Charles Rangel of New York and John Conyers of Michigan, both Democratic Party representatives, have introduced legislation that would impose mandatory military or national service on men and women, ages 18 to 26. No exemptions would be allowed for college or graduate students. Rangel said he looked forward to "a patriotic debate" on the proposal.

At a January 7 news conference the two members of the Congressional Black Caucus depicted the proposal as an antiwar measure, consistent with their votes against the Congressional resolution last year that gave President George Bush the authority to press toward an assault on Iraq. "I believe that if those calling for war knew that their children were likely to be required to serve--and to be placed in harm’s way--there would be more caution and greater willingness to work with the international community in dealing with Iraq," said Rangel.

"As a combat veteran of the Korean conflict," wrote the congressman in an op-ed piece run in the December 31 New York Times, "I believe that if we are going to send our children to war the governing principle must be that of shared sacrifice." He noted that "a disproportionate number of the poor and members of minority groups make up the enlisted ranks of the military, while the most privileged Americans are underrepresented or absent."

Rangel did not comment on the reality that the conscript armies in Vietnam and other wars were made up overwhelmingly of working people, as the families of the upper middle class and ruling class found a myriad of ways to avoid the enlistment of their offspring. This class divide is reflected in 1967 figures showing that 31 percent of eligible whites were inducted into the military, compared with 67 percent of eligible Blacks.  
 
‘Strained military resources’
Joining the issue from another angle, Rangel argued that going to war against Iraq will "severely strain military resources already burdened by a growing number of obligations." He pointed to the number of U.S. troops in different areas of the world, including the 116,000 in Europe, 90,000 in the Pacific, and thousands more in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo and elsewhere.

"We can expect the evolving war on terrorism to drain our military resources even more," he stated. "Those who would lead us into war have an obligation to support an all-out mobilization of Americans for the war effort."

For his part, Conyers--speaking as "one against the war"--questioned whether an all-volunteer army could "sustain the number of military personnel required to police Iraq after the war."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, dismissed the proposal at their regular press briefing on January 7. Myers said that the present army is "extremely well-trained and well-led. Any comparison between today’s force and the Vietnam force would be dramatic," he said. "There is no comparison."

Military conscription was brought to a halt in 1973 in the closing stages of Washington’s defeat in Vietnam. Terminated three years later, registration for the draft was reintroduced by President James Carter in 1980. After an initial period of widespread refusal to register, it remains in place today.

In 2000 some 1.3 million men and women were on active duty in the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.  
 
 
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