{news} [Fwd: March 31: Selective Service ready to bring back the draft]

[Elizabeth M. Brancato]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	March 31: Selective Service ready to bring back the draft
Date: 	Mon, 28 Feb 2005 23:27:01 -0500
From: 	Action Center <actioncenter at action-mail.org>
To: 	embrancato at netzero.com
CC: 	action.news at organizerweb.com



Stop the Draft before it starts:

http://www.NoDraftNoWay.org

On March 31, the Selective Service System will report to 
President Bush that it is ready to implement a draft 
within 75 days.  We have to organize now to stop the draft 
before it starts.

Despite what politicians say, there is a high probability 
that the Bush Administration will attempt to reinstate the 
draft.

The U.S. military is in a quagmire in Iraq, facing a 
national popular uprising against the occupation. Soldiers 
are dying every day. A report issued in January 2004 by 
Jeffrey Record, a visiting professor at the Air War 
College, said the Army is "near the breaking point." The 
Pentagon has been forced to issue repeated "stop loss" 
orders and recall soldiers who
had retired or otherwise returned to civilian life.

Out of 10 Army Divisions, part or all of 9 of them are 
either deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Twenty-one out of 
33 regular combat brigades are on active duty in Iraq, 
Afghanistan, South Korea, or the Balkans. That's 63% of 
the Army's combat strength. This means the Army is 
extremely overextended.  The Bush Administration has been 
trying to fill the gap with Reserve and National Guard 
troops, but this is a temporary fix at best.  The head of 
the Army Reserves has recently written a memo saying that 
the readiness of his forces has been drastically reduced 
through over-deployment and is "degenerating into a broken 
force.”

Meanwhile, official U.S. foreign policy is now the 
doctrine of "pre-emptive war" and "regime change" wherever 
a leader runs afoul of U.S. corporate interests. An 
invasion of Iran, Syria, Korea, or Cuba -- all of whom are 
on Washington and Wall Street's list of targets -- would 
require tens or hundreds of thousands of new soldiers.

Enlistment rates not even able to maintain current force 
levels, much less provide troops for new invasions and 
occupations. All four services missed their enlistment 
quotas last year, and enlistments in the Reserves, 
National Guard, and regular military are at a 30-year low. 
Many current members of the armed forces plan to get out 
as soon as their current enlistment ends. According to a 
poll conducted by the military newspaper Stars & Stripes, 
49% of soldiers stationed in Iraq do not plan to 
re-enlist.

The President has given the Selective Service System a set 
of readiness goals to be implemented by March 31, 2005. As 
part of these performance goals, the System must be ready 
to be fully operational within 75 days. This means we can 
look for the Draft to be in operation as early as June 15, 
2005.

March 19 is the second anniversary of the war.  On the 
weekend of March 19-20, activists all over the globe will 
take to the streets to demand and end to the war and 
occupation.  No Draft No Way will be mobilizing to take 
part in these demonstrations, which will take place just a 
few days before the Selective Service System reports to 
President Bush that it is ready to go.  We must be in the 
streets to let them know that we oppose the draft and will 
not be used as cannon fodder in Iraq or in any new war.



Let's Organize NOW to Stop the Draft:

1) Come to NYC for the March 19 Troops Out Now 
demonstration.  Join the No Draft No Way! contingent in 
the march.  http://www.troopsoutnow.org.  Or join the 
march and rally in Fayetteville, NC, outside Fort 
Bragg--for more information, see 
http://www.ncpeacejustice.org.

2) Organize an anti-draft meeting at your school, church 
or mosque, union hall, etc. Contact us at 212-633-6646 for 
help and speakers.

3) Organize protests outside the selective service office 
in your area.

4) Donate to help build a network of educators, activists, 
and resisters to fight the draft--before it returns. 
http://nodraftnoway.org/donate-new.shtml

5) Sign the No Draft Petition. 
http://nodraftnoway.org/petition.shtml


http://www.NoDraftNoWay.org


March 19
Troops Out Now!
March on Central Park in NYC!
Regional Demonstrations Across the U.S. & Worldwide


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