[Peace-discuss] Fwd:March 31: Selective Service ready to bring back the draf

[Al Kagan]

Those who watched Mosaic tonight saw a long segment on Abu Dhabi TV 
about the overextension of the US military and how they are having 
trouble filling the ranks.  If only we could see this on US TV.

On Mar 1, 2005, at 4:55 PM, jencart wrote:

>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> Stop the Draft before it starts:
>
> http://www.NoDraftNoWay.org
>
> 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 _______________________________________________
> Peace-discuss mailing list
> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
>

Al Kagan
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61820
USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax 217-333-2214
akagan at uiuc.edu
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