Kerry/Edwards have to take the draft issue one step further

[xray s]

Edwards said yesterday that a Kerry/Edwards administration would not institute a draft.

The next point that must be stated is there will be a draft if Bush is reelected. In fact, there already is a "back door draft" of our National Guard and Reserve forces.

Make Bush/Cheney expalin how, if we "stay the course", they are going to be able to continue in this reckless direction without expanding the back door draft to a general draft.

[private_ryan]

1. nah

all they have to do is mention time and time again that if Kerry is elected there will no draft. People will get it. You can't say that it will be draft with no proof.

[xray s]

2. the back door draft issue is big

its really crushing Reservist and National Guard families.

I'd push the issue, hard. And I'd season it with TANG (and not the drink the astonauts took to space either) :)

[private_ryan]

4. that's already happening

but you can't have Kerry say that there will be a draft if Bush is elected. Everyone will jump on him asking, where's the proof? If he says that no draft will happen under me as President people assume that Bush will bring it back.

[xray s]

5. Ask Bush how he going to avoid a draft given this report...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/091704W.shtml

U.S. May Run Out of Guard and
Reserve Troops for War on Terrorism
Agence France Presse

Wednesday 15 September 2004

WASHINGTON - The US military may run out of national guard and reserve troops for the war on terrorism because of existing limits on involuntary mobilizations, a congressional watchdog agency warned in a report.

Government Accountability Office (GAO) said the government has considered changing the policy to make members of the 1.2 million-strong guard and reserve subject to repeated involuntary mobilization so long as no single mobilization exceeds 24 consecutive months.

In commenting on the report, however, the Department of Defense (DOD) said it planned to keep its current approach.

"Under DOD's current implementation of the authority, reserve component members can be involuntarily mobilized more than once, but involuntary mobilizations are limited to a cumulative total of 24 months," the report said.

"If DOD's implementation of the partial mobilization authority restricts the cumulative time that reserve component forces can be mobilized, then it is possible that DOD will run out of forces," the report said

[Progressive420]

3. The back door draft

struck very close to home recently. I found out one of my fellow co-workers is going to Iraq in January. He is the national guard and he never expected to have to go over seas when he signed up. He wasn't sure that he was going to vote but now he is and he is voting for JK.

[whistle]

6. I would not want Kerry to commit to no draft because if Iraq.....

...or some other hot spot erupts in the world where American troops have to go and fight, I want President Kerry to be able to use whatever powers as Commander-In-Chief to take responsible action and address the problem. I believe that Kerry/Edwards would do everything they could through non-military means first, but I don't want to see the next president tied down because of Bush's failures. God forbid, I think Kerry would do what is right for America including asking everyone to sacrifice regardless of privilege, station or influence. That would go doubly for corporations and the business world. Go in, get the job done, establish stability, then get out!

For heavens sake, congress voted $87.4 billion to be spent on Iraq reconstruction immediately after the invasion was declared by BushCo as "Mission Accomplished" and these bastards have spend less that $500 million. Nothing has been accomplished! No electricity, no sewers rebuilt, no fresh water plants no one fully trained police/security officers, not one single goal that was stated 16 months ago and due to be accomplished by Oct 1, 2004 has been accomplished. Just rhetoric, just talk, just rosy scenarios and wishful thinking on the part of the Bush administration, but nothing has been done for the Iraqi people. This was covered yesterday in a senate national security meeting senators Luger, Bidden, Nelson and Hague (plus some others) and the message was clear. Bush has done nothing, zip except to allow 1028 American to die, over 7,000 to sustain serious injuries and now the state department wants $3.7 billion of that reconstruction money to be transferred to the military to enhance security in Iraq.

Nonsense! We the people, the voters, must impress on the senate, the congress and the administration that their time for for action and results runs out on November 2, 2004. Sorry, I have no link for that senate hearing, but if another DUer knows where the transripts can be found on the internet, please post here. Thanks.

[private_ryan]

10. commit or not, a draft will cause Kerry or whoever wins his election

unless we get invaded or something like that.

[Heath.Hunnicutt]

7. Kerry/Edwards needs to be more specific!

The need to say they will kill the currently proposed pill changing the way the draft works, and also there will be no draft.

[Dems Will Win]

8. You can respond yourself--with this! Colleges, supermarkets, then patrol!

Go to http://somnamblst.tripod.com /

Thanks Rosebud57! Follow Rosebud's instructions on the site to print the .tif file out (the correct file). The .gif is JUST A SAMPLE.

In May, the Seattle Post Intelligencer published an article about a document they received through the Freedom of Information Act. It was revealed that the SSS is currently “designing procedures” for the implementation of a “Skills Draft” after holding a top-level meeting on it with Deputy Undersecretaries at the Defense Department. This draft would change the very mission of the Selective Service and require “virtually every young American”, male and female ages 18-34, to register for the Skills Draft and list all the occupations they are proficient in to fill labor shortages throughout nearly the entire government.

Here, for the first time, is the FOI document itself:

http://blatanttruth.org/selective_service091304.pdf

This document is real, having been acknowledged by the DoD and the SSS when they said no action is being taken on it at the present time, as reported:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/171522_draft01.html

Although Congress would have to approve new legislation to create a Skills Draft or reinstate the combat draft, Family Circle reported in its July 13 issue that Karl Rove has polled GOP members of Congress in September 2002 to see if they would support the President if he requests reinstatement. The Republicans said they would vote for the draft.

In addition, the SSS itself has said that it is “designing procedures” (Seattle PI, May 1, 2004) to implement the skills draft, meaning designing the compliance cards and the data fields needed to keep track of “virtually every young American” and their skills. Acting Director of the SSS Brodsky has also said the Skills Draft is the “top priority” of the Selective Service for 2004. The Issue Paper options include:

- Allow a non-combat draft for shortages in critical skills, without calling a combat draft.

- Fill labor shortages of all kinds throughout not only DoD but the Dept. of Homeland Security and other agencies, especially high-paying professionals like computer networking specialist or linguist.

- Create a single-point, all-inclusive database, in which every young person would be forced to send in a “self-declaration” of all of their critical skills, chosen from a long list of occupations like the Armed Forces Specialty Code. The usual penalties of imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine would apply to all non-registrants.

In the secret planning meeting document, the next steps strongly recommended by SSS Acting Director Brodsky were:

1. “Promptly” redefine the SSS Mission to draft men and women up to age 34 for skills, and deliver them within 90 days or sooner to the Department of Defense. Program a massive database to be ready to enter millions of names of those registering their critical skills.

2. Expand mission to deliver personnel in skills draft to the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies, including FEMA, NSC, Border Patrol, INS, Customs, Corporation for National Service, Public Health Service and other agencies.

3. Form interagency task force to provide Administration with recommendation on this skills draft for the entire government.

4. Obtain White House Statement of Administration Policy on the future of the SSS.

5. Be prepared to market the skills draft, raising the non-combat age to 34 and the drafting of women to the Armed Services and Appropriations Committee.

In contrast to this planning and preparation to create a targeted draft, Kerry plans to spend an additional $7 billion to strengthen the Volunteer Army in what is essentially a “No-Draft Plan”. Moreover, Kerry is strongly opposed to the neo-con plan revealed in Wes Clark’s book Winning Modern Wars, in which Clark was told by a senior Pentagon official that invasions of Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Sudan and Somalia were planned and still to come over the next three years.

DON'T FORGET TO USE THE .TIF NOT THE .GIF FILE.

BUSH '04 = DRAFT '05

KERRY '04 = PNAC OUT THE DOOR!

[oasis]

9. PNAC requires a draft to fill in the ranks of its occupation army. With

no help coming from the allies as Cheney, Wolfowitz,Perle and other PNACers had envisioned years earlier, the PNAC plan has to draw from the ever shrinking pool of American armed sevice people.

www.newamericancentury.org