Charlie Rangel, incoming chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, has long held a view that instituting a draft will be the best way to ensure all levels of society are represented in the army. It is not a secret that the military in Iraq overwelming consists of people from lower socio-economic classes. When John Kerry made his infamous joke that "If you don't study, you'll end up in Iraq," he wasn't far off. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House-elect, is not a supporter of a draft and says that is not on her priority list. She still defends Rangel and said he is "a strong voice for social justice," his support for the draft "was a way to make a point." (Associated Press).
3 comments:
Though Rangel does have a point in what he is saying about the make-up of the army, I firmly believe that any bill he proposes will be nothign more than that; a proposition.
With the way the military is currently shaped, it cannot support a military draft. What needs to be done, is to maintain the all-volunteer Army and use it properly when entering military campaigns.
America cannot let the War in Iraq, the largest military debocle in American History, convince us that we need to take such rash actions as insitituing a draft.
Any politician who supports this bill would be committing political suicide. There is no need for the draft. We currently have 1.2 million people in our military.
The war in Iraq should have initially been fought with the Army of 200,000 liberators, followed by a reconstruction and security force of 400,000+ soldiers.
You cannot defend a city of 8,000,000 hostile civilians (Baghdad) with 25,000 Americans.
Ok.
After being advised that this was an issue of who was recruited, and not the actually implementation of the draft, I have decided to write a second comment.
Being a "minority" (I put it in quotes because I simply view myself as an American), one might assume that I have a problem with the way that the military recruits its members.
But I must say, I find it logical that the military recruits in minority and low-to-middle-income neighborhoods. It is in these areas that the majority of people are not going to college, are seeking employment, and are more likely to willingly join.
You don't go to the desert to look for snow, and it makes little sense to go to Beverly Hills, or the Upper-East Side to convinve rich folks to by-pass college to join the military.
If minorities continue to join, that is fine! But if the military is going to recruit them on the basis that they will be rewarded with a college education and/or money for college, then
the military MUST deliver on those promises.
I think the problem lies more with the incentives that never get delivered than the poeple in which are recruited.
In addition to what I have said, one must also understand what Rangel is saying.
He is not necessarily arguing for the implementation of the draft, he is simply trying to prove the point that is the sons of congressmen were as liable to go to war as any other civilian, they would think twice about usign war as a foriegn policy
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