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Is There a Draft in the Room?
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Chante Wolf, W A M M and Veterans for Peace
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Is there a military draft in the works?
“Yes!”
“No, absolutely not!”
“Are You Nuts?”
“The military would not have time to train all the newly drafted recruits.”
Blah, blah, blah. For all the rhetoric bouncing around in the media-land of government propaganda and election-driven attention mongering, the threat of draft has lifted too few eyes. Meanwhile, a narrowly framed debate is taking place.
One side claims that a draft would include the sons and daughters of rich lawmakers in Washington, D.C.! The other side claims that the responsibility for a never-ending war on terrorism will need to be felt by all citizens. Both sides claim essentially the same thing, and both fall short of telling the truth.
There are two bills in the U.S. Congress: H.R. 163 and S. 89, also known as the “Universal National Service Act of 2003.”* This is what Kerry is calling for and Bush is staying silent about: a mandatory two-year military training service. This would pull the U.S. in line with Israel, Spain, Germany, France, and other countries that have this requirement for men and women. It would also be used to fulfill the vacancies being experienced in Iraq—that quiet, sucking void of death, occupation, rape, and torture called “liberation for life, liberty, freedom, and democracy.”
This is my take on it: Yes, at some point the top brass and war profiteers in Washington will need fresh meat and landmine fodder to support their twisted egos and altered realities of conquering the Middle East. So be ready to offer up your young to sacrifice their flesh and psyches for myth, national patriotism, and false heroism. And be ready to dress your young women for the service of troops in various positions, from actual military duty to the role of the laid-back maiden ready for her returning man. For women in a time of war, service is the sexual service of the men of the country, from the corporations to the mercenaries to the troops. Just ask the 200-plus women of the first Gulf War and the 125-plus women of the “War on Terrorism” how they ended up raped or gang-raped while in service to their country. You can also ask the women and children who were served up for prostitution in Bosnia by the employees of the U.S. corporation DynCorp.
The draft! Yes, I hear some parents and veterans say, “Fine, bring it on, maybe that will wake up those flag-waving nut cases!”
“Sure, let ‘Dubya’ send his twins off to Falluja!”
“Let’s send the children of the entire Senate and House of Representatives off to the thick of it . . . See how Washington likes them coming home in pieces or in the silver bullet!”
But I now say, “Be very careful what is asked for!” I used to agree with the comments above, but now I say, “No! Not one more youthful life is to be a wasted death or dismemberment just because the adults don’t talk to each other. No more air to the fire! Not one more body to be evaporated for Lockheed Martin; Raytheon; Alliant Techsystems; DynCorp; Bechtel; Halliburton; Kellogg, Root and Brown; Blackwater; GE; or IBM!”
It is time to take the oxygen out of the fire to kill the growing flame that is spreading throughout the Middle East! The fire would be snuffed right out if everyone said, “No way, not my son, not my daughter!” or, “No, sir! I am standing down!” Such a simple word, “no,” and such a powerful nonviolent act. You see, they cannot have a war when everyone refuses to go, to fight, to pull the trigger, push the button, press on the tank’s accelerator, launch the cluster bombs, or open the bomb bay doors.
And if parents still support the war, then they best shine up their own shoes, fill out a will, send their lives into storage, pack, get fitted for a new uniform, and ready an M-16. They best go fight it themselves!
We don’t need the draft! The parents have offered to go instead!
(ed note: The Universal National Service Act of 2003 (Introduced in Senate) S 89 IS. "A Bill: To provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons 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.") |
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Co$t of War
According to Yale University research, male “combat vets were 4.4 times more likely to have abused a spouse or partner as other men, and were 6.4 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder . . . They were also two to three times more likely to suffer from depression, substance abuse, unemployment and divorce, or separation.
“Using a mathematical formula, the researchers determined that if there were no veterans in this country with combat experience, the number of domestic violence cases would drop by an estimated 21 percent.”
— Randy Dotinga
from an article at nccafv.org, the Web site of the National Council on Child Abuse and Family Violence. The Yale study was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry in 1994.
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© 2004 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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Complete June 2004 Index - click here
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