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No Draft No Way MILITARY RECRUITMENT Peace-Out "You can get out of the military as a conscientious objector, even if you enlisted... Here's how" CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION AND ALTERNATIVE SERVICE Conscientious Objection Fact Sheet Quaker Site on Conscientious Objectors
Conscientious Objectors links and quotes
"The main effect of bringing back the draft would be to further militarize the nation. The military has already thrust its tentacles deep into civilian life: We have ROTC on campus, Junior ROTC in the high schools, Hummers in our garages and camouflage couture in our closets. Whole counties, entire professions, live or die by defense contracts -- which is perhaps one reason we spend more on our military budget than the next twenty-five countries combined. (Did you know that the money raised by the breast cancer postage stamp goes to the Defense Department?) Conscription will make the country more authoritarian and probably more violent... "If we want a society that is equal, cohesive, fair, and war-resistant, let's fight for that, not punish our children for what we have allowed America to become" (Katha Pollitt. "Do You Feel a Draft?" The Nation, June 7, 2004: 9).
"... February 2003... the Secretary of the Navy had instituted "stop loss," which meant that those soldiers deemed necessary to the war could not get out of the service when promised... "...Military Families Speak Out... more than 2,000 families today... "Part of the problem is that no one, from the next-door neighbor to the politicians in Congress, wants to be seen as not supporting the troops," says Lessin. "Our role is to change that construct, to say that real support of the troops right now--when they have been sent off to fight and die in a war based on lies--is to fight against a war that never had to happen. We say, 'We need you to support the troops this way.'" Getting vets and military family members involved in this is critical. "This group of people gives us permission to speak out against the war." "There is Specialist Thomas Wilson, the soldier who, during a feel-good town meeting in Kuwait, got so much press when he dared to question Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as to why soldiers were being forced to "dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal" to up-armor their vehicles instead of getting proper protective equipment from the Army. Then there were the twenty-three members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company in Iraq who mutinied, refusing to drive their trucks on what they clearly considered a suicide mission... a spate of well-publicized lawsuits from both enlisted soldiers and officers... "...what John Kerry dubbed a "back-door draft"... lawyers for some reluctant soldiers contend otherwise... Since Congresss never formally declared war against Iraq, they claim, Bush does not have the power to ignore the contractual agreements soldiers sign upon enlisting... "...the Quakers are joiining up with Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), Families for Peaceful Tomorrows to organize a large antiwar demonstration on March 19... "...in Vermont... fifty towns passed a resolution on March 1 to end the war. "This war is being perpetrated in our names with our tax dollars," says Sherry Prindall, mother of a National Guard soldier deployed in Iraq... "...the peace movement's counterrecruiting efforts... "This is just one part of the larger struggle to deny the government the troops it needs to fight the war," explains MFSO's Richardson. Banding together with the American Friends Service Committee, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace and United for Peace and Justice, MFSO intends to bring the war home by exposing the local impact of the war on soldiers, families, communities and states through a focus on the National Guard... "This is an issue that state legislatures can and must take on"... If grassroots activists can persuade a city councilor to support their cause, and then a state legislator, eventually members of Congress might feel they have a supportive base for taking a stand. To that end, peace activists are tying the cost of the war to local issues. Libraries and schools are underfunded, the argument goes, because money is going instead to fund military adventures... Code Pink, an organization of women for peace" (Karen Houppert. "The New Face of Protest?" The Nation, March 28, 2005: 13-16).
"Rolling Stone magazine recently unearthed an internal selective service memo that reveals the [Administration'] lie. It details a meeting with two of Rummie's top aides early in 2003, specifically to debate, discuss, ponder, and otherwise consider reinstating the draft. Indeed, the head of the Selective Service later testified before Congress that... the agency began preparing a plan to draft Americans who have special skills that the military needs, such as nurses and doctors. "But conscripting people with medical skills is just a start. A Selective Service official confides that "with some very slight tinkering, we could change that skill to plumbers or linguists or electrical engineers or whatever the military was short"" (Jim Hightower. "Uncle Sam Wants You." Progressive Populist, March 15, 2005: 3).
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