Students not likely to face military draft

By David Kassis
The Collegian

If a New York politician has his way, many young Americans around the country will serve time in the military, whether they want to or not.

Rep. Charles Rangel, a Democrat and Korean War veteran, is on a quest to re-institute the military draft, but has almost no support in his cause.

Rangel’s reasoning behind the push for a draft is that if the president and members of Congress had children in uniform, war would be less likely.

Since about mid-November, the United States has about 152,000 troops in Iraq, according to www.globalsecurity.org, and according to the Associated Press, Gen. John Abizaid said 20,000 more troops could be added. Abizaid is the top U.S. commander in the region.

But even with the number of people signing up in the United States’ all-volunteer army waning, it is almost certain that a draft will not be conducted.

“It’s not going to happen because nobody is going to go for a draft,” said political science professor Kurt Cline. “Others have tried that tactic before, he [Rangel] is just trying to get people to think about the consequences of war.”

Cline also noted that there are probably not enough troops available for occupation in Iraq, but a draft is not the right way to increase America’s military presence.

“I don’t think Rangel is proposing the draft to get a draft, he just wants to raise opposition and get policy-makers thinking,” Cline said. “This issue is not being talked about as much as he’d like.”

Rangel and other supporters of a draft think it is good for young people to serve their country.

Senior criminology student Will Heuer would be willing to fight for America if he were drafted, but doesn’t think it will ever come to that. “People who do not want to be there would not do as good of a job as the volunteers,” Heuer said. “More people would get killed.”

In regards to the war in Iraq, Heuer believes our country needs to see it through until the end. “We shouldn’t pull out like the Democrats want to, they just acted anti-war to get elected into office,” Heuer said. “They [Democrats] are Monday morning quarterbacks when it comes to the war, but we have got to see it through.”

Freshman music performance student Dominick Harris feels the Iraq situation is a personal

vendetta for the Bush family, and does not think a draft should be instituted because of that.

“I disagree with a draft because people will not really fight if they are not into it,” Harris said. “I would go to war if they really needed people because I live in this country and reap the benefits, but I don’t think the war should have happened in the first place.”

Comment on this story in the News forum >>