Rep. Charles Rangel wants to bring back the draft?

Question

does any one else have info. on this?

Answer 1

This is his second attempt to do so. The first one, with the war in the early stages and his being a Democrat in a Republican controlled congress, went nowhere.
I feel there are two ways of looking at it. First, you could take him at face value when he says that the poor and uneducated are the ones doing all the fighting and that it is a form of discrimination to make those kids do most of the fighting. (This was an argument also used during Vietnam.)
The second possibility is that he is trying to force attention on the fact that the war isnt going so well, and by asking for a draft he can create a critical mass of anti-war sentiment and perhaps bring down the Republicans. Which way you believe probably depends on your politics.

Answer 2

All that was in the news about it was that Rangel wants to see the draft instituted again. In my opinion, he has a good point. The poor and indigent are the ones paying the price for this war and the price in in the form of their lives. As soon as the middle class and upper class have to pay for it with the lives of their sons and daughters, their will be far more judicious decision making applied to military actions.

Answer 3

He's introducing legislation - but this doesn't mean he WANTS the draft. Sometimes, politicians introduce legislation in order to force the Congress's hand to make a statement about something. In this case - Rangel wants to see just HOW pro-war the hawks really are. It's easy to support a war if you know you won't have to make a personal sacrifice (i.e. seeing one of your own children go off to war)....but when all 18-25 year olds are "fair game" to be sent - it gets the citizenry a lot more involved in really THINKING about the war.

The Republicans pulled a similar stunt last November after John Murtha made comments that Republicans (incorrectly) interpreted to mean that he wanted to immediately withdraw all troops from Iraq (this ISN'T what he said - but it's how the Republicans WANTED to interpret what he said).

Following Murtha's comments, Republicans led by Duncan Hunter of California, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, responded by proposing a resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal of all troops from Iraq.

The resolution was intended to demonstrate that those calling for immediate troop withdrawl were out of the mainstream.

Of course, the resolution went down in flames - 403-3...no Republicans - not even the ones who introduced the legislation, voted for it.

It was a political statement - not a serious attempt to pass real legislation.

Rangel's upcoming proposal is a similar political statement. I'm sure Rangel himself will not vote for his own legislation.

Answer 4

Rep. Rangel is the representative from Harlem. Many of his constituents are avidly against this war, and they are the ones losing their lives to the cause. It's the same in any poorer urban district. He believes that with a draft we will be less likely to go to war with a reasonable cause.

He saw the war on the Taliban in Afghanistan as just, and the war in Iraq as injust. He did not waver in that belief, and he is a veteran of the Korean war.

Answer 5

It is a conservative blog site, but this is him talking about bringing back the draft. A few dems ran on a platform of the draft during the midterms. I think he is serious and he is doing it to pull a win out of Iraq. Remember, our enemies are trying a war of atrition and believe they just have to wait us out, with the draft we can go a lot longer in that region.

Answer 6

Why The Draft? We have leaders in Congress that have no idea
what the military is about! Never carried a rifle, never slept in a barracks, never dug a fox hole, never separated from family, never been shot at, never experienced errors on the battlefield and that cost, never seen officers miss use troops and that cost,

Bottom line, THEY HAVE NO EXPERIENCE! Someone needs to be in the decision making process that have actual Hands-On-Experience. Committees made up of no experience is not the answerer, Listing to generals with no experience to judge their issues is not the answerer.

The majority of the Masses, with position and means, do not feel that they should serve in the military of this country. How many in either the Congress or Senate has been on active duty?

People off the Block, in the slums, that have to fight at school, fight on the way home, and fight just to play basket ball on the corner, know more about war and how to stay alive than the ones making war decisions that effect the survivability of Americas Soldiers.

Mr. Rumsfield wanted to do away with the tank; he was never shot at on the battle field.

Our troops are being killed because the ones that never carried a weapon think there is a sweet, kind, FAIR, honorable way to fight a war! The only kind way is to not go to war! After that, you kill everybody in front of you, dog, cat mama, son, brother, sister and you burry hand grenades in their grandfathers grave!

The Baldest Military in the History of mankind, and no one fears going to war with us! No one fears killing one of our soldiers! WHY. Because the ones that never served their country are sitting in their comfortable chair, before the TV, saying, that ain’t fair.
Oh we mistreated our prisoners, while the other side cuts off heads, rape, execute and all else. We are not like them? Wrong answerer! We should be worse than any enemy,
The world should share one idea about going to war against America, and that is, ‘Do what ever, say what ever, but don’t cause us to have to go to war against America”
The last thing any country should want is to know that our troops are coming with weapons. Don’t get mad folks, its just business, or should I say WAR!

Answer 7

He was proposing a bill in the House to start the draft.

Answer 8

It is true... go to: http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/19/rangel.draft.ap/index.html

Now, for the record, I am a 100% liberal democrat & I am DEAD against the draft. I think he is out of his mind.

Make love, not war...

< peace >

Answer 9

Yes. This isn't new, he has sponsored such bills before. The difference now is that his party has a majority & he will chair a very powerfull committee (Ways & Means).

Answer 10

He has been pushing it. His reason is that if more whites were killed we'd stop the war. What a joke one only has to see who are the most being kill they aren't blacks and minorities. He is just a racist!