- A good portion of TO readers are all too familiar with
the Project for the New American Century. For those who have missed this
important group and the story behind them, this essay will fill in the
gaps.
-
- The strength and influence of this group, therefore,
makes the letter they released on January 28 all the more disturbing. It
is titled 'Letter to Congress on Increasing U.S. Ground Forces,' and basically
calls for a draft without using the word:
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- The United States military is too small for the responsibilities
we are asking it to assume. Those responsibilities are real and important.
They are not going away. The United States will not and should not become
less engaged in the world in the years to come. But our national security,
global peace and stability, and the defense and promotion of freedom in
the post-9/11 world require a larger military force than we have today.
The administration has unfortunately resisted increasing our ground forces
to the size needed to meet today's (and tomorrow's) missions and challenges.
-
- So we write to ask you and your colleagues in the legislative
branch to take the steps necessary to increase substantially the size of
the active duty Army and Marine Corps. While estimates vary about just
how large an increase is required, and Congress will make its own determination
as to size and structure, it is our judgment that we should aim for an
increase in the active duty Army and Marine Corps, together, of at least
25,000 troops each year over the next several years.
-
- The men and women of our military have performed magnificently
over the last few years. We are more proud of them than we can say. But
many of them would be the first to say that the armed forces are too small.
And we would say that surely we should be doing more to honor the contract
between America and those who serve her in war. Reserves were meant to
be reserves, not regulars. Our regulars and reserves are not only proving
themselves as warriors, but as humanitarians and builders of emerging democracies.
Our armed forces, active and reserve, are once again proving their value
to the nation. We can honor their sacrifices by giving them the manpower
and the materiel they need.
-
- Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution places the power
and the duty to raise and support the military forces of the United States
in the hands of the Congress. That is why we, the undersigned, a bipartisan
group with diverse policy views, have come together to call upon you to
act. You will be serving your country well if you insist on providing the
military manpower we need to meet America's obligations, and to help ensure
success in carrying out our foreign policy objectives in a dangerous, but
also hopeful, world.
-
- Disturbing.
-
- I am working up an essay for later today that looks into
this, along with the outcome and reality of yesterday's Iraq election.
-
- PNAC has gotten everything it has wanted in the last
three years. Parents of draft-age children should fear this new call.
-
- http://www.truthout.org/fyi
-
-
- Comment
- From Sandy
- 2-1-5
-
- Hi Jeff..
-
- I have been trying to get the word out. Senator Hollings
from S.C. sponsored a draft bill EXACTLY like Rangel's.
-
- Rangel's was defeated but Hollings (now retired) is still
in the Armed Service Committee. Go to US Senate...under legislation put
in S89. The entire bill will come up.
-
- I have written to everyone I can think of and no one
will print the truth. They all go back to Rangel's bill having been defeated..or
that Congress was working on another one. But the Holling's Draft bill
is all ready to go. It has been *read* three times in committee.
-
- I received a possible *boiler plate* email from my Senator
Cantwell. I just asked her how she would vote on it. She sent back a pretty
generic answer of "I will have to decide that when and if it comes
up."
-
- I have noticed some more posting on your site talking
about the draft but no mention of Hollings bill.
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