[NV Greens] Viet Nam deja vu

[Paul Etxeberri]

7. SELECTIVE SERVICE SET TO BRING BACK THE DRAFT (from the Action Center)
	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>

-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand