WARNIG: This letter contains graphics images. Do not scroll down below unless you want to see these fems strutting their stuff.
The possibility of a reviving the draft, says Rep. Duncan Hunter, the California Republican who serves as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, would only come up should there be a “massive surge requirement” over that demanded by current military operations abroadThe president, the secretary of Defense and any number of senior lawmakers have all insisted that a draft is not necessary—nor in the works. “I don’t know anyone in the executive branch of the government who believes that it would be appropriate or necessary to reinstitute the draft,” Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in an April speech. “There isn’t any reason in the world why we can’t manage this force better with less stress on it, and it simply requires changing the rules, changing the requirements, changing the regulations in ways that we can manage that force considerably better.” But that hasn’t stopped the conspiracy theorists. “Most Americans believe there’s no way that a draft can happen, but it doesn’t take a lot of vision to see it right around the corner if we pick up one or two more enemies,” says Scott Kohlhaas, the state chair of Alaska’s Libertarian Party who launched a Web site called DraftResistance.org in late 2002. And while 63 percent of 18-29 year olds in a NEWSWEEK GENEXT poll conducted late last month think it is unlikely that the draft will be reinstated, a full 36 percent say it’s likely a military draft will be reactivated. But how real is another draft? In the past year, some lawmakers have urged that a draft for military service be reintroduced, most notably New York Rep. Charlie Rangel and South Carolina Sen. Fritz Hollings, both Democrats, who have sponsored bills to that effect, primarily as a way to protest against war in Iraq. Though both bills (S. 89 and H.R. 163) remain stuck in committee—and Sen. Hollings was unable even to garner any cosponsors for his bill—one widely forwarded e-mail letter claims the administration is “quietly trying to get these bills passed now” so the draft could begin as early as the spring of 2005. Dan Amon, a spokesman for the Selective Service System, which has about 13.5 million men between the ages of 18 and 25 registered, says he’s heard the rumors. But he insists: “That is just not the case.” While the agency was asked to look at a special draft for health-care personnel should one be needed, he says the agency’s report on the subject is “gathering dust on the shelf” and that there are no plans of implementing either a targeted or a general draft. “We take our cue from the Department of Defense and from Congress,” he says
