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WASHINGTON - If this presidential campaign is anything like the last, John McCain’s Vietnam service will inevitably be contrasted with GOP rival Rudy Giuliani’s avoidance of a war that he opposed. “Any suggestion that he was dodging the draft is totally, factually inaccurate,” said a senior Giuliani campaign adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. “He opposed the war on tactical and strategic grounds.” But as far back as 1993, when he successfully ran for mayor of New York, Giuliani has been dogged by accusations that he pulled strings to avoid the...

BE HERE, OR BE NOWHERE!

So I was watching a speech the other day. The speaker had an interesting biography. He grew up in the heartland. He made his mark through decades of promulgating his own, deeply thought-out political views. He researched and wrote his own position papers. He earned his living on radio, and in print, and in front of a camera. In a media world full of cynics, he was well known for his geniality, his approachability, his generosity of spirit... ...THE FACT IS THAT CONSERVATIVES have been desperately searching for a champion who knows how to communicate, how to engage and inspire...

WASHINGTON - The war in Iraq marks the first time in modern history that the United States has fought an extended conflict with an all-volunteer military. The strain of fighting nearly four years in a two-front war has put unprecedented stress on the Army and the Marine Corps - which have borne the brunt of the fighting - and has raised serious questions about whether an all-volunteer force can be maintained over the long term. Even if U.S. troops were to pull out of Iraq tomorrow, the United States faces a war of unknown duration against al-Qaida in Afghanistan and...

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Rep. Charles Rangel, a fierce opponent of the Iraq war, on Thursday called for a new military draft, saying everyone between 18 and 42 should be asked to share the burden of wartime responsibilities. The Harlem Democrat has offered the bill before, but this is the first time he has done so as a member of the new Democratic majority in Congress. ... Democratic leadership has shown no interest in bringing the bill to a vote, despite its vocal objections to the 21,500-troop increase announced Wednesday night by President Bush. Even Rangel once voted against the bill.

It’s been 33 years since America got rid of the draft and moved to an all-volunteer military. Is it time to return to the days of conscription? Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., thinks so. He plans to hold hearings soon after the new Congress convenes in January. For years, Rangel has been saying wealthy Americans are “absent” from the military. More recently, he dismissed any sense of duty in America’s youngest generation. “If a young fellow has an option of having a decent career, or joining the Army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not...

As the de facto media contact for the Selective Service System, Dick Flahavan is the Maytag repairman of government press people. With the military draft out of business since 1973, the Selective Service just doesn’t get a lot of calls these days. But by midday Friday, Mr. Flahavan’s office had fielded dozens of inquiries, not just from reporters but from some anxious parents as well, all with some variation of the same urgent question: Are you reinstituting the draft? So adamant was the denial that Mr. Flahavan, a bit beleaguered, had his staff members post an unplanned update Friday morning...

(CBS/AP) The Selective Service System is making plans to test its draft machinery in case Congress and President Bush need it, even though the White House says it doesn't want to bring back the draft. The agency is planning a comprehensive test — not run since 1998 — of its military draft systems, a Selective Service official said. The test itself would not likely occur until 2009. At the direction of the White House, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson is making it clear he is not advocating the reinstatement of a military draft. He...

NEW YORK -- President Bush's secretary for Veterans Affairs said Thursday that "society would benefit" if this country were to bring back the military draft, and said it shouldn't have loopholes for anyone who is called to serve. Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson spoke a day after Bush said he is considering sending more troops to Iraq. The Bush administration has for years forcefully opposed bringing back the draft, and the White House said Thursday that its position had not changed.

WASHINGTON -- The Selective Service System is planning a comprehensive test of the military draft machinery, which hasn't been run since 1998. The agency is not gearing up for a draft, an agency official said Thursday. The test itself would not likely occur until 2009. Meanwhile, the secretary for Veterans Affairs said that "society would benefit" if the U.S. were to bring back the draft and that it shouldn't have any loopholes for anyone who is called to serve. VA Secretary Jim Nicholson later issued a statement saying he does not support reinstituting a draft.

Three major reasons are behind the move to end the all-volunteer military. All are flawed. Incoming Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel recently promised to introduce legislation calling for a military draft soon after Democrats regain majority control of the House of Representatives in January. Those who support a return to the draft typically cite at least one of the following three major reasons for doing so. Each reason is based on misinformation or is a cynical effort to undermine our military's effectiveness. SNIP John Kline, a Republican, represents Minnesota's Second Congressional District in the U.S. House.

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) said the solution to shoring up the solvency of the Social Security System may lie in a new approach to the draft. Rep. Rangel’s proposal to revive the military draft has been given little chance for passage in the upcoming congress. “The youth of America may just be too selfish to submit to the call to serve,” Rangel conceded. “But I was thinking, if we drafted the oldsters we might kill two birds with one stone.” Under Rangel’s new plan, those receiving Social Security benefits would be required to serve two years in the military. “War...

Once again the possibility of reinstating a military draft is being discussed in Washington, and while the idea seems remote it is not unthinkable. Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, soon to be a powerful committee chair, has openly called for reinstating the Selective Service System. Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey claims that our ground forces in both Afghanistan and Iraq are stretched far too thin, and desperately need reinforcements. Meanwhile, other political and military leaders suggest that several hundred thousand additional troops might be needed simply to restore some semblance of order in Iraq. We are nearing the...

It was bad enough when last month we heard John Kerry insinuate that our brave and talented troops aren’t the brightest bulbs in the chandelier -- that young Americans who don’t pursue their education wind up “stuck in Iraq.” But now Charlie Rangel is actually making an argument for Kerry’s “joke” -- that our troops are ignorant and motivated by nothing higher than self-interest. Of course, it isn’t the first time Rangel has bashed our troops and threatened to hold hearings to bring back the draft. As I wrote in this column three weeks ago, we should expect him to...

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

Hence hgis support for the draft. If even our volunteers are there voluntary, why shouldn't everyone be? I want to make it abundantly clear: if there's anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. And most all of them come from communitiies of very, very high unemployment. If a young fella has an option of having a decent career or joining the army to fight in Iraq,...

There's nothing like a long holiday weekend – visiting relatives who can't put politics aside during Thanksgiving dinner, endless movie previews before the feature presentation and mind-numbing waits at checkout counters – to spark a plethora of thoughts about the stories in the news that just won't go away. And, fresh from a weekend of giving thanks, I'm grateful for this column as it gives me a chance to refine my thoughts on these weighty matters as we go into the final weeks of 2006 and all of the upcoming Christmas parties: Global Warming. As more evidence of the sun's...

Harlem Congressman Charles Rangel created a stir once again this week with his call for renewing the military draft. His own party leaders quickly disavowed any such plan, suggesting just how unpopular the idea is among most Americans. Yet the proposal deserves some further inspection before it vanishes, if only to expose its false assumptions about the current U.S. military. A vocal Iraq war critic, Mr. Rangel told CBS News recently, "There's no question in my mind that this President and this Administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- During the 2004 presidential campaign, the Democrats' standard bearer, John "Study or Get Stuck in Iraq" Kerry, was fond of claiming that if President Bush got re-elected, he would reinstate the draft. Though no Republican has advocated such a measure, the draft idea has created a lot of hot air on television and talk-radio outlets, which is what its proponents want in order to further depress support for the war in Iraq. The champion of conscription is a legitimate Korean War hero -- Rep. Charlie Rangel, the dean of the New York congressional delegation, who was decorated...