Hello everyone:

Below is the letter that I sent to Congressman Charles Rangel, 15th District, NY, opposing his initiative to reinstate the draft.  I also plan to write a similar letter to Sen. Fritz Hollings who is also sponsoring an initiative in the US Senate.  Hollings's address is 125 Russell Senate Office Bldg., Washington, DC 20510.

Click here for sample letter to editor.

DAVE SCHRAEGER    E-mail * dbossmovil@msn.com 

January 3, 2004

Hon. Charles Rangel
2354 Rayburn Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515

Re: No New Draft!

Dear Congressman Rangel:

            As one who has been a peace activist since the Vietnam War, I am most disappointed in your initiative to bring back the military draft. 

While on the surface, the idea of “shared sacrifice” by people of all races and economic backgrounds sounds like a worthy goal, the reality of a new military draft will not work out quite the way you are painting it.  During the Vietnam War when there was still a military draft for most of that conflict, Black soldiers were sent to the front lines in disproportionate numbers.  Although representing a mere 12% of the US population, Black soldiers made up about 20% of the casualties during that war.

 Historically, the rich have always found ways of getting out of fulfilling their military obligations. 

J. P. Morgan paid someone $100 to take his place in the army and we all know of the president’s time spent AWOL while in the service.  The president got away with it because of who his father was.  A middle-class or poor person would have been thrown in the brig and received a dishonorable discharge.

Your other stated justification is that you believe that if the privileged have to send their sons and daughters to die, we might not have as many unnecessary wars.  How ironic and truly naïve on your part if you truly believe that!  We are involved in a war in Iraq based on lies where nearly 500 US troops have been killed and thousands more have been injured, not to mention the thousands of Iraqis who have been killed or permanently maimed and wounded.  We now have a president who takes counsel from far-right radicals from the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) such as William Kristol, Elliott Abrams, Gary Bauer, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and others who have designs on taking over the whole world, the type of rogue mentality that led to the abuses by Oliver North and John Poindexter in the Iran-Contra Scandal.  Dick Cheney, also of PNAC, has talked of endless war.  All of this begs the question as to what a new draft will do other than to give these radical right-wing rogues the endless wars of conquest that they seek.

Rather than a universal draft as a “solution” to the problem of unnecessary endless war, a more practical step would be to join those of us who demand an immediate return of all troops to end this war based on lies.  The message to the warmongers would be clear, that we shall not permit endless war for profit.

I urge you to rethink this irresponsible proposal, which will only help the war profiteers. 

Sincerely,

 Dave Schraeger