[Peace-discuss] O-bomb-a calls for US military mobilization.

[E. Wayne Johnson]

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        National service forum at Columbia University


    Obama calls for US military mobilization


          By Patrick Martin
          13 September 2008

In remarks that clearly pointed toward the restoration of the military 
draft under an Obama administration, the Democratic candidate said 
Thursday night that his job as president would include demanding that 
the American people recognize an "obligation" for military service. "If 
we are going into war, then all of us go, not just some," Senator Barack 
Obama declared.

Obama's comments came as he and his Republican opponent, Senator John 
McCain, took part in a forum on national service at Columbia University 
in New York City. Earlier in the day, both candidates joined in a 
memorial service at the site of the World Trade Center, commemorating 
the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

While "national service" encompasses more than the military, including 
such government-run programs as the Peace Corps, Americorps and Teach 
for America, as well as private and religious programs, both McCain and 
Obama focused on expanding the US Armed Forces as a major goal of the 
next administration, whether Democratic or Republican.

In an indication of the bipartisan support for the increasing 
militarization of American society, McCain jokingly offered to name 
Obama his coordinator for national service if the Republican were to win 
the election, and Obama reciprocated.

The forum was co-hosted by Judy Woodruff of the Public Broadcasting 
Service and Richard Stengel, editor of /Time/ magazine. Woodruff 
introduced Stengel as the man responsible for the magazine's 2007 cover 
story, "The Case for National Service," which Woodruff said had "ignited 
this movement."

McCain was the first of the two candidates to appear at the forum. In 
response to a direct question from Woodruff, he rejected the restoration 
of the draft, voicing support for maintaining an all-volunteer army. 
Such a disavowal is to be expected 55 days before a presidential 
election, and no doubt Obama would have given a similar response had he 
been asked the same question.

But in the course of his discussion with Woodruff and Stengel, McCain 
repeatedly connected the imperative of "national service" with the 
outbreak of international crises in which an American military role 
would be posed. Citing the Russian intervention in Georgia and the 
deteriorating position of the US-backed regime in Afghanistan, he said 
the American people could "see a whole lot of things happening in the 
world that's going to require us to serve."

McCain also said that he would sign the bipartisan legislation, 
co-sponsored in the Senate by Democrat Edward Kennedy and Republican 
Orrin Hatch, to triple the size of Americorps, the domestic version of 
the Peace Corps.

Obama's comments were even more directly related to building up the US 
military. He spoke at some length to offer effusive praise for the armed 
forces. Woodruff asked him about the record number of Army officers 
leaving the military because of repeated, lengthy overseas deployments.

The candidate responded, "Well, first of all, as commander-in-chief, my 
job is to keep America safe. And that means insuring that we've got the 
best military on Earth. And that means having the best persons in 
uniform on Earth. We have that right now, but as a consequence of these 
wars, they have been strained incredibly. I think it's important for us 
to increase the size of our Army and our Marines so we can reduce the 
pace of tours that our young men and women are on."

After recalling his grandfather's service in World War II, in the army 
of General George Patton, he noted that his grandfather was eligible for 
GI Bill education benefits and Federal Housing Administration loans to 
help purchase a home because of government policies favoring the 
discharged veterans. "There was that sense of sacred obligation that, 
frankly, we have lost during these last two wars," Obama said. "I want 
to restore that."

Obama went on to make his most direct statement of the campaign about 
expanding military service, declaring: "But it's also important that a 
president speaks to military service as an obligation not just of some, 
but of many. You know, I traveled, obviously, a lot over the last 19 
months. And if you go to small towns, throughout the Midwest or the 
Southwest or the South, every town has tons of young people who are 
serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's not always the case in other 
parts of the country, in more urban centers. And I think it's important 
for the president to say, this is an important obligation. If we are 
going into war, then all of us go, not just some."

Taken in the context of a forum on national service, these comments have 
an unmistakable and ominous implication. Military service in the 
volunteer army is undertaken disproportionately by small-town and rural 
youth, for both economic and cultural reasons. It is far less common for 
middle class and working class youth in large cities, and especially 
their suburbs, to enlist in the military.

Obama holds out the prospect that, at least initially, his demand for 
wider participation in military service would consist of encouraging 
more enlistments in the volunteer army. When that failed, as it 
undoubtedly would, to produce sufficient cannon fodder for the next 
round of imperialist wars, the logical next step would be reactivation 
of the Selective Service System, which still exists, albeit in 
mothballed form.

In political terms, Obama's appearance at Columbia was aimed at 
demonstrating to the American political establishment that he is 
prepared to reject any pressure from antiwar college students, who are a 
major component of his campaign's personnel and volunteers. To that end, 
Obama not only called for expanded military service, he directly 
attacked the exclusion of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) 
from many college campuses.

Stengel noted that Columbia had invited President Ahmadinejad of Iran to 
speak on the campus, but "haven't invited ROTC to be on campus since 1969."

Obama replied, "Yes, I think we've made a mistake on that. I recognize 
that there are students here who have differences in terms of military 
policy. But the notion that young people here at Columbia or anywhere, 
in any university, aren't offered the choice, the option of 
participating in military service, I think is a mistake."

The suggestion that young people at Columbia or anywhere else are denied 
"the option of participating in military service" is preposterous. In no 
country in the world is there so much media advertising and societal 
pressure---largely, at this point, economic---to impel young people into 
the military.

ROTC became a focus of hostility on hundreds of campuses during the 
Vietnam War era, and was in many cases banned as a student organization. 
These restrictions largely ended after 1975, but they were continued or 
reestablished on a handful of campuses after the Clinton administration 
established the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, reaffirming the longtime 
Pentagon ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. Such a 
ban violates the non-discrimination rules imposed by many campuses on 
corporate recruiters.

In response to a further question from Woodruff, Obama elaborated on his 
efforts to recruit young people to become participants in, and potential 
victims of, military violence. "Inspiring young people to serve is 
something that the president is uniquely positioned to do," he said, 
adding that this could be for civilian positions that are adjuncts to US 
military operations overseas, such as the State Department, USAID or 
civil engineering.

Obama returned to the subject of widening participation in military 
service in words that were cautiously phrased but deeply reactionary. "I 
think there are special obligations during wartime," he said. "We always 
have potential conflicts around the world, and our military has to 
remain strong and ready. And so I want to encourage military service, as 
well as other ways of serving, regardless of whether there's war or not. 
But I do think that over the last several years, the fact that the 
burden has been shouldered by such a narrow group is a problem."

In a closely balanced election, with the outcome still very much in 
doubt, Obama hopes to win the support of the real decision-makers---the 
topmost levels of the financial, political and military elite. Only a 
Democrat, he is suggesting, with the smokescreen of "equal sacrifice" 
and "fairness," can provide the millions of recruits for the US military 
machine that will be required for wars against countries such as Iran, 
Russia and China.

While utilizing the occasional high-flown phrase to appeal to the 
idealism of youth and students, Obama is offering the ruling class a 
brutal bargain: Select me as president, and I will repay you in blood.

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