October 07, 2004

Of all the articles I’ve published in the Federal Observer, the two that keep getting hits and comments are, “There Is No Terrorist Threat” and, “Will Bush Reinstate The Draft?” Of the two, the latter has gotten more hits and comments recently than I ever expected, considering I wrote that piece back in July of last year. Apparently, it really hit a nerve with a lot of young voters.

We denizens of the Cyberspace Blog community know how easily false rumors get started and how easily those fake rumors get legs. We also know by experience just how fragile those hoaxes are when challenged with common sense.

The “Million man Chinese army waiting to pounce across the border from Mexico” hoax is a prime example. Once people were made to consider the logistical requirements of such a “stealth” invasion, such as bathroom accommodations, housing, food, clothing, entertainment, zero witnesses coming in illegally from Mexico, etc., etc., you folks realized just how preposterous that hoax was, and I hope you made note of the writers promoting it for future reference. If those writers are going to promote such nonsense, they deserve to have lost all credibility with their former readers.

Which brings us to the purported “hoax” involving the threatened reinstatement of the military draft. The mainstream media is calling it a hoax. The House of Representatives just yesterday voted down a bill introduced by Representative Rangel, 402 – 2, that would reinstate the draft. The editorial pages of every newspaper are carrying opinions that largely debunk the draft “rumor” as a hoax. So is the rumored reinstatement of the military draft really just a hoax?

In a word, NO; absolutely NOT!

The very worst we can call this fear is speculation, but it is speculation based upon real, hard facts, and the major reason this particular fear continues to get young people motivated to register to vote at such an astonishing rate is the fact that no one is offering a believable reason to doubt it.

Insisting that reinstatement of the draft is not a current option for any politician hoping to stay in office just doesn’t cut it. Insisting we have enough personnel in the military to make the draft unnecessary is simply not convincing when concurrent mainstream news tells us that recruitment is down for both the regular army as well as the National Guard. Those baseless arguments are not convincing when a guy like retired Col. David Hackworth report that thousands of his active duty military readers, now serving in Iraq, are vowing never to re-enlist again. The pipeline of personnel is drying up at the pump, and the personnel leaving the other end of the pipeline are vowing not to return. Which part of that don’t you get??

To even the most casual observer, we’ve got a major military personnel crisis looming just over the horizon of November 2, 2004, and that’s where the politicians want to keep it if they can. But they can’t, they haven’t and they won’t. The problem with their specious denials is two-fold.

First, the lack of recruitment, and threat of current military personnel voting with their feet, means that the reassurances by the politicians just don’t add up. Even more obvious, the call-up of the so-called “Ready Reserves” is tantamount to scraping the bottom of the available soldier barrel. What happens when we need more soldiers after that call-up? Hmm? Give it a moment: This is the Carl Worden Intelligence Test, and I doubt you’ll fail it.

Secondly, the credibility of this administration and politicians on both sides of the aisle is just about zero right now with the young kids of draft age – and their parents and grandparents who went through the Viet Nam War era. We got into the Iraq war because we were told by George W. Bush, et al., that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and intended to use them imminently on the United States and our allies, like Israel. We now know it was all a fat lie at worst, or a big boo-boo at best.

It doesn’t matter to most of us if Bush got bad intelligence reports or if he made it all up. What matters is Bush got it wrong, and over 1050 American soldiers are dead, with around 7,000-8,000 more maimed. Those of us who care, also deeply regret that our Congress’ and President’s actions caused the needless deaths and maiming of tens of thousands of non-combatant Iraqi citizens in the process. If Bush can get something as wrong as that, couldn’t he also be “wrong” about the need for a military draft? I can hear the shouts all over America, “Hell yes, he can get it wrong!” And he probably is.

Apparently the young people aren’t going to take a chance on Bush and Congress being “wrong” again. Last time I checked, groups like, “Rock The Vote” are getting 40,000 hits a day for voter registration forms, and I’m going to predict a massive shock to pollsters and politicians alike on November 2nd. That’s why Congress put on that phony - baloney show yesterday of voting Rangel’s draft reinstatement bill down. They see the writing on the wall -- it’s a nasty voter backlash second to none -- and they didn’t see it coming before about 10 days ago. You can bet backsides are puckering all over Capitol Hill right now.

Look, Bush couldn’t have proceeded to attack Iraq without Congress’ illegally giving him their power to declare war. It is my understanding that John Kerry and John Edwards both voted for the constitutionally illegal “resolution” to give the President the green light to wage war if he thought it necessary. The Constitution doesn’t allow that, so before any of us point the finger only at Bush and his regime, we must remember Congress’ part in all of this mess, and that is why we also cannot trust Congress when they insist the draft is not an option. In truth, the draft has always been an option.

The law requiring those of age to register for the draft has never been repealed. Draft Boards can be re-activated overnight. The only thing keeping the military draft from remaining dormant to going full activation is a “National Emergency”, and with the way we’ve made such great friends in the Middle East and elsewhere, coupled with the fact our former allies don’t want to have to help clean up Bush’s mess, we might very well just have one – and have to fight it all by ourselves…

In point of fact, those claiming the draft is not an option are liars. Whereas reactivation of the draft at some predicted point in the future might be speculation, the draft of our young citizens is, and has always been, an option. That’s why the young voters of America are mobilized, as they damn well should be: This time it could mean their very lives.

Carl F. Worden

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The Scott Peterson Trial Begins

The Case Against Peterson Goes Awry

There Is No Terrorist Threat II

How Did Kerry Get To Be The Democratic Nominee?

Conservatives Of Conscience: The Republican Rift Widens

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Those Pesky "Assault" Weapons

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