Harkin wants Bush to end 'backdoor draft' of troops
The senator, opposing the military's 'stop loss' policy, also calls Vice President Dick Cheney a 'coward.'
By LYNN CAMPBELL
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
August 14, 2004
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U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, responding to the call-up of a Des Moines police officer who has already completed his eight-year military commitment, Friday called on President Bush to end the "backdoor draft."
He also called Vice President Dick Cheney a "coward" for avoiding service in Vietnam and said Bush should return to the military.
"This is the result of President Bush's go-it-alone approach and his failure to plan for any kind of postwar period in Iraq," said Harkin, an Iowa Democrat. "It has stressed our armed forces to the limit."
Harkin echoed comments earlier this week by Des Moines Police Chief William McCarthy, who said the military's treatment of Des Moines Police Officer Rodell Nydam was "evil."
Nydam, 26, is being called back to Iraq despite finishing his National Guard commitment in April. He's being called up under the military's "stop loss" exemption, which can extend duty in wartime.
Harkin said first responders like Nydam are needed to protect the community and shouldn't be the ones being called back to serve. He said the "stop loss" exemption wasn't intended for situations like the war on Iraq.
"The part of the U.S. code that provides for this anticipates major wars, major national emergencies," Harkin said. "That is not what we're confronting right now. You think about using this law only in (extreme cases), only when we're really in dire, dire need."
David James, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said Harkin's comments show a lack of understanding of the complexity of the region.
"Sen. Harkin's attacks and negative pessimism diminishes the importance of the 30 countries that are part of the coalition serving in Iraq," James said.
Harkin, who served as a jet pilot in the Navy and in the Naval Reserve, then attacked the military records of Bush, whose service in the Texas Air National Guard and Alabama National Guard have been questioned.
"Maybe the president should go back" into the military, Harkin said. "He didn't do much when he was young. How about Cheney? During the Vietnam War, Vice President Cheney said he had five deferments and he had other priorities."
During a visit to Clive on Tuesday, Cheney said Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry lacks the basic understanding of the war on terrorism to protect Americans. Harkin shot back Friday.
"When I hear this coming from Dick Cheney, who was a coward, who would not serve during the Vietnam War, it makes my blood boil," Harkin said. "Those of us who served and those of us who went in the military don't like it when someone like a Dick Cheney comes out and he wants to be tough. Yeah, he'll be tough. He'll be tough with somebody else's blood, somebody else's kids. But not when it was his turn to go."
Republicans shot back against Harkin. "His shrill negative attacks did nothing to get Howard Dean elected or get the nomination during the caucuses," James said, referring to Harkin's endorsement of the former Vermont governor before the Iowa caucuses.
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