ONLINE JOURNAL

The coming military draft

By Lisa Walsh Thomas

Online Journal Contributing Writer

October 3, 2002— It's called the "Universal Military Training and Service Act of 2001." It was introduced by two Republicans in the House on December 20, 2001, and it sits there, waiting until enough people feel that it's needed. It's what we call, simply, "The Draft." While it waits, it can be read at: http://thomas.loc.gov (search for Universal Military Training and Service Act)

And it is waiting. To think that this act will not be made law, probably within the next 12 months, is to remain completely deaf and blind regarding the Bush Doctrine, the "Age of American Imperialism," Pax Americana, or the Corporate Oil Conglomerates' Takeover of the World—whatever we want to call it.

To many of us, that is all Iraq is about, a step in the "right" direction.

So we have enough troops to kill enough Iraqis and maybe even get Saddam. But we probably need to send a few back to Afghanistan, because all those liberated Afghans are crouching around behind rocks just waiting to assassinate any one puppet leader or another. And then, of course, we have to leave many thousands to run Iraq after we've divvied up the refineries and have the pipelines secured.

Syria and Iran are probably next. All steps toward the big prize, Saudi oil. Whether at some point this is going to cause a problem with China or not is a variable, as is the final role of Pakistan and the ultimate position Vladimir Putin takes on what is his share of the Caspian Sea oil and gas.

Many of us have played the board game of "Risk." When you conquer territories, you just never have enough armies to spread out and leave in control of the lands you already own. A real headache. As the U.S. continues the shaping of the New World Order, the same problem will exist. The body bags will have been coming home by the thousands by then, and one of the easily forgotten laws of war is that dead bodies have to be replaced by live ones. If we're allowed to see the body bags on TV, we're not going to encourage our sons to join a volunteer army. The picture is clear. The Military Universal Training and Service Act of 2001 (H.R.3598) is waiting.

"They" know it, as they know so many things we find difficult to comprehend. Their sons won't be victims of H.R. 3598; they never are.

And the Bush wars to take control of the Middle East are going to last years, maybe decades. If you have an 18-year old, he may be able to slip by now, with deferments. If you have a 5- or 6-year old, you need to look to the future and enjoy the present.

I have a friend who has just moved to Canada. He says you haven't felt free until you feel the fast warmth of a chinook wind and watch its dancing white clouds arch in the sky.



This article was originally published Sept. 26, 2002, by Liberal Slant

Lisa Walsh Thomas is a former journalist, resurrected politically as a contributing writer to Online Journal, Liberal Slant and Practical Radical. She writes the column, "The Raven's Nest" and is the founder of "Mad Grandparents.