Bring back draft

In the first instance, "we" are America and the Free World. The military forces of the United States provides the security behind which much of the world operates. The Japanese economy owes much to the fact that their defense is provided almost entirely by the United States, and there are others. The bottom line though is that the military might of the United States, is first to defend American interests, and lives.

If America does not appear capable and willing to use its military strength on behalf of our allies, then our allies will desert us and seek their security elsewhere. Who besides the United States can a small country rely upon to protect them from aggression? China? France? Saddam and/or Kim Jong-Il? The United Nations?

In the second instance, "we" are myself and Cicero.

Asherman
This we would opt for a trained reserve of young people rather the in many instances older reservists with families and a basically untrained national guard. It will also cause a lot less disruption of families, business and government agencies including police and fire when the need for activation occurs.

WASHINGTON (Creators Syndicate) -- Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-New York, and Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-South Carolina, must be driving the right wing absolutely bananas.
Here is the story up to now: Rangel and Hollings have made a joint call to revive the military draft -- along with the admirable American tradition of the citizen-soldier -- because, in Hollings' words, most especially at a time of war "we must all shoulder the burden of defending our nation."
The Rangel-Hollings summons reminds us that, to name just a few, among those who answered their country's call to serve in uniform during World War II were all four of the president of the United States' sons, and future baseball Hall of Famers Hank Greenberg, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio, along with heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, and Hollywood's Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Kirk Douglas and Mel Brooks.
Future American leaders Gerald Ford, John Kennedy, Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, George McGovern and Dwight Eisenhower all served. The young sons of Massachusetts Republican Sen. Leverett Saltonstall, New York Democratic Gov. Herbert Lehman, former U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain Joseph Kennedy and FDR's closest political confidant, Harry Hopkins, were all killed in combat.
So apoplectic apparently are today's conservative opponents over any possible return to the draft that their preferred line of argument is to go nuclear and unfairly accuse Rangel and Hollings, as former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger did in The Wall Street Journal, of "attempting to play both the race and the class-warfare cards."
That dog simply won't hunt. Yes, according to the Defense Department's own figures, African Americans, who comprise only 12 percent of the total civilian population, do account for nearly 30 percent of Army enlistees. But race is the straw man that opponents of the draft -- not Rangel and Hollings -- have raised. What the two Democrats have confronted and spotlighted is that dirty little ugly secret of American life that is avoided in polite and prosperous circles: class.
Combat veterans Rangel and Hollings both understand that today's U.S. military is the nation's public institution most integrated by race and -- simultaneously -- most segregated by class.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/02/10/column.shields.opinion.race.card/index.html

It is funny that the right wing conservatists are the ones who continually bring up the class issue. Maybe they have something there. Actually, they are absolutely right in bringing it up but wrong in there statements.

IT IS ABOUT CLASS!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, I don't know about that. Membership in any of the american military services seems pretty classy to me. How does one determine the "class" background of soldiers? The military services are very selective of who they recruit. Criminals, addicts, and drop-outs seldom make the cut. The best and the brightest are sought after no matter what there family's socio-economic position. If the proportion of minorities is high in the military, it is because the military provides one of the best opportunities for advancement on merit in the country. Children of the wealthy may not volunteer for military service because the pay and perks are so limited.

If I may be permitted a personal example, my son might earn many times his military pay but chose instead to serve his country. On the other hand he may not be as classy as some because he prefers rock n' roll to opera, contact sports to twiddly-winks, and a great bottle of old Burgandy would be wasted on him. The "classy" son is a peace demonstrator in San Francisco. We love them both, they are both men of conscience.

Pitching the military to New Yorker moms
The Pentagon finally has some use for the liberal press. After years of recruiting teens through sports, music, and "patriotic" magazines, the Pentagon is going highbrow. The "Be All You Can Be" pitch, traditionally a macho campaign aimed at kids, is now also targeting so-called influencers–parents, teachers, and coaches–in magazines like the New Yorker and Better Homes and Gardens. "We want to re-engage the American public with the U.S. military," says Curtis Gilroy, a Pentagon recruitment guru. How to sell the gritty military to liberal suburbanites who favor college for their kids? The ads will portray military life as comfortable, satisfying, and family friendly. The effort could help to quiet calls by urban lawmakers to renew the draft so that rich kids join poor ones in the mess halls and on the front lines. But Gilroy says the new ads are not intended as a response to the draft advocates. "Obviously we're not going to convince a lot of people that their son or daughter should join the military," he says. "We're just trying to get into some new areas."

This is a waste of time, money and effort.

au, Not only a waste of time, money, and effort, but highly questionable about the Pentagon's recruitment guru's reasons for these ads. c.i.

This way they can say that there is no "class" distinction in the military! After all, they got plenty of $.

I wish that the other two countries( Iran and North korea) which are branded as AXIS OF EVIL by BUSH
get some soup from the only SOOOOOOOPER SOUP SIPIING SILLY SLOT: