CNN Poll on the Draft

[nickinSTL]

Do you think the military draft should be reinstated?
Yes - 28%
No - 72%

Are you fing kidding me? 28% WANT the draft?

Tell me this hasn't been freeped.

http://www.cnn.com
Quickvote at lower right of page.

[Mari333]

1. soooo 51% still support the war and yet 72% are against the draft

sounds like chickenhawks to me! send over other peoples kids, but change your mind when it comes to your own.
bring the troops home now
http://www.bringthemhomenow.com

[boobooday]

2. I have a 17 year old son.

This scares the hell out of me.

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[MichaelHarris]

4. I have a house close to Canada

he'll always have a home here if need be.

[MichaelHarris]

3. done

yea the 28% who would never have to serve.

[MidwestTransplant]

6. Exactly

[RobertSeattle]

13. I'm a Dem who voted yes

But only for a no-deferment draft. Anybody 18-30 could be chosen.

And BTW, I served 6 years in the Army.

[IronLionZion]

17. I agree with that

because then we'd be out of Iraq quicker than Rush can pop a pill.

[rustydog]

30. CNN did not have a section to qualify a yes vote your way...

so you effectively backed Bush's plan to reinstitute the draft with your vote.

If you were a polititian and your opponent brought this point up, how would you explain your position (vote) when the poll question was a simple black or white: do you support reinstitution the draft"?

[buddy22600]

5. Done

[happynewyear]

7. voted here- no on the draft

I'd like to know more about the 28% that vote yes. I bet they have never served in the military or never plan to anyway.

Does anyone know if they plan to draft women as well? I hope not. I have several young woman to worry about if this is the case.

[Dems Will Win]

8. My Draft timeline showing Bush quietly activating Draft by 2005

The following timeline gives you the main events indicating the resumption of the military draft. According to this, the draft will be needed to maintain troop levels in Iraq past March 2005, barring double deployments. $28 million is allocated by the Selective Service to reduce activation time from the current 8 months to 75 days by March 31, 2005. If Bush asks Congress on April 1, 2005 to reinstate conscription, the first Draft Lottery could be June 15, 2005. A Medical Draft and a new Special Skills Draft would also be activated automatically.

Impending Draft Timeline

1994 – The Grand Chessboard by Zbignew Brzezinski compares Central Asia to a chess game with Russia and China--which must eventually result in an American “win”. Control of the world’s oil supply and dominance in the 21st Century is at stake, as cheap oil ends in the 2010s. Noting that the Central Asian Republics are infinitely more important than any other region--save the Mideast--because “an enormous concentration of natural gas and oil reserves is located in the region, in addition to important minerals, including gold… Any successful American policy must focus on Eurasia as a whole and be guided by a Geostrategic design…That puts a premium on maneuver and manipulation in order to prevent the emergence of a hostile coalition that could eventually seek to challenge America's primacy…"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465027261/102-5321285-9753763?v=glance

1990s – “Project For A New American Century” and other right-wing organizations develop strategy for a “uni-polar world” ruled by the United States with many US bases in the Mideast and Central Asia. Invading Iraq and controlling the world’s oil supply becomes the Neo-Con manifesto.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/nightline/DailyNews/pnac_030310.html
http://www.presentdanger.org/pdf/frontier/1031neocon.pdf
Article by Will Pitt: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1665.htm
http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf

September 11, 2001 – The 9-11 Attack. A “War on Terror” is begun by Bush with the agreement of the Congress. In the mission of the Selective Service, it is stated that the Volunteer Army is only intended for peacetime. In case of war, the nation may turn to the Selective Service. That is why it must always be kept as an option, even if dormant.

January 8, 2002 - On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act, supposedly to provide accountability education policies. Yet hidden within the 670-page piece of legislation is Section 9528: “…each local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide, on a request made by military recruiters or an institution of higher education, access to secondary school students names, addresses, and telephone listings.” All schools must comply with this unfunded mandate or they lose their federal funding. This amounts to legislated blackmail for student names. The act also says: “A secondary school student or the parent of the student may request that the student’s name, address, and telephone listing … not be released without prior written parental consent, and the local educational agency or private school shall notify parents of the option to make a request and shall comply with any request.”
http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html

Early 2003 - Iraq War, 250,000 out of 480,000 active-duty troops deployed, conquer Iraq within a few weeks. Yet the U.S. has no plan ready for reconstruction or democracy and Iraqis, happy at liberation from Saddam, grow sour at the slow pace, the continued lack of electricity and fuel and the isolated civil control of the CPA. Garner soon replaced by Bremer who is no better at speeding up Reconstruction, and the resistance grows with disaffected Iraqis, old regrouped Baathists and new foreign fighters. Except for the British, substantial foreign troops are impossible, given Bush’s desire to keep total control of Iraq. The lack of diplomacy, planning and incompetence adds years to the time high US troop levels will be needed to maintain control of Iraq and rebuild and exploit its oilfields.

Summer 2003 – Philadelphia Draft Board members “unexpectedly” told to recruit new members for Board vacancies during Summer training. (from Nov. 3 Salon article)
http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2003/11/03/draft/index_np.html

July 25, 2003 – World Net Daily article on plans for the medical draft (HCPDS). System could draft up to 80,000 doctors, nurses and specialists, men and women.
http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33754

September 3, 2003 – The Congressional Budget Office warns that “the Army lacks sufficient active-duty forces to maintain its current level of nearly 150,000 troops in Iraq beyond next spring (march 2004). "The Army does not have enough active-duty component forces to simultaneously maintain the occupation at its current size, limit deployments to one year, and sustain all of its other commitments" http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A16689-2003Sep2?language=printer

September 23, 2003 – Draft Board Recruitment ad appears on Defense.Link site. First public ad for Draft Boards in decades. Page scrubbed within a few days of being noticed by some media in early November. Spokesman says there is “no plan” to reinstate draft, which must be authorized by Congress. http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/sss092203.html
http://www.thememoryhole.org/mil/draft-boards.htm

October 16, 2003 – Donald Rumsfeld memo leaks, saying Iraq “will be a long, hard slog”. www.usatoday.com/news/washington/ executive/rumsfeld-memo.htm

Nov. 4, 2003 – NY Times article on Army Honor Guard Company B being sent to MidEast, revealing how thin troops are being stretched to cover the 2004-2005 rotation.
http://villagenews.weblogger.com/stories/storyReader$10007

Nov. 5, 2003 – Toronto Star article quotes Ned Lebow “This (draft board ad) is significant”, Lebow, a presidential scholar at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and former professor of strategy at the National War College in Washington, adds, "What the department of defence is doing is creating the infrastructure to make the draft a viable option should the administration wish to go this route." http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1068073289288&call_pageid=968332188854

Nov. 5, 2003 – Guardian article on Draft Board ad. SSS spokesman Amon said 80% of 11,000 Draft Board slots are vacant. (2,000 local boards, over 8,000 empty seats) http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1077906,00.html

Nov. 12, 2003 – “If President Bush is re-elected, it is likely that he will reinstate the draft. The war on terrorism will not end in Iraq, but instead will proceed into countries like Syria and Iran," said Daniel Ellsberg, of Pentagon Papers fame. http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/11122003/news/60246.htm

November, 2003 – Selective Service 2004 “Performance Plan” summarizes how $28 million will be allocated in 2004 to reduce draft activation time from current 8 months to just 75 days. Nation-wide Readiness Exercises, testing the Draft Lottery and examination system, as well as gearing up the Medical Draft (3.4 million doctors and nurses, men and women age 20-44 are eligible). Ominously, the Alternative Service delivery system for Conscientious Objectors is readied for the first time in decades, with the SSS being funded to compile lists of available Alternative Service jobs for those who win non-military CO status. All systems will be pushed to reach 95% readiness during 2004.
http://www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html

Nov. 23, 2003 – Boston Globe article: “Army Reserve battling an exodus
War is seen as drain on ranks. The US Army Reserve fell short of its reenlistment goals this fiscal year, underscoring Pentagon fears that the protracted conflict in Iraq could cause a crippling exodus from the armed services.”
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2003/11/23/army_reserve_battling_an_exodus/

Nov. 24, 2003 – NY Times: Army plans for 100,000 troops until 2006 in Iraq.
http://www.iht.com/articles/118775.html

Nov. 26, 2003 – Ron Paul (R-TX) says “Draft likely to be reinstated”. http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul144.html

December, 2003 - Draft Board Recruitment ad re-appears on the Selective Service Home Page with 2 new sentences stressing the ad has “NO connection” to Iraq. (Scrubbed) http://www.sss.gov

Dec. 4, 2003 – Ted Rall predicts Bush will “have to bring back the draft.” Notes 8,000 empty Draft Board seats to be filled by Spring 2005. Wonders about a “February (2005) Surprise” if Bush is re-elected. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=127&ncid=742&e=7&u=/uclicktext/20031204/cm_ucru/acolddraft

December 22, 2003 – In an article entitled “Beware of Attempts to Revive Military Draft,” Newsday reports that “the Center on Conscience and War… executive director, J. E. McNeil… has heard of rumblings, from the Republican side of the aisle in Congress, about a draft after the election”. The opinion piece worries whether a revived draft “would give this war-without-end presidency an endless source of warm bodies to pursue its cowboy foreign policy.” Author Keeler also wonders about a “February (2005) Surprise”.
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpkee223594883dec22,0,6735184.story?coll=ny-viewpoints-headlines

December, 2003 - The Selective Service Register magazine talks about the new Special Skill Draft, a top priority for Director Lewis Brodsky. Like the Medical Draft, the Special Skills Draft will induct men and women up to age 44 if they have needed DoD skills like computer expertise, engineering or they are a linguist. As with the health care draftees, no medical deferments are allowed except for total disability. Anyone with these skills will have to register with the SSS if Bush is re-elected and asks Congress for this. Moving quickly!
http://www.sss.gov/PDFs/NovDec2003-Register.pdf (go to P. 6) – from sss,gov home page

December 29, 2003 - WP article: “Army Stops Many Soldiers From Quitting, Orders Extend Enlistments to Curtail Troop Shortages” 40,000 soldiers and Guard put on Stop-Loss. A “Draft Per Se” already exists! With the new stop-loss orders the Armed Forces actually go 20,000 past 480,000 active troops, to 500,000 active troops, the maximum before Congress steps in.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36979-2003Dec28.html

[fryguy]

9. i wonder if the 28% even knows what the draft is

:freak::freak::freak::freak::freak::freak::freak::freak::freak:

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

10. NFL Draft is Saturday!!

Maybe that's what they think!

[hang a left]

20. Yeah, maybe they think they can just close the door.

n/t

[ComerPerro]

11. Kind of a worthless poll, isn't it?

Shit, like it or not, its coming.

So, a majority of Americans are against the idea of a draft. What a fucking shock.

Maybe what CNN could do is actually pretend they are a news organization and discuss Bush's plans to bring back the draft once re-selected.

[mondo joe]

12. I voted yes.

You want the occupation to end? NOthing will do that faster than a draft.

[girl gone mad]

14. I figured..

that's what the higher number of yes votes was attributable to.

[MichaelHarris]

15. nothing will kill more men and women

than a draft. you ok with that logic also?

[ethereal]

16. Draft's Been Lurking . . .

Something to consider:


US Preparing for Military Draft in Spring 2005
by Adam Stutz • Wednesday January 28, 2004 at 09:50 AM

---"The current agenda of the US federal government is to reinstate the draft in order to staff up for a protracted war on "terrorism." Pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills S 89 and HR 163) would time the program so the draft could begin at early as Spring 2005 . . .

---$28 million has been added to the 2004 Selective Service System (SSS) budget to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. SSS must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation. Please see website:

www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html

to view the SSS 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 a permanent state of war on "terrorism") proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to draft.

---

---Congress brought twin bills, S. 89 and H.R. 163 forward this year, 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.

Senate bill: www.congress.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:SN00089:

House bill: www.congress.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:HR00163:@@@L&summ2=m&

*Note: WHAT other purposes??!!

---Dodging the draft will be more difficult than those from the Vietnam era remember. College and Canada will not be options. In December 2001, Canada and the US 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 US Homeland Security Director, Gov. 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."

www.vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2004/01/105146.php

---

From Salon:

" . . . But a few weeks ago, on an obscure federal Web site devoted to the war on terrorism, the Bush administration quietly began a public campaign to bring the draft boards back to life.

Copy of Selective Service posting:

www.thememoryhole.org/mil/defendamerica-draftboards.htm

---Especially for those who were of age to fight in the Vietnam, it is an ominous flashback of a message. Even floating the idea of a draft in the months before an election would be politically explosive, and the Pentagon last week was adamant that the push to staff up the draft boards is not a portent of things to come.

---Increasingly, however, military experts and even some influential members of Congress are suggesting that if Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's prediction of a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to consider a draft to fully staff the nation's military in a time of global instability."

For the rest of "Oiling Up the Draft Machine":

www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/11/03/draft/index_np.html

---

---"The No Child Left Behind Act which went into effect last week has some surprising implications for high school students. Buried deep within the funding benefits is Section 9528 which grants the Pentagon access to directories with students names, addresses and phone numbers so that they may be more easily contacted and recruited for military service Prior to this provision, one-third of the nation’s high schools refused recruiters’ requests for students’ names or access to campus because they believed it was inappropriate for educational institutions to promote military service . . ."

www.commondreams.org/views02/1206-08.htm

---

Other Sources:

www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A21039-2003Feb3

www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1077906,00.html

www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/2/17/170803.shtml

www.datelinealabama.com/article/2003/11/04/4927_opinions_art.php3

www.pressaction.com/pablog/archives/001138.html

Send this to anyone who doubts the draft is coming.

[mondo joe]

18. Actually, you're wrong - nothing will kill more men and women than

Actually, you're wrong - nothing will kill more men and women than Bush's middle east approach continuing.

If there's a draft that will change radically. There doesn't even HAVE to be a draft - just a real threat of one.

[MichaelHarris]

19. so

by allowing thousands of our best and brightest to be drafted by a war mongering nation and sent to God knows where to fight you'll actually be saving lives? Your relying on the protests of a draft to stop the war. We had protests, during Vietnam to stop the draft and war in my time and 1,216,000 people we're killed. During Korea, 1,333,060 killed. During WWII, 55,000,000, WWI, ten million soldiers were killed and twenty million wounded, the numbers vary.

Yeah I see your point, a draft will save lives. NOT

I'm also old enough to name the ones killed protesting the draft, can you?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1435414

Also, Ben Brown at Jackson State, I think its time we remeber them also.



Links
Source: http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat2.htm

http://www.camsoft.us/gen2/fhweb/War_WWI.htm

[mondo joe]

21. No, because...

"by allowing thousands of our best and brightest to be drafted by a war mongering nation and sent to God knows where to fight you'll actually be saving lives? "

No, because they won't be sent. America wouldn't stand for it.

But even if I'm wrong, and they will be sent, consider this: The United States went to war in an insulated way, with viritually no impact on the daily lives of its citizens. Well hell, no wonder people support it.

Let the draft roll out and see where approval for the war goes. If the United States is willing to commit to a war it ought to be a burden shared across the country - not something that impacts only the Americans with kids in the army.

I think you'd see a much more responsive government that was a hell of a lot more careful in that circumstance.

[MichaelHarris]

23. your missing the point

while America protests it our youth will be dying. Sure approval goes down as well as the life expectancy of the youth of the world.

[mondo joe]

25. No, YOU'RE missing the point.

If there us a draft the American electorate WILL NOT STAND FOR IT.

And if this country stands for it, it deserves it.

[MichaelHarris]

26. I dun

wanna fight. I have the flu and prolly a Little grumpy, some sars, ebola, zirobi, kind of flu that the terror warnings didn't tell me about. Damn you asscroft, damn you to hell. I had hoped you would have seen the death toll numbers from periods in America when there was a draft and active protests against it. the theory put forth that a draft will save lives may hold true only after thousands more die. When the aluminum, flag draped coffins come home.

[cmayer]

22. Vote "Yes" on the draft! That's the best way to keep it from happening.

Draft age kids are completely unaware of the danger. Wake them up! They will turn out in record numbers in November.

[MichaelHarris]

24. /me shakes his head n/t

[Guaranteed]

27. Some should think a little more deeply into what the consequences

of a draft would be. The right answer isn't nearly as cut and dried as one might think.

A professional military is very dangerous.

[MichaelHarris]

33. I gave up on the debate

I had hoped facts and figures would win out, but they didn't.

[newyorican]

28. A draft....

would result in soldiers turning their guns on their leaders...again, and with good reason.

[rustydog]

29. almost 100,000 responses and 72% say NO.

That is a greater sampling than Zogby, Gallup or other pollsters who usually query 1000 people, so it would be safe by Poll standards to say an overwhelming majority of Americans are against reinstating the draft.

[mondo joe]

31. Except it has no scientific merit

"Freep this poll" and "DU this poll".

[GreenPartyVoter]

32. Oddly, when I checked it this afternoon it read 0/0, then 162/ 357 or

some such thing. Either there was a glitch or they reset it because whn I voted this morning there were tens of thousands of votes already in place.