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A New Draft: Thinking the Unthinkable (4 Letters) To the Editor: Re "The Option Nobody's Pushing. Yet" (Week in Review, Oct. 3): You gave an insightful overview of the elements that may propel our country to reinstate the draft. But I was dumbfounded by only an oblique reference to what would undoubtedly be the defining issue for Congress and the American public: equality of the sexes. In this post-Vietnam era, there are two inconceivables: that only men would be drafted or that both men and women would be subject to the draft. Drafting only men would undoubtedly run aground if...

The House of Representatives yesterday overwhelmingly rejected a Democrat-sponsored bill to revive a military draft in a last-minute vote scheduled by its Republican leadership to squelch rumors that the Bush administration is planning to reinstitute mandatory military service.     "For two months — especially on college campuses — they've used the draft as a fear tactic to get people to vote against George W. Bush," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Texas Republican, said of Democrats. [snip]"We've had enough of that. We're going to call them on it. The Democrats are the only people that have a bill instituting the draft;...

Rumors of reinstating the military draft, which have flourished for months in panicky e-mails, online chat rooms, college dorms and student newspapers, suddenly dominated the House floor yesterday in one of the strangest parliamentary maneuvers in memory. With even its sponsor voting against it, a bill to require young adults to perform military or civil service failed, 402 to 2. The vote put an end to HR 163, but Democrats and Republicans signaled they will continue to accuse each other of contemplating a revival of conscription, at least through the presidential campaign's final month, and probably as long as U.S....

HARLESTON, W.Va. — In the worried steel town of Weirton, W.Va., last week, the first question from the crowd that came out to hear Senator John Edwards was not about the economy, tariffs or health care. It was about the draft: Is a new one coming? The Democratic candidate for vice president was unequivocal. Not in a Kerry-Edwards administration, he replied. But Erika Lontz, a 19-year-old college sophomore, was not reassured. "Students worry about it a lot," she said later. "With the way the war is going, how could you not?" Though President Bush and Senator John Kerry talk about...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 - Trying to quiet fears of a return of the draft, the House Republican leadership engaged in a hasty call-up of its own on Tuesday. The Republicans brought to the floor a Democratic-sponsored proposal to reinstate mandatory military service and presided over its overwhelming defeat on a vote of 402 to 2. "We're going to put a nail in that coffin," said the House majority leader, Representative Tom DeLay of Texas. He accused Democrats of generating opposition to President Bush - especially on college campuses - by raising the idea that the draft might be re-established after...

During a campaign stop last week in West Palm Beach, Fla., Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry was asked if he thought President Bush would revive the military draft if re-elected. "Is it possible?" Kerry replied. "I can't answer that." During an appearance one week earlier in Parkersburg, W.Va., Kerry ticket-mate John Edwards was similarly queried about the draft. And rather than declaring it a nonissue, he simply responded, "There will be no draft when John Kerry is president." Kerry and Edwards are playing to the fears of young Americans of ostensible draft age, as well as their parents, who have...

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) did something a little unusual yesterday. First he protested when Republican leadership scheduled his own bill for a vote. Then he sent out a letter encouraging his Democratic colleagues to vote against it. Rangel’s bill, which the leadership had placed on the suspension calendar, would create a national-service draft under which all 18- to 26-year-olds would serve in the military or perform two years of national service as determined by the president. Rangel has been advocating a draft for several years, but he argued yesterday that the bill was too important for the suspension calendar, “which...

WASHINGTON — Hoping to eliminate an issue they believe is being used unfairly against President Bush, House Republicans led a successful effort Tuesday to kill a proposal to bring back the draft and institute mandatory public service. The 402-2 vote was, to a large degree, symbolic. The bill was introduced last year by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., as was a companion measure in the Senate by South Carolina Democrat Ernest Hollings. Both were effectively dead already. Rangel's bill was brought to a vote by Republicans who oppose it. Administration officials have said repeatedly that there is no plan for a...

To: National Desk Contact: Stuart Roy or Jonathan Grella, 202-225-4000, both of the Office of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) today made the following remarks on the Democrat proposal for a military draft: "Sometimes -- not always, but sometimes -- a bill comes to the floor of this House after a long, deliberate examination of the facts surrounding a difficult issue with compelling arguments on both sides, and we can all come together and find common ground. "Sometimes, a bill is the result of hard-nosed political wrangling, and...

Debate is ongoing ...

House GOP Seeks to Quash Draft Rumor By DEVLIN BARRETT Associated Press Writer October 5, 2004, 5:00 PM EDT WASHINGTON -- House Republicans sought Tuesday to quash an undying Internet rumor that the government will reinstate a military draft after the election, hoping with a vote to kill legislation that would do it, and the rumor as well. The specter of a wartime military draft like that of the Vietnam era has lingered around the presidential campaign for the past few weeks, fueled by an e-mail driven rumor mill and a campaign by Rock the Vote, a nonpartisan group that...

VIDEO •Draft Scare Ignites CyberspaceSTORIES BACKGROUND •Draft Dodgers Monument Ditched After Outcry•Draft Scare Ignites Cyberspace•Canada Plans Draft-Dodger Monument•Edwards: No Draft With Dems in Charge•Dem Mailing Warns: Vote or Be Drafted WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives prepared to vote Tuesday afternoon on a bill to reinstate the military draft. By all indications, the bill was headed to defeat. Rep. Charles B. Rangel (search), D-N.Y., introduced the legislation in Jan. 2003 in an effort to highlight what he saw as an ill-prepared and ill-advised Iraq policy. Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (search), D-S.C., put a similar bill forward in the Senate.

DEMOCRATS PUSH DRAFT IN CONGRESSPresident Bush Opposes Draft And Republicans Will Ensure Defeat Of Bill, Kerry Open To Idea____________________________________________________JUST WHO IS PROPOSING A DRAFT?Democrat Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY) Introduced The “Universal National Service Act Of 2003” To Reinstate Military Draft.  “A BILL To provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes.” (H.R. 163, Introduced 1/7/03 By Rep. Charles Rangel)ü      Today, House Of Representatives Will Vote On...

I got this e-mail that has been circulating about HR 163, and I am writing a response. If anyone has one already written, I would love to hear it, if not, please copy mine and send it out to all of the idiots who sent you the original scary e-mail. ------------------------------- This is just another internet rumor gone wild, but instead promising free money from Microsoft or trips to Disneyland, this one serves to scare the kids (and gullible adults) into voting against Bush. Yes, HR 163 & S 89 are real bills, but like many bills of a nature...

Just heard on the radio (Charlie Sykes) that H.R. 163 (Rangel D-NY) Draft Bill, is scheduled for a vote tonight between 6pm-7pm. Wanna Bet EVERY House Republican votes AGAINST IT?

My 16 year old son was discussing the draft in his High School American history class. He announced to his class that Democrats have introduced a bill in the house, and in the senate to reinstate the draft. Neither his teacher nor anybody in his class believed him, they were all convinced it was President Bush and the Republicans pushing for the draft. While my boy was on a roll he also announced to his class that the Democratic VP candidate John Edwards can channel the thoughts of a dead baby to a Jury. His teacher didn’t believe that one...

Editor's note: Eilhys England contributed to this column. Recently, when John Kerry brought up the possibility of a return to the draft, SecDef Donald Rumsfeld was quick to respond that Kerry was full of it. But my take is that Kerry is right on the mark. Not only because Rummy has been flat wrong on every major military call regarding Iraq, but because this is a war that won't be won by smart weapons or the sledgehammer firepower we see every night on the tube. Right now – with both our regular and Reserve soldiers stretched beyond the breaking point...

Teresa Heinz Kerry blasted President Bush's conduct of the war on terror and touted her husband's plans for health care and education in a speech last night to Westmoreland County Democrats. The war in Iraq has cost America the respect of her allies and the United States is losing the war in Afghanistan, Heinz Kerry said at a dinner at the Sheraton Four Points in Greensburg. "On 9/12 every single newspaper in the world said 'We are all Americans.' Today it is not the case," she said. By sending American troops to Iraq instead of to Afghanistan, Bush permitted Osama...

Like the draft? Vote Kerry Posted: October 4, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com John Kerry muttered something about President Bush bringing about a backdoor draft through the use of National Guardsmen in Iraq. I've got news for you. If you want to see the draft reinstated, vote for John Kerry.

The lies continue. Boston's Channel 7, 10:30 news, today: "The draft is, in effect, back. Thousands of Americans are being involuntarily extended in their military service because of the demands of the Iraq War. This is no different than having reinstituted the draft. These servicemen and women are being forced to serve, just as they were during Vietnam..." Channel 7 is either too stupid or too dishonest to make any sense. Every person who joins the service knows straight up that they can be extended in their active duty service up to the length of their contract -- usually a...