Rep. Rangel Wants Military Draft Reinstated

Representative Charles Rangel [D-New York], soon-to-be chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, says he will be introducing a bill soon to reinstate the military draft. A draft would not be a new concept here in the United States. The U.S. drafted citizens to be soldiers in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, but no one has been drafted since 1973.

Rangel said, "There's no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm's way."

As someone who was subjected to the draft in the late sixties, I'm not too crazy about reinstating it. But I believe Rangel is right. It is easy for the rich and powerful to send poor and working-class kids to war, when they know their own kids will not be placed in any danger.

In peacetime, the unfairness is not as much of an issue. In fact, a poor kid can use the military service to break out of poverty, or an alien can use it to earn his citizenship. But in a time of war, all classes should shoulder the burden of fighting the war equally. It is the very definition of unfairness for the rich to start a war that the poor must fight.

Rangel goes on to say that our military is being stretched too thin by our overseas commitments. He said, "If we're going to challenge Iran and challenge North Korea and then, as some people have asked, to send more troops to Iraq, we can't do that without a draft."

He also has a good point here. All branches of the military have been having problems attracting new recruits, and some have even had to raise the acceptable age for recruits to the mid-forties. They are also accepting recruits with criminal backgrounds, gang ties, and much lower academic scores, just to try and keep the current troop levels.

But while the draft would solve recruitment problems, and make fighting our wars fairer for all our citizens, I doubt if Rangel's bill has any chance of passing and becoming law.

Even though we're currently fighting wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan, the general public in the U.S. has not had to sacrifice. I seriously doubt they're going to want to start that sacrifice now that most Americans are opposed to the war in Iraq.