[Peace-discuss] Starve the Beast

[C. G. Estabrook]

[A good analysis of the situation and one thing that can be
done about it.  --CGE] 

>Starve the Beast
>byAnthony Lappe
>Sat Jul 30, 1:04 AM ET
>
>This week's talk of "withdrawal in 2006" (20,000 troops, 
>possibly, if the Constitution gets finished, things go well 
>with the elections, the insurgents convert to Tibetan 
>Buddhism, etc.) is a sham, as the New York Times' Bob 
>Herbert points out. The long-term goal was, and still is, to 
>establish a permanent base of operations in Iraq to control 
>the world's last great oil reserves. That doesn't mean there 
>couldn't very well be troop reductions next year. But they 
>may have more to do with human resources than human rights.
>
>Last week, the Army's top personnel officer announced the 
>Army won't meet its recruiting goals for 2005. So far this 
>year, the active-duty Army has enlisted 47,121 recruits. The 
>goal was 80,000. There's little chance to make up the gap 
>the official conceded, the Times reported. Forget the still 
>relatively small U.S. death toll. These are the numbers that 
>keep the Pentagon brass up at night. The Army is being 
>pushed to the breaking point, and that, more than anything, 
>may be what's fueling the administration's new emphasis on 
>"withdrawal" from Iraq.
>
>Frustrated with seeing the largest street protests since 
>Vietnam marginalized by the mainstream media and dismissed 
>by the president as a "focus group," thousands of antiwar 
>youth are targeting this Achilles' heel of the neocon master 
>plan.
>
>"We think counter-recruitment is the smartest way to 
>intervene with the war in Iraq," John Sellers, founder of 
>the Ruckus Society [http://www.ruckus.org ], told me. "Until 
>Rumsfeld's robot army is up and running, they're going to 
>need young men and women to fight. We feel the most 
>effective strategy is to support the youth who are 
>questioning our nation's values and resisting war for 
>resources."
>
>Ruckus has teamed up with Code Pink 
>[http://www.codepink4peace.org ], the League of Independent 
>Voters and other antiwar groups, to create 
>http://Notyoursoldier.org , an organizing hub for 
>counter-recruiting actions. Later this summer, the group is 
>organizing counter-recruiting training camps in five cities 
>for a major campaign on campuses across the country this fall.
>
>Earlier this year, the brains behind the popular Punk Voter 
>CD launched http://Militaryfreezone.org . A little known 
>provision in the No Child Left Behind Act requires high 
>schools that receive federal funding to provide dossiers on 
>students to recruiters. But students can opt out of the 
>program by getting their parents to sign a simple form. 
>http://Militaryfreezone.org offers the form in a 
>downloadable PDF.
>
>Recruiters have proven easy targets because they're liars. 
>As fewer and fewer young Americans decide to trade in their 
>PlayStations for the ultimate first-person shooter game, 
>recruiters have become desperate. They promise funds for 
>college that don't exist. They tell potential recruits they 
>won't end up in Iraq. They even break the law.
>
>Recruiters in Houston were recently busted for offering to 
>help a potential recruit cheat on his drug test. In Indiana, 
>recruiters allegedly forged physicals. In Seattle, a quiet, 
>rule-abiding 18-year old reported being virtually kidnapped 
>by a team of recruiters and held over night before agreeing 
>to enlist. His mother had to hire a lawyer to get him out of 
>the contract.
>
>It got so bad that the Pentagon had to call for a one-day 
>halt of all recruiting activities around the country so 
>recruiters could take a special training course on how not 
>to break the law. Shortly after, the Army announced it was 
>lowering standards for criminal records, mental health, 
>intelligence, even the length of enlistment. They're 
>considering offering up to a $40,000 signing bonus.
>
>Scared attacking U.S. military recruiting efforts might seem 
>"unpatriotic"?
>
>According to a recent poll, a majority of Americans have 
>finally come to the realization that the war in Iraq wasn't 
>just a diversion from the real war on terror -- it is now 
>actually making us less safe.
>
>The invasion and occupation of Iraq has been a boon for 
>jihadist recruiters from Leeds to Lahore to Fallujah. It's 
>time to stop our recruiters from helping theirs.
>
>###