[Peace] FYI: Mandatory Draft Legislation??

[Peggy Patten]

Hi AWARErs:

My sister sent me the following information about pending mandatory draft 
legislation in
the US House and Senate.  This is the first I had heard of specific 
legislation.  Have others
heard of this?  It sounds like it's been kept fairly quiet during this 
election season.

PEGGY PATTEN




Subject: ALERT: IMPORTANT: MANDATORY DRAFT LEGISLATION

The possibility of a mandatory draft for boys and girls (ages
18-26) starting June 15,2005, is something that everyone
should know about. This literally effects everyone since we
all have or know children that will have to go if this bill
passes.

There is pending legislation in the U.S. House and
Senate(twinbills: S89
and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the
draft can
begin as early as spring, 2005, just after the 2004
presidential election.
The administration is quietly trying to get these bills
passed now, while
the public's attention is on the elections, so our action on
this is
needed immediately. Details and links follow. This plan,
among other
things, eliminates higher education as a shelter and includes
women in
the draft. Also, crossing into Canada has already been made
very difficult.

This legislation is called HR 163 and can be found in detail
at this
website: http://thomas.loc.gov/ Just enter in "HR 163" and
click search and will bring up the bill for you to read.

It is less than two pages long. If this bill passes, it will
include
all men and ALL WOMEN from ages 18 - 26 in a draft for
military
action. In addition, college will no longer be an option for
avoiding the draft and they will be signing an agreement with
Canada which will no longer permit anyone attempting to dodge
the draft to stay within it's borders. This bill also
includes the extention of military service for all those that
are currently active.

If you go to the selective service web site and read their
2004
FYI Goals you will see that the reasoning for this is to
increase the
size of the military in case of terrorism.

The draft $28 million has been added to the 2004 selective
service system budget to prepare for a military draft that
could
start as early as June 15, 2005. Selective service must
report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has
lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation.
Please see www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html to view the
Selective
Service System annual performance plan, fiscal year 2004.

The pentagon has quietly begun a public campaign to fill all
10,350
draft board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots
nationwide.
Though this is an unpopular election year topic, military
experts and
influential members of congress are suggesting that if
Rumsfeld's
prediction of a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan
(and
permanent state of war on terrorism) proves accurate, the
U.S. may
have no choice but to draft.




www.hslda.org/legislation/national/2003/s89/default.asp
entitled the
Universal National service Act of 2003, "to provide for the
common
defense by requiring that all young persons (age 18-26) in
the United
States, including women, perform a period of military service
or a
period of civilian service in furtherance of the national
defense and
homeland security, and for other purposes."

These active bills currently sit in the committee on armed
services.
Dodging the draft will be more difficult than those from the
Vietnam
era. College and Canada will not be options. In December,
2001, Canada and the U.S. signed a "smart border
declaration," which could be used to keep would-be draft
dodgers in. Signed by Canada's minister of foreign affairs,
John Manley, and U.S. Homeland Security director, Tom Ridge,
the declaration involves a 30 point plan which implements,
among other things, a "pre-clearance agreement" of people
entering and departing each country. Reforms aimed at making
the draft more equitable along gender and class lines also
eliminates higher education as a shelter. Underclassmen would
only be able to postpone service until the end of their
current semester. Seniors would have until the end of the
academic year.

What to do - Actions:
1. Please send this on to all the parents and teachers you
know, and all
the aunts and uncles, grandparents, godparents. . .. And let
your
children know - - it's their future, and they can be a
powerful voice
for change!


2. Contact your legislators and ask them to oppose these
bills
Just type "congress" into the aol search engine and input
your zip
code. A list of your reps will pop up with a way to email
them
directly. We can't just sit and pretend that by ignoring it,
it will go away. We must voice our concerns and create the
world we want to live in for our children and grandchildren.



Please also write to your representatives and ask them why
they aren't
telling their constituents about these bills and write to
newspapers
and other media outlets to ask them why they're not covering
this
important story.





This is a critical piece of legislation, this will effect our
undergraduates, our children and our grandchildren. Please
take the
time to write your congressman and let them know how you feel
about this legislation. http://www.house.gov/ www.senate.gov

3. Tell your friends!





t

Please note that my email address has changed and is now
m-patten at sbcglobal.net.  Mail addressed to mpatten at prairienet.org
will continue to be accepted until 12/31/03.  
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