Friday September 10, 2004

Today I am afraid.I received an email from my mother that speaks of the draft being reinstated by 6/15/2005.It will include men and women ages 18-26.This is my husband(aged 21) and myself(aged 23).For anyone interested, here is the email itself:

Pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163(http://thomas.loc.gov) will institute mandatory drafting for boys and girls (age 18-26) starting June 15 2005. The public's attention is on the elections, so our action on this is needed immediately.

The draft $28 million has been added to the 2004 selective service system (sss) budget to prepare for a military draft. Selective Service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has laid dormant for decades, is ready for activation. Please see website:
www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html <http://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. 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.

Please send this on to all the parents, teachers, aunts and uncles, grandparents, godparents.... And let your children know it's their future, and they can be a powerful voice for change! This plan eliminates higher education as a shelter and includes women in the draft.

Please also write to your representatives to ask them why they aren't telling their constituents about these bills -- and write to newspapers and other media outlets to ask them why they're not covering this important story.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5146.htm <http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5146.htm>
www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html <http://www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html>


The Universal National Service Act of 2003, aims "to provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons [age 18--26] in the United States, including women, perform a two-year 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.

Dodging the draft will be more difficult than those from the Vietnam era.  College and Canada will not be options. In December 2001, Canada and the U.S. 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 U.S. Homeland Security director, 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.

Please do what it says and all you can to try and stop this from happening.I'll write more later when I can.I want to spend time with Sierra, while I still can.