Squashing the Rumor That Bush Will Re-Instate Military Draft
truthnews.net
My e-mail inbox has been literally clogged with e-mails from frightened parents inquiring on the validity of e-mails and a CBS News (Dan Rather strikes again) report that President Bush will re-instate the military draft as soon as he is re-elected. This rumor has gotten so much attention that I have been forced to research the issue and present my findings.
Comments from Vice-President Dick Cheney on Sept. 30, 2004:
Q: "Vice President Cheney and Mrs. Cheney, I have been hearing the opposition saying things like, if you're re-elected that we're going to be -- you're going to institute the draft. And I know it isn't true, but I want you to let other people know it, too."
THE VICE PRESIDENT: "All right. This is an urban legend. (Laughter.) Or a nasty political rumor, I'm not sure which. Nobody has any intention -- nobody in a position of responsibility -- any intention of trying to reinstitute the draft. It makes no sense at all. As I say, and those of us who have been associated with the military in the past -- and as I say, I had the privilege of serving as Secretary of Defense for four years, from '89 to '93, through Desert Storm and Just Cause in Panama and so forth. The thing you come away from that with is just enormous respect for the caliber of people we have serving today."
The Pentagon agrees with Cheney. Jim Villanucci of KKOB-AM Radio in Albuquerque, New Mexico, asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld if there was any situation where the U.S. might reinstitute a draft. Rumsfeld responded, "There isn't a chance in the world. It is clearly mischievous. Somebody is going around spreading that nonsense. There's a couple of congressmen and maybe a senator or two who've put in bills to reinstitute the draft. I am dead set against it. President Bush is dead set against it. It simply is not going to happen. And the perpetrating of that myth I think is unfortunate. We don't need a draft. My goodness, we've got, what, 295 million people in this country and we've got a 1.4 million on active duty. We can certainly attract and retain the people we need and we are attracting and retaining the people we need. And if we can't, all we have to do is change the incentives, so that we are a more attractive place for people to come."
So we see that the Bush administration and our military have not been indicating a need for a draft. But some in Washington have indeed been calling for mandatory military service. Who exactly has supported this idea? Here is your answer:
Senate Bill S.89 was introduced in January 2003 by Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC) and had no Republican co-sponsors. A companion bill was introduced in the House of Representatives in January 2003. It was sponsored by Democrats Charlie Rangel (D -NY), Jim McDermott (D-WA), John Lewis (D-GA), Pete Stark (D-CA), and Neil Abercrombie (D -HI). |
