Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / April 29, 1999, edition 1 / Page 20
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20 April 29,1999 National News Draft looms as possibility if Kosovar War continues Scott McCrary Contributing Reporter If the conflict in Kosovo escalates far beyond its current level, the college-age genera tion may be headed for some thing that was once the stuff of their parents stories. The nation’s selective ser vice system — the draft — stands ready to send America’s young men to the front lines if the President or Congress thinks they’re needed. Only men are required to sign for the draft on their eigh teenth birthday. If the presi dent or Congress initiate a draft, Elon College could lose more than 250 men in the first round. “If there’s a draft, I’m not going in the war. I’ll see you in Canada,” junior Tom Mullen said. “I’ll be one of the hun dreds of Elon guys gone, but I won’t be fighting.” Junior Mike Dugan agreed:“I heard Sydney, Aus tralia, is nice that time of year. Draft time, that is.” Federal law says only men must register for the draft. In 1994, President Clinton asked the Department of Defense to consider requiring women to register as well. The over whelming decision was to con tinue excluding women from the draft. All drafted men could serve in combat. Since federal law stops women from serving on the front lines of the battle, the department saw no reason to change the law. “I’m all for equal rights, but women don’t belong on the front line,” sophomore Kelly Wingate said. “My concern is for the emotional scars that women would face.” Should the draft be offi cially started, two capsules will be drawn. One will be a date; the other, an ordinal number. For example, if March 2 is drawn as the date and 15 as the ordinal number, all men born on March 2 will be the fifteenth group drafted. From there, each birth date will be ordered sequentially. The first to report for duty will be men in the first ordinal group who will turn 20 in the Refugees stretch out aid resources Ann Batchelor Contributing reporter The million and a half ethnic Albanians seeking refuge from the Yugoslavian province, Kosovo, has overwhelmed neighboring countries and stretched the resources of other nations providing aid. The United Nations High Commission has called for more help from NATO and other states. Presi dent Clinton has asked for $6 billion in emergency spending and estab lished a national help line to aid refu gees. Other countries are escalating their first estimates for taking refu gees. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to visit Albania and Macedonia to speak to refugees and document the need for further assis tance. The veritable avalanche of humanity began on March 24 when NATO began bombing. The United Nations estimates more than half of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian population of two million has moved from their homes since then. Refugees have arrived at the border in packs of 3,000 or more people or as entire villages. “We want to get people out of here. All the border areas will be come more and more intense,” Jacques Franquin of the UN High Commission for Refiigees was quoted as saying in the Boston Globe. Some 365,000 refugees went to Albania. Macedonia was bom barded by 130,000 refugees instead ofthe20,000itexpected. Montenegro now has more than 100,000refugees and Bosnia has more than 30,000. Other countries are helping by moving refugees out of these neigh boring countries and transporting them to other parts of the world. Germany is close to its maxi mum intake of 10,000 refugees, but did not rule out the possibility of taking more if necessaiy. France admitted its first 317 refugees, and Austria, Belgium, the United States, Croatia, Iceland, Is rael and Norway are also opening their doors. At first, America said it would only take refugees to its Cu ban base, but has now said some refugees may be flown to the conti nental United States. The world was not prepared for the influx of so many refugees, and crisis problems escalated rap idly. At the Blace border crossing, 80,000 refugees waited 10 days crammed in a muddy field without drinking water or food. “We will continue to lead this operation, but we urgently needmore contributions, of the kind that only military and civil protection units can provide,” Sadako Ogata, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, was quoted as saying by Reuters. Will Kosovo escalate into WWIII? Bryan Skeen Contributing Reporter Three months into the crisis in Kosovo, what started as just a peacekeeping engagement by NATO has developed into the larg est bombing campaign in Europe since WWII. Many Americans are asking the same question: Could Kosovo be the beginning of the next wOTld war? NATO’s objections to Yugo- slavian President Slobodan Milosevic began with his ethnic cleansing of Muslim Kosovars. Kosovo, a state in the southern tip of Yugoslavia, is 90 percent Mus lim. The original aggressors in the civil war, the Kosovars have now been overtaken by Milosevic’s mili tary power. In response, NATO ordered Milosevic to stop his ethnic cleans ing. When he didn’t, NATO un leashed its massive air firepower. Further complicating the is sue, Russia has severed all ties with NATO and openly opposes the bombings. Russian President Boris Yeltsin said initially Russia would play only a diplomatic role in Kosovo, but as the crisis continues many begin to wonder if military forces may be used later. year of the draft. Once the gov ernment has progressed through every birth date, it will return to the first birth date and begin calling men turning 21 in the year of the draft. Next to be called are men age 22, 23, 24 and 25. If more soldiers are needed, the govern ment will draft 18- and 19-year- old men. An alternative exists for those who don’t want to serve in battle. When they report for training, they may register as conscientious objectors. Any draftee who registers as a conscientious objector must do so based on religious or moral grounds. The man’s life must reflect his non-violent beliefs. Those who are exempted from battle will be required to perform an equal amount of time in community service hours, usually in care of the elderly, education or health care. “Sure, I’m not a Rhodes scholar, but I still think there’s little or no chance of my being drafted,” freshman Tim Archibald said. “I’m still in school.” An exception is made for full time college students, but it has been modified since the Vietnam era. All students, with the ex ception of college seniors, will be allowed to finish their cur rent academic semester before reporting for duty. Seniors at the college level will be permitted to finish the current year before entering the service. ftow •BflNil one for Ino wmmt Elon College history profes sor James Bissett doubts the con flict will evolve into World War HI despite the escalating tensions. “We’re trying to do the same thing we did in the Persian Gulf to win this one,” he said. B issett sees traits of past wars — both world wars, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. The Greensboro News and Record, however, said that Kosovo couldn’tbe compared to the Persian Gulf. “Iraq was poorly prepared and poorly equipped militarily, and the climate and terrain did not pose major obstacles.” PRO NAllLS 2765 s. 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Elon University Student Newspaper
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April 29, 1999, edition 1
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