Draft has big implications
Good work on the article about the reinstatement of the draft,
“Students contemplate draft possibility” (News, June
2). I found it well rounded and provocative.
When considering press coverage of the possible reinstatement of
the draft, I can’t help but think that we students need to
reconsider the terms upon which we formulate our debate. The
“Make Love, Not War” slogan of the 1960s draft
resistance may or may not have been an enlightened statement, but
perhaps we can be more effective by comprehensively considering the
issue at hand.
In January 2003 a bill named the Universal National Service Act
of 2003 was introduced to Congress. This is a rare case where we
don’t really need to read much further before we begin to
form an oppositional stance ““ the wording of the bill is
problematic enough. Universal National Service Act ““ just
what does that mean?
We are engaged in war in Iraq, if only nominally, to free the
Iraqi people from oppression and to establish a new state in Iraq
with more equitable policies for future growth. Wouldn’t it
be a more consistent argument by our war monger politicians to
title the bill the Universal Iraqi Service Act?
I was fortunate to hear former President Bill Clinton make an
address this last weekend at the convocation ceremony at Cornell
University. He called on Americans to understand that it will be
impossible under current circumstances to sustain our status as a
solitary global power.
The shape of peace in the future will be one where the power and
wealth of all nations is validated and harnessed via cooperative
efforts. With any other approach, violent conflicts of
unprecedented scale are inevitable.
With this in mind, I hope that we can carefully consider the
terms on which we debate a reinstatement of the draft. We truly
need to consider what we are there for before we start arguing
against it.
In this assertion, I do not call for support for the draft nor
opposition. I simply hope that we reflect responsibly on all
aspects of U.S. foreign policy.
Paul Shirk Second-year, anthropology