Rangel is right about the draft

[Knotbad]

Everybody needs to share equally in the defense of America. Right now only the lower classes are enlisting, mainly because recruiters tell them they can get an education and other training through the military. The upper class kids know their parents can afford to send them to college so they don't enlist. Only two or three Congressmen have children in the military.
Our Reserve and National Guard troops are being decimated because there aren't enough regular troops to get the job done.. It's time we gave them a break.
Published on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 by the Huffington Post
Rangel Is Right
by Lawrence O'Donnell
Charlie Rangel is angry about the Iraq war, the one that Henry Kissinger has told us we can't win. Thanks, Henry, but most Americans figured that out before you did. Rangel saw combat in Korea. Kissinger has only seen combat on TV. That might have something to do with why Kissinger thinks our troops should stay in Iraq even though we can't win. Kissinger says that if we leave now, all hell will break loose and Iraq will never achieve stability. Never mind that all hell has already broken loose. Never mind that Kissinger said the same thing would happen if we left Vietnam--all hell would break loose and Vietnam would never achieve stability. Vietnam has become so stable that Presidents Clinton and Bush, both combat cowards during the Vietnam war, have made well publicized, utterly safe visits to the country Kissinger used to think didn't have a chance without us.
In my one conversation with Kissinger, which occurred on TV, I asked him if he knew anyone who got killed in Vietnam. He was completely thrown. He doesn't go on TV to be asked such small-minded questions, he goes on TV to pontificate and TV interviewers are happy to let him do it. Kissinger sputtered and ran away from the question, leaving the distinct impression that he did not know anyone who was killed in the war he managed. His memoir of the period does not mention a single casualty. If you have ever stood at the Vietnam Memorial and run your hand over the name of a relative on the wall, as my mother and I did last month, you can get as angry as Charlie Rangel does about people like Kissinger deciding how long our soldiers should be exposed to enemy fire in a war we know we can't win.
Rangel announced on Sunday that he wants to reinstate the draft. He said the same thing a few years ago but quickly let on that he wasn't serious. He's playing it straight this time and has already introduced a bill. Local New York TV news has given Rangel saturation coverage. You can see his anger and frustration building each time he answers another reporter's question about the draft. The point he keeps repeating is: "There's no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm's way."
Rangel could never get such attention to that message without introducing his bill. Nancy Pelosi should let it come to a vote. She should let the House debate the draft. Let the Republicans give speeches listing all the good reasons why we should have a volunteer Army. But let's hear Rangel's speech about how the burden of war is not fairly shared in this country. Let's get America thinking about exactly who is being left in the line of fire in the war Americans have turned against and know we can't win. Let's get America thinking about John Kerry's line about Vietnam--who is going to be the last soldier to die for a mistake? A real debate on the draft will do that. Don't worry, the bill has no chance of passing.
Well over 95% of Americans, including Congress and White House staff, have no personal connection to this war--no relative or friend serving in Iraq. Over 99% of us have made no sacrifice for this war--we have not paid one more penny of taxes nor shed a drop of family blood. One of my military relatives thinks of it this way: "The American military is at war, but America is not at war."
Advocating war is easier when you and your family are not endangered by it. I've reached a Rangel-like breaking point with my TV pundit colleagues who championed the Iraq war and now say we can't leave even if we went there for the wrong reasons. For every one of them, I have a simple question: Why aren't you in Iraq? Or why did you avoid combat in your generation's war? The one unifying characteristic that all of us men in make-up on political chat shows share is fear of combat. Every one of us has done everything we can to avoid combat or even being fitted for a military uniform. Just like George Bush, Bill Clinton, and Dick Cheney, we are all combat cowards. It takes a very special kind of combat coward to advocate combat for others. It's the kind of thing that can get you as angry as Charlie Rangel.
Lawrence O'Donnell is the Executive Producer of "The West Wing", a panelist at "The McLaughlin Group", and former Chief of Staff for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance.
Copyright 2006 © HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

[QuickJet]

If it's such a good idea, the why, when Rangle submitted it to congress a couple years ago, did he vote against his own bill?
The Military is against it. You can't have people that want to be in the Military fighting alongside those who don't. Have you ever had a co- worker that hated his job? Now just think if you needed that person to cover your ass in combat.
The draft weakens our military and hurts morale. The only way the Democrats would ever vote yes on it is if they wanted Republicans back in office.

[Knotbad]

If it's such a good idea, the why, when Rangle submitted it to congress a couple years ago, did he vote against his own bill?
The Military is against it. You can't have people that want to be in the Military fighting alongside those who don't. Have you ever had a co- worker that hated his job? Now just think if you needed that person to cover your ass in combat.
The draft weakens our military and hurts morale. The only way the Democrats would ever vote yes on it is if they wanted Republicans back in office.
1. He brought it up for debate then. Now he's more serious about it.
2. I monitor the military sites and I don't see any talk for or against the draft.
3. You dishonor those who were drafted and served and/or fought with honor. I served with draftees and they were for the most part good soldiers. They knew they were in for two years and most made the best of it. Yes, some were disgruntled, but they were in the minority.
The college kids and Yuppie Larva are against the draft because they know their number would come up sooner or later.
BTW, quickjet, are you of fighting age? Do you have any physical disabilities that would disqualify you from military service? Have you served?

[QuickJet]

1. He brought it up for debate then. Now he's more serious about it.
No he's not. He's fighting for the poor in his district. It's mearly a political ploy to put rich against poor so he'll look like Robin Hood. To see it as anything more is foolish.
2. I monitor the military sites and I don't see any talk for or against the draft. Again, it's not being taken seriously by the military because it's not being taken seriously by the politicians.
3. You dishonor those who were drafted and served and/or fought with honor. I served with draftees and they were for the most part good soldiers. They knew they were in for two years and most made the best of it. Yes, some were disgruntled, but they were in the minority.
Never disshonored anyone. Simply pointed out that those who want to join the military do so, those who are forced to join aren't there under there own free will. There is a difference no matter what you might think.
The college kids and Yuppie Larva are against the draft because they know their number would come up sooner or later.
So what. Did you have to look that up?
BTW, quickjet, are you of fighting age? Do you have any physical disabilities that would disqualify you from military service? Have you served?
I'm 39 and in very fit condition. I served 3 weeks in Elmwood for driving on a suspended license when I was younger but that's about it.

['75 Miller]

Ooh Lawrence O'donnell, now I'm convinced. He's not an anti-war, anti-military lefty....oops, forgot, yes he is. Zero credibility. Nice try though.

[SmokinLowriderSS]

1. He brought it up for debate then. Now he's more serious about it.
Tell me why then the Deocrats ABOVE HIM are so set at quashing it. As soon as he spat it out again, Nancy P. backpedalled him on it.
2. I monitor the military sites and I don't see any talk for or against the draft.
You don't talk to very many GI's then. I work with about 60 of them, closely, NONE are in favor of it, for the same reasons cited earlier.
3. You dishonor those who were drafted and served and/or fought with honor. I served with draftees and they were for the most part good soldiers. They knew they were in for two years and most made the best of it. Yes, some were disgruntled, but they were in the minority.
Since you are asking for credentials, just how long was THIS? How many years experience were you in the millitary back in 'Nam?
BTW, quickjet, are you of fighting age? Do you have any physical disabilities that would disqualify you from military service? Have you served?
See the above question...............

[YeLLowBoaT]

if you think a draft is such a good idea, why don't you sign up and then sign up your kids when they hit 18.
besides there have been dozens of studys...ppl that had to hunt to eat have always shot better.
For the record I joined the armed forces. ( the USCG, you know the branch that protects america every day...)

[SmokinLowriderSS]

Ooh Lawrence O'donnell, now I'm convinced. He's not an anti-war, anti-military lefty....oops, forgot, yes he is. Zero credibility. Nice try though.
Damn knot, that "credibility" monster biting ya in the arse again.
Same thing happened when another "free-thinker" brought up a Professor of Muon-induced Fusion/Astro-physics and a Professor of Philosophy to outweigh a demolitions expert with 30 years experience in blowing down buildings in relation to 2 110 story high-rises that fell some years back. ZERO credibility, but he liked what the professors said, so it was good enough for him.

['75 Miller]

If the draft is such a good idea why won't it pass, if it comes up for a vote at all? Your comrades are in charge.

[sandblasted]

Rangel is full of shit about the draft....see this article regarding today's Army..
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...ce-usat-_x.htm
This article clearly states that "whites" overwhelmingly make up front line combat units and are the mostly to be killed in a war....which is what has happened in Iraq...