a draft is reinstated.

As one of the historic "peace churches" that shun military service, Brethren officials were "cautious" after an unannounced visit by a draft official to a church center in Maryland last October. Officials were worried that the visit signaled that a draft may be at hand.

In follow-up meetings, draft officials urged the church to dust off long-standing "alternative service" programs that allow conscientious objectors to serve in two-year domestic service projects in lieu of military service.

[NMDemDist2]

1. it is a dupe, but many may have missed it. What creeps me out is all the

brand new shiny "recruiting" offices in the small strip malls that are springing up all over Phoenix lately

Hubby says it's to handle all the intake they will be doing when the draft starts up

I have noticed three new "recruiting" offices in the last 4 months in various areas of the city

:shrug:

[OutsourceBush]

4. best sign that there will be a draft is that Bush said there wouldn't be

If his lips are moving he is lying.

[Taxloss]

14. That is creepy.

Under normal circumstances, if you wanted to join up, would you be deterred by not having a local recruiting office?

[bluestateguy]

2. I wonder if registering voters could be counted as alternative service?

That is registering poor people, Hispanic people, black people, new citizens, 18-21 year olds? I doubt it under this Administration, but I think democracy is better served by registering voters than attacking and occupying nations that pose no threat to the United States.

[BrotherBuzz]

9. This adminstration would embrace that idea....

just as long as all the people you register are republican. (Hey, I still havn't found a good sarcasm smilie thingy ;))

[MissBrooks]

3. I'll bet you $5 bucks

That there won't be a draft.

The military of today is highly specialized and I doubt we will ever see another draft.

[OutsourceBush]

5. lol - sureeee

[bluestateguy]

8. I'll make that bet with you

If you want to PM me we can exchange contact information and agree on terms for the bet.

Granted it won't function like drafts of the past in that persons might not be drafted for combat, but right now I think that some kind of compuslory military or homeland security service is an inevitablility.

[alfredo]

11. I can see a specialized draft of medical and technical specialist.

If there is a general draft, the victims will probably be put in administrative/support roles, freeing regular army for combat roles.

[DBoon]

12. Yes we will - a "skills draft"

You pay for your education. You work hard to build a career. The government takes it from you.

It won't be the mass conscription of 19 year old males we saw in Vietnam. They will take people from diverse demographics, from different communities, to deliberately avoid the up-front resistance the draft saw then.

One day a 35 year old MD from Ohio will go. Then a 25 year old system administrator from New York. Then a 40 year old Arabic translator from Washington.

[Taxloss]

15. And that highly specialised military

is flipping burgers in Baghdad.

There are plenty of jobs in the military that aren't highly specialised and are easy to draft.

[davidwparker]

6. If there is to be a draft, will it be random this time?

NY Rep. Charlie Rangle makes the argument that it should be. I do not want the poor and minorities to have to carry this burden. I want the sons and daughters of white elitist to be right there with them and maybe, the Repugs won't be so gung-ho to go to war.

[Liberty Belle]

7. Yeah, sure. As random as the precincts Blackwell picked

for the recount.

The Rethugs'll probably set it up so only the Dems' kids get drafted.

[Bouncy Ball]

10. My husband said he heard a general say on TV today

that he doesn't see how the current situation in Iraq can go on without a draft.

I didn't ask him which general and he's asleep now.

[BrotherBuzz]

13. Lt General Scowcroft painted a bleak picture of Iraq

but the specific warning of a draft was by Zbigniew Brzezinski who spoke at the same function.

January 7, 2005 by the Los Angeles Times

Scowcroft Skeptical on Iraq Vote

The Election Threatens to Heighten the Risk of Civil War, the Former National Security Advisor Says

by Ronald Brownstein


The election scheduled this month in Iraq could further inflame the country's conflict and increase the risk of civil war, Brent Scowcroft, national security advisor to President Bush's father, said at a forum Thursday.

Rather than leading to stability, Scowcroft said, he feared that the election would further alienate Iraq's Sunni Muslim population and that it had "a great potential for deepening the conflict."

"Indeed, we may be seeing an incipient civil war at the present time."

In one sense, the comments from Scowcroft, a retired Air Force lieutenant general, were not surprising: He has long been a critic of the Iraq war. But his stark warning about potential civil war marked one of the most ominous assessments about the implications of the upcoming election from a high-ranking former official.

Scowcroft made his comments at a luncheon sponsored by the New America Foundation, a centrist, nonpartisan Washington think tank. At the forum, Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter's national security advisor, also offered a grim prognosis for Iraq.

Brzezinski said the United States should meet its goals of producing a reasonably stable Iraqi government "if we are willing to put in 500,000 troops, spend $200 billion a year, probably have the draft and have some kind of wartime taxation."

The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the remarks.

<more>

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0107-03.htm

[Guns Aximbo]

16. I've been contacted to be on the Draft Board

I did apply to on the Draft Board and was contacted by mail a year and a half ago. The Govt. made an error on the forms they sent to me (They referred to me a Reverend). I'm anti religion so I corrected them and sent them back in. Never heard from them again.

[alfredo]

17. I signed up, but

never heard back. That could be because I have an FBI file.