Posted on 01/25/2003 7:05:47 PM PST by mhking
To: National Desk, National and Black Affairs Reporters
Contact: David Almasi (202) 371-1400 x106 or dalmasi@nationalcenter.org
For Release: January 24
A proposal by Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY) to reinstate a military draft is under fire from African-American conservatives affiliated with the Project 21 leadership network. Project 21 members call the Rangel proposal a blatant political maneuver meant to inject a divisive racial aspect into the debate over using military force to remove Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
"Ironic as it may sound, bringing back the draft would be a good sign for those who seek to destroy us because it would be a sign of strategic weakness," said Project 21 member Captain A.A. Warthen, an active-duty U.S. Marine. "The Rangel proposal ignores the obvious social attitudes that have taken place over the past 25 years with regard to public service. The young men and women serving today are the best-educated and trained generation of warriors this nation has ever produced. We are more than ready to meet the challenges that lay ahead in the defense of this nation."
Rangel's proposal would require all men and women between the ages of 18 and 26 to perform military service. Those who do not qualify for the military would perform community service. Rangel's statement that he seeks a "more equitable representation of people making sacrifices" indicates the plan is inspired by racial politics rather than strategic need.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says of the draft, "There is no need for it at all."
Department of Defense figures dispute the claim by Rangel plan supporters that minorities would suffer a disproportionate number of frontline casualties in an Iraqi conflict. While 20 percent of soldiers are African-American, only 10.6 percent of the Army's combat infantry is black. Black personnel also are underrepresented as pilots and in high-risk commando units.
Military sociologist Charles Moskos told USA Today: "If anybody should be complaining about battlefield deaths, it is poor, rural whites." As for the class disparity, Hoover Institution research fellow Stanley Kurtz points out that liberal opposition to JROTC and ROTC presence in high schools and colleges since the Vietnam era has led to fewer college graduates considering the military as a career option.
A 1997 survey of 76,000 servicemen found that minority soldiers had an overwhelmingly positive view of race relations in the military. Over one-third believed conditions in the military were better than in the civilian world. Good race relations are an important factor in ensuring troops' combat readiness.
Project 21 member Kevin Martin, a U.S. Navy veteran, added: "Congressman Rangel has sunk to a new low in trying to say that a draft is the only way to bring equality to the military. Study after study has shown that whatever information he has is as faulty as his argument."
Project 21 has been a leading voice of the African-American community since 1992. For more information, contact David Almasi at (202) 371-1400 x106 or Project21@nationalcenter.org, or visit Project 21's web site at http://www.nationalcenter.org/P21Index.html.
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If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)
Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.
Gas prices might go up a little but the balloon won't go up for another month (if at all) or so.
Without a constant inflow and outflow of (otherwise) civilians in the military we run the real danger of a standing army with more loyalty to itself than to the people. IMO, a profesesional army is not a good thing.
How did you get draftees on a boat? I was unaware that anyone was drafted into anything except the army. Always heard the Navy had an excess of people trying to join it to avoid Viet Nam service.
A local LP group invited me to a coalition against the war and for protection of constitutional freedoms. No LP types were there. I went today, Saturday evening. It was clear to me the ANSWER and NION group leaders couldn't care less about the abuse of civil liberties of Moslems. It was clear to me that they just hope they can create domestic warfare and conflict between the Moslems and right wing establishment. The Moslem immigrants were clearly nervous and uncertain about how they were being used. The white liberal leaders lamented that so many in the Moslem community were pro-war and needed to be further victimized to heighten their consciousness of the world struggle.
The strategy is clearly divide and conquer.
Will the protestors try to bring down the internet on Feb 15? This might be an operational issue for Jim Rob to consider. Will the protestors try acts of violence as well as acts of disruption? I'll bet the greater threat is from these white liberal crazies than from the Moslems.
Our founding fathers didn't like it either. I suppose you are expressing your opinion of the founding fathers disdain for a standing army here. as well as for mine. We're not on the same side.
BTW, it isn "Copnstitution of the U.S.", its the "Constitution for The United States of America". Try reading it sometime, after you've learned to spell it.
"Harry S. Truman?" I thought to meself, "what the h--k does Harry S. Truman have to do with the Marines? Everyone knows he was Regular Army!
A temporary Congressional investigatory commission was impaneled, ultimately costing $3.7 billion, but could not resolve the matter. My wife then suggested that it might just mean, "having said that."
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