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GREENSBORO, NC
New bill may reinstate the draft for 2005
Meredith Veto
Staff Writer
hose who love this
country have a
patriotic obligation
to defend this country. For
those who say the poor fight
better, I say give the rich a
chance," said Democratic rep
resentative Charles Rangel in
January 2003, when he and
Democratic senator Fritz
Hollings introduced a bill for a
universal military draft.
The revised draft calls for all
Americans between the ages
of 18 and 26 to enlist in the
military, including women.
College students are not
exempt from service, and nei
ther are conscientious objec
tors, who would be placed in
non-combative service.
In addition, the "Smart
Border Declaration" of 2001
between the U.S. and Canada
would monitor draft-dodgers
from the U.S., implementing a
"pre-clearance agreement" of
people attempting to enter the
country.
Though the proposed draft
sounds like an effort to boost
Bush's war on terror, it was
Aaron DeMoss
Associate Editor
French Fighting Anti-Semitism
In order to stem growing problems
with anti-Semitism, the French edu
cational system has suggested that
schools show movies like
"Schindler's List" and "The Pianist".
The government also recommended
using books like The Diary of Anne
Frank and other depictions of the
Holocaust in classrooms. The rising
surge in anti-Semitic attitudes has
been loosely connected with the con
flict in the Middle East. France is
home to western Europe's largest
Muslim population which has taken a
WORLD OCNATION
actually introduced by
Rangel, who voted against
the war with Iraq, and
Hollings—both liberals.
The new draft is meant to
"call the bluff' on conservative
war hawks. In other words,
Rangel and Hollings wanted
to demonstrate to Bush the
severity of committing to a
potentially long-term war.
Rangel said he introduced
the bill "in hopes that those
people who make the deci
sions to go to war, to attack
Iraq, would be better influ
enced against it if they had
kids that would be placed in
harm's way, or if they felt clos
er to the shared sacrifice that
we often times talk about."
Although instituting a draft
during the current war is con
sidered unnecessary by most,
many feel that revisions to
make a draft more equal are
needed.
"There were people that had
a means of avoiding the draft
(during Vietnam)," said Jerry
Joplin, professor of Justice
and Policy Studies, who
served in the Vietnam War. "If
you're going to make it a fair
process, you've got to elimi
strong pro-Palestinian attitude.
Threats and attacks have risen to the
highest level since the '4os.
Palestinian Leader of Hamas Dead
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of
the radical Palestinian movement
Hamas, was killed with seven others
in an Israeli airstrike on Monday,
March 22. Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the
replacement leader for Hamas,
declared a continued war against
Israel and America at the memorial
service for the slain Yassin. In
response, Israel claims it has the right
to kill Hamas leaders, as Hamas is
viewed as a terrorist organization.
The U.S. vetoed the U.N. resolution
nate those class issues."
Charlie White, Director of
Information Services, was a
conscientious objector during
Vietnam. He agrees that
there are class inequalities in
the military. "If that's truly an
injustice, then maybe there's
some validity in it (the revi
sion)," White said. "A piece of
what's wrong with the military
now is that the wealthy and
the educated don't have to
participate."
Cara Newman, a CCE stu
dent, joined the military when
she was 20 years old. "I con
sider myself a feminist,"
Newman said. "As such, I
don't think that it's right to
exclude women from the
draft, simply because they're
women."
"But they are going to have
to work out some specifics,"
she continued. "For instance,
in families with children, obvi
ously both parents can't be
gone. In my family, if they
institute a draft, I would be the
one to go because I have
prior military experience. And
I wouldn't have a problem
with that if my husband were
there to take care of the kids."
News Briefs
Those who do not believe mil
itary service is right for every
body suggest alternative serv
ice."
"Service to the country, at
least to me, is not an objec
tion, but saying that you must
participate in some sort of mil
itary service would be my
objection," White said. "There
was, in the '3os, the
Conservation Corps. It was
sort of the Americorps of the
19305. My mother helped
build dams in Tennessee."
"The military's not the right
place for everybody," Joplin
said. "I see things like the
Peace Corps, the Vista pro
gram, as alternative service. I
would like to see the military
service looked at as another
way of fulfilling a social obli
gation that we have, as
opposed to saying we have to
do this because we're fodder
for the war."
Joplin also explained that
it's in the conservatives' inter
est to keep the military all vol
unteer—there's less internal
resistance than when people
are forced to go to war.
"There were people actually
shooting themselves in the
to condemn the strike. Since
September 2000, Israel has blamed
Hamas for the deaths of 377 Israelis.
Budget Passes House of Reps
The House of Representatives
approved the $2.4 trillion budget pro
posed by Republicans on Friday,
March 26. The budget will increase
funding for the Homeland Security
department. Money was reserved for
the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq;
meanwhile some of President Bush's
proposed tax cuts were omitted.
Democrats, who proposed their own
budget bill, argued that Republicans
didn't include enough money for
Homeland Security, veterans, educa
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foot to keep from going to
Vietnam, and it wasn't just out
of fear of going into battle,"
Joplin said. "When it's pretty
clear that the guys in Vietnam
don't want to be there, and
people who have been draft
ed were saying, I don't under
stand what the justification of
the war is, that gave greater
impetus to the war protest
ers."
Misconceptions that the
draft bill was conceived by the
Bush administration may
stem from the fact that the
draft would be implemented in
the spring of 2005, safely hid
den behind major campaign
issues of fall's election sea
son. Most supporters, in fact,
oppose the war with Iraq. The
draft bill is seen more as a
cautionary tool created by lib
erals concerned about the
consequences of a hasty
move to war.
"We're not going to re
implement a draft," said
Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld. "There is no need
for it at all. The disadvan
tages of using compulsion to
bring info the armed forces
the men and women needed
tion and domestic needs. The
Democrats substitute budget was
voted down.
Bush Advocates Universal
Broadband
Last Friday in New Mexico, President
Bush expressed his support for the
growing broadband market. A high
speed access to the Internet, broad
band is already in .20.6 million homes
and small businesses. The U.S. sup
plies a fund that subsidizes telephone
companies in rural areas and those
who cannot afford them, and now the
President has suggested that the
same subsidies should extend to
broadband, i