Why Worry About the Draft?

Bush has said he plans to continue to garrison the oil sheikdoms with
U.S. troops until at least 2008. People aren't likely to volunteer for
desert occupation duty in hostile countries, so if the occupations
continue, the Pentagon will eventually need a draft.

The draft is a threat to everyone concerned about peace -- not just
young men. The more soldiers the generals have, the more soldiers and
civilians they can kill -- and without a draft, the U.S. military is
eventually going to run short of "volunteer" soldiers and mercenaries!

Some people think that only young men can resist the draft. But that's
not true at all. The people most likely to face the draft first are
older men and women: doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals.

Some people think they would be safe from the draft because they are
college students or plan to seek conscientious objector (CO) status.
Actually, a draft would hit students hardest, since most men in college
have registered with Selective Service, and student deferments have
been abolished. Most people who oppose wars don't qualify for CO
status, and many valid CO claims will be denied anyway.

Politicians know the draft would produce widespread dissent and
resistance. The higher the domestic costs of the draft look to Bush and
Congress, the more likely they are to seek an end to the wars. Fear of
the draft will encourage Bush and Congress to get the troops out of
Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Gulf before the recruiting crisis gets any
worse.

Of course, even without a draft the U.S. invaded Panama, Grenada,
Afghanistan, and Iraq; tried to send a "rescue mission" to Iran; and
sent the "contras" to Nicaragua and the "mujahideen" (who would later
become the Taliban and Al Qaeda) into Afghanistan. But with a draft
supplying even more soldiers, each of those wars would have been even
bloodier.

Sooner or later, the government will need a draft to fight a longer or
larger-scale war, or to maintain a permanent occupation force in
Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Gulf. If enough people resist this attempt
to bring back the draft, we can force a long-term cutback in the size
of the military, and help bring the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to an
end sooner and with less bloodshed.

Does the U.S. Need a Draft to Fight These Wars?
Since the Pentagon has a million "volunteers" to send to Afghanistan,
Iraq, and the Gulf, why would they want a draft? The answer is: they
won't have a choice. Even a relatively brief but bloody outbreak of
total war in Iraq would require a "Doctor Draft". Long-term occupations
will eventually require a full-scale draft. Whatever happens, these
wars may give the government an excuse to create a coercive "National
Service" program that channels young people into the military.

A New "Doctor Draft"
The peacetime U.S. Army doesn't have very many doctors, nurses, or
medical technicians. Most of those in the military are in the Reserves,
subject to call-up for indefinite active duty at any time. During the
1990-1991 Gulf War, even retired physician assistants were called back
to active duty -- the first time in 30 years that any retired soldiers
had been recalled. As early as 2004, the New England Journal of
Medicine reported that casualties in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
have created a severe shortage of military surgeons: "Many surgeons
have been on a second deployment or an extended deployment, and even
this has not been sufficient. Planners are having to contemplate
pressing surgeons into yet a third deployment." But it's politically
difficult to keep reservists on active-duty indefinitely, and extended
call-ups of reservists make other potential new Reservists less willing
to sign up.

The military can't fight wars without doctors. During past wars there
was a special "Doctor Draft" with a higher age limit and fewer
deferments. Many doctors have objected to being forced to serve in the
military.

People go into health care careers because they care about saving
lives. But military medical workers are supposed to patch up wounded
soldiers, so that they can go back to the front to fight (and perhaps
kill) other soldiers. Some doctors don't think that's what their
Hippocratic Oath to preserve life is all about. During the 1990-1991
Gulf War, some active-duty and Reserve doctors refused orders to the
Gulf, and civilian health care workers began preparing for a draft and
organized a health care workers' pledge against militarism and the
draft.

The Selective Service System has had contingency plans for a Health
Care Personnel Delivery System in place since the 1980's. As the wars
and the casualties continue and escalate, a doctor draft could start
soon. No draft registration will probably be needed, since in the past
the AMA and some other professional associations have arranged to
provide licensing lists to Selective Service as a pool of potential
draftees.

The military needs all kinds of medical professionals, so a new "Doctor
Draft" will probably include men and women who are nurses, medical
technicians, etc. as well as physicians. Health care workers need to
start thinking now about what they'll do if they are drafted -- and
what they can do now to prevent the draft.

A "Cannon Fodder" Draft
Since 1980, resistance to draft registration has prevented the draft
and forced the government to rely on a "poverty draft" and, more
recently, on mercenaries ("security contractors").

The Pentagon now has huge recruiting shortfalls. Under the so-called
"stop-loss" policy, regularly scheduled discharges of soldiers from the
military and terminations of active duty for Reservists have been
canceled for the duration of their units' assignments to Iraq.

Who knows how many more Americans will come home from these wars in
body bags. No matter how desperately they need a job, young people
won't keep volunteering to "find their future in the Army" while this
is happening.

Bush has said he plans to continue to garrison the oil sheikdoms with
U.S. troops until at least 2008. People aren't likely to volunteer for
desert occupation duty in hostile countries, so if the occupations
continue, the Pentagon will eventually need a draft.

"National Service":
A Draft in Camouflage
Members of Congress who want the draft, but who are afraid of draft
resistance, have for years been calling for a "National Service"
program for young people. National service might be compulsory for all
young people, or a "voluntary" program that institutionalizes the
poverty draft. One version of the plan is to eliminate all Federal
educational grants and loans and replace them with aid to reward only
those who "volunteer" for military or civilian government "service".

National service is an attack on the educational rights that poor
people, especially people of color, won in the 1960s. It's one more
step in the militarization of American society. Militarists in Congress
will try to use wars as an excuse to take that step. If the militarists
win this fight, they'll have a blank check to spend soldiers' lives in
the future.

What About Draft Registration?
Draft registration has failed. The government started registration in
1980 to see whether young people would cooperate with a return to a
draft. We didn't. Millions of people resisted.

The call for draft registration sparked a grass-roots movement of
opposition. Anti-draft groups formed in hundreds of communities and
colleges. 20,000 people marched on Washington. Thousands of people
picketed and sat in at Post Offices.

So many people refused to register that the government could neither
bring back the draft nor prosecute more than a tiny fraction of the
nonregistrants. Nobody has been prosecuted for refusing to register
since 1986. More than 20 million people have violated the draft
registration laws over the last 25 years, and those who have fully
complied with the law are in the minority.

Many who registered only did so because they thought they would go to
jail if they didn't. They don't want to fight, they don't want to be
drafted, and many will resist if there is a draft.

We Can Resist the Draft Now!
People who oppose the wars need to be ready to respond when debate on a
draft begins in Congress. We need to make politicians and the public
aware that a draft would be so widely resisted as to be unenforceable.
We need to convince legislators that voting for the draft could cost
them reelection. We need to convince Bush and Congress that neither
suppressing nor ignoring draft resistance would be politically safe.
We need to network with each other, make contingency plans, and make
sure the government knows we're ready, able, and willing to resist any
draft.

Refusing to register, "unregistering" by moving without telling the
Selective Service System, refusing to report, or refusing induction are
not the only ways to resist the draft. Men in the anti-draft movement
forget this too often. Here are some of the other ways that men and
women of all ages can resist the draft:

Don't tell Selective Service where you are. Don't report for induction.
Encouraged others not to go.
Encourage and support soldiers who refuse to fight, as well as young
people and medical workers to refuse to be drafted. Support those who
desert the military, who mutiny, who fraternize with the "enemy". Let
your children and other young people and health care workers know that
you support their resistance to the draft.

Organize nonviolent demonstrations, civil disobedience, and other
direct actions against Selective Service offices and induction centers.

Protest or take direct action against your local draft board. Expose
and shame local draft board members. (Draft board members have been
appointed and trained, and standby offices reserved, since 1980. Use a
"Freedom Of Information Act" request to Selective Service to find
them.)
Write letters to Congress and the newspapers. Tell them you'll resist
and support others who resist -- whether or not you're drafted
yourself.

Organize an anti-draft group in your school, health care facility,
youth or parent group, or community. Hold a teach-in. Hand out a
leaflet. Speak out now!
www.resisters.info

[This page and more, including printable versions of this and related
leaflets in PDF format, are at http://www.resisters.info.]
http://hasbrouck.org/draft/draftandwar.html