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<p>More than 30 years ago, U.S. Rep. Pete Stark was one of thousands of activists who opposed the Vietnam War and the military draft. Now the Fremont Democrat has joined a small band of Congress members with a radical proposal to head off war with Iraq.</p>

<p>The phone calls started during Christmas break.</p> <p>An Army recruiter told 17-year-old Ted Giannopoulos he'd like to take Giannopoulos to lunch and then to the East Orange recruitment station, where he would show Giannopoulos a video.</p> <p>"I said I wasn't interested," the Livingston High School senior said. He added: "We were on the phone for like half an hour. I just tried to get him off the phone. I told him I'd call him back."</p>

UNITED NATIONS - Britain is prepared to negotiate the wording of the draft resolution on Iraq (news - web sites) it has offered together with the United States, and is also considering an amendment, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw said Thursday. "We are ready to discuss the wording of that resolution and take on board any constructive suggestions of how the process on that draft resolution can be improved," Straw told a news conference. "There is certainly the possibility of an amendment, and that's what we're looking at." U.S. diplomats in recent days have signaled a willingness to hear suggestions...

I know why the Demoncrat's latest idea (when do they stop coming?) is to reinstate the draft. They say it's to make military service something for the rich as well as the poor. But the real reason is this: During the Vietnam War, when did the violent protests stop? When Nixon pulled out? No, when he got rid of the draft. I've read many places that Nixon's announcement of the end of the draft is what did it for most people. What a wartime draft does is affect large segments of the population. Almost everybody knew somebody who's friend's cousin...

Equal Rights Amendment: Again? Yes -- Wednesday Saturday, January 25, 2003 By The Leader-Springfield Bureau (springfield@illinoisleader.com) Illinois was Ground Zero in the late seventies and early eighties for stopping ERA ratification. CHICAGO - This story was first published on the Leader on November 22, 2002. Illinois Leader has just learned that St Rep Lou Lang will be calling for the ERA in House Judiciary I next Wednesday at 3:00 PM. . . More info to come. Friday, 11.22.20002 -- On Tuesday, a representative of the Equal Rights Amendment movement told the Florida Commission on the Status of Women that they...

ROBERT BURNS, AP Military WriterTuesday, January 21, 2003 ©2003 Associated Press URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/01/21/national1923EST0753.DTL (01-21) 16:23 PST WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld came under fire Tuesday for saying Vietnam-era draftees added "no value, no advantage" to the U.S. military because they served for such short periods. In a letter to Rumsfeld, three Democrats in Congress expressed outrage at his comments and urged an apology. The letter signed by Sens. Tom Daschle of South Dakota and John Kerry of Massachusetts and Rep. Lane Evans of Illinois argued that Rumsfeld's remarks at a Jan. 7 Pentagon news conference were offensive...

Excerpts: Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - A former Reagan administration official said Friday that two members of Congress have introduced "far and away the worst" legislative proposal in their multi-decade careers by demanding that the U.S. reinstate the military draft. Former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger called the

Why not register women for future military draft? Teens file suit to declare the all-male registry unconstitutional ELLEN GOODMAN BOSTON - (beginning of article removed - use link) In some ways, this was a suit just waiting to happen. Or, actually, to happen again. In 1981, the Supreme Court upheld this males-only law as reasonable because there were so many restrictions against women in the military. But that was 22 years ago, before women were on the court, before most of the restrictions were lifted, before there were 33 female generals and 212,000 female soldiers doing nearly every job in...

The Democratic proposal to reinstitute the draft in the armed forces has not been as extensively circulated in the news as other issues of the moment, the forthcoming conflict against Iraq, the tensions in North Korea, and even Illinois Governor Ryan’s lame-duck clemency of death-row inmates. Yet it stands on the same level, perhaps a more significant one, in regard to determining whether America shall linger as a free country, or whether it shall collapse to arbitrary despotism. Representative Charles Rangel’s statements concerning the desirability of draft re-implementation (still during peacetime, a proposition echoing the Selective Training and Service Act...

<p>It happened more than 30 years ago, but I still recall the cold and absolute fury with which I received my draft notice. How dare they? I barely glanced at my "Greetings" before stuffing it back into the envelope and scrawling, on my finest Yale University stationery: "I am returning this to you. I will never serve in the United States Army, so please stop wasting my time, your time, and the government's postage. Sincerely yours. P.S. I recently joined the Marines."</p>

WASHINGTON U.S. REP. Charles Rangel, a Democrat from Harlem, wants you for the U.S. Army. Actually, what he and his longtime colleague, Rep. John Conyers (D.-Mich.) desire is reinstatement of the draft. And the campaign is on: Over the weekend after New Year's, Rangel made the rounds of the TV chat shows, published an op-ed piece in The New York Times, and this past week he and Congressman Conyers introduced legislation to revive the Selective Service System, moribund since 1973.Of course, on anyone's list of things that won't happen anytime soon, a new draft is near the head. The Army...

Washington U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., introduced legislation Tuesday that would reinstate the draft. Hollings, who earned a Bronze Star for his service in World War II, filed the bill on the first day of the 108th Congress. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but his spokesman described the bill as an effort to make sure more Americans share responsibility for the nation's defense. Hollings, who had proposed reinstating the draft in the early 1980s, "is encouraged by the renewed interest in the policy debate," Davis said. "He wants to increase the awareness of the cost of war...

It’s the Defense Department’s version of Dante’s Inferno. First, the impending war with Iraq bogs down into fierce, guerilla fighting inside of Baghdad, extending what was supposed to be a short, decisive campaign to oust Saddam Hussein into a bloody, house-to-house battle of wills against the Iraqi Republican Guard. Emboldened by Iraq’s resistance, Iran, Syria and Egypt step up their own anti-U.S. rhetoric while posturing strongly towards Israel, whose northern border comes under attack by Hezbollah terrorists operating out of Lebanon. Then just when it looks like things can’t get any worse, the other shoe drops. With the majority of...

<p>Mr. Charles Rangel, the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, plans to introduce legislation to resume the military draft. While Mr. Rangel well may be introducing his bill in an effort to build public anxiety and opposition to war with Iraq ? and while we certainly are not prepared to recommend a yea vote for his bill ? we do encourage the relevant House committees to hold vigorous hearings on the topic. Whatever Mr. Rangel's motivations and calculations, his proposed legislation nonetheless raises three timely and important questions that need careful investigation. First, will the current method of recruitment reliably provide us with the numbers and quality of troops necessary to face the needs for the near future? If not, are there other options than the draft that might solve the problem? Finally, if a draft is found to be necessary, how can it be made equitable?</p>

<p>For reasons that have nothing to do with improving the effectiveness of our military and everything to do with the politics of class and race, two members of the Congressional Black Caucus want to resurrect the draft.</p> <p>Charlie Rangel of New York and John Conyers of Michigan say they will introduce conscription legislation this week in order to, in Mr. Rangel's words, "encourage more caution and a greater willingness to work with the international community in dealing with Iraq."</p>

T'S true, that old saw. Stick around long enough, and you get to see everything.  Time was when being antiwar meant that you probably also hated compulsory military service. Now, opposition to war walks arm in arm with being pro-draft.It does, at any rate, if you are Representative Charles B. Rangel, a Manhattan Democrat and a decorated veteran of the Korean War (Purple Heart and Bronze Star). Mr. Rangel says he will introduce legislation to bring back military conscription, which died in the early 1970's, one of the Vietnam War's many victims. If the Bush administration insists on sending combat...

<p>Washington -- Two prominent members of the Congressional Black Caucus have voiced support for a nationwide military draft, saying that children of the rich should serve alongside less privileged Americans in the war on terrorism.</p> <p>Reps. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and John Conyers, D-Mich., both armed services veterans, said this week they would ask the House to consider legislation to reinstitute the draft, perhaps as early as next week, at the start of the 108th Congress. The United States hasn't drafted troops since 1973.</p>

Rangel’s Emotional Blackmail Representative Charles Rangel (D- N.Y.) has an idea for how to discourage the US from going to war with Iraq - bring back the draft! In an opinion piece in Tuesday's edition of the New York Times, Rangel states that military service should be a "shared sacrifice" that is asked of all able bodied young Americans. He also says that he feels the minorities make up a disproportionate number of enlisted members of the military. He plans to introduce legislation this year that would revive the draft for American men ages 18 to 26. The main reason,...

<p>NEW YORK — Rep. Charles Rangel says he plans to introduce legislation to resume the military draft in the event of a war against Iraq.</p> <p>In an opinion piece published in Tuesday's editions of The New York Times, Rangel, D-N.Y., said he would ask Congress next week to support his proposal.</p>