Pending Draft Legislation Targeted for Spring 2005
The Draft will Start in June 2005
There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin at early as Spring 2005 -- just after the 2004 presidential election. The administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the public's attention is on the elections, so our action on this is needed immediately.
$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. Selective Service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation. Please see website:
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.. 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 HR 163 forward this year, http://www.hslda.org/legislation/na...s89/default.asp 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.
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.
Even those voters who currently support US actions abroad may still object to this move, knowing their own children or grandchildren will not have a say about whether to fight. Not that it should make a difference, but this plan, among other things, eliminates higher education as a
shelter and includes women in the draft.
http://congress.org/congressorg/issu...ua_congressorg
Te lui om zelf te vertalen dus:
In de Amerikaanse Senaat liggen momenteel twee wetsvoorstellen die de dienstplicht weer in moeten gaan stellen. De huidige regering probeert de dienstplicht na de verkiezingen aan het einde van dit jaar in te voeren. In de lente van 2005 moeten de wetten dan van kracht worden. De huidige regering probeert deze wetgeving geruisloos in te voeren, terwijl de aandacht van het publiek gevestigd is op de verkiezingen.
De dienstplicht is een niet-populair onderwerp bij de verkiezingen. Desondanks zeggen militaire experts en invloedrijke congresleden dat als minister Rumsfelds voorspelling van een 'langdurige oorlog' in Irak en Afghanistan uitkomt, de VS geen andere mogelijkheid hebben dan de dienstplicht invoeren om het aantal beschikbare soldaten op peil te houden.
Onder de dienstplicht uitkomen zal een stuk moeilijker worden dan voorheen. Studeren of emigreren naar Canada zijn geen ontsnappingsmogelijkheden meer. In december 2001 ondertekenden Canada en de VS een 'smart border declaration', die gebruikt kan worden om mogelijke weigerende dienstplichtigen binnen de eigen grens te houden.
Hervormingen die erop gericht zijn om de kans op het vervullen van de dienstplicht evenrediger te maken naar geslacht en status maken het ook onmogelijk om een goede opleiding als 'vrijbrief' te gebruiken. Eerstejaars hebben nog maar een uitstelmogelijkheid tot het einde van het semester; ouderejaars tot het einde van het academisch jaar.
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