Draft dodging in the twenty-first century

During the Iraq war, over one thousand U.S. soldiers and possibly up to 15 thousand Iraqis have died, according to iraqbodycount.net. The invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with a war against terrorism. Not a single terrorist aboard the Sept. 11 planes was an Iraqi. Oil was and remains the reason for the war in Iraq. No politician wants to touch the draft issue with election posturing, but it's a bitter reality that more troops will be needed.

With neither of the two parties calling for a withdrawal from Iraq we must prepare ourselves for a long protracted war in which a national draft is inevitable. Neo-conservative backers of President George W. Bush have also begun saber-rattling for a war with Iran, which would greatly increase the need for army recruits. The promise Bush gave to build a free Iraq has instead become Bush's plan to build a puppet Iraq with its natural resources in the hands of U.S. corporations. As young people we must decide if we are willing to give up our lives for the greed of these madmen.

The U.S. army is facing a severe recruitment crisis and with mounting casualties a national draft will be the only way to maintain adequate forces in occupied areas. It's simple arithmetic. Re-enlistment rates are at an all-time low. Already in Iraq, U.S. soldiers have begun to refuse missions due to the intensely hostile environment, with large swaths of the Iraqi population in open rebellion across much of the country. A platoon from the 343rd Quartermaster Company refused to transport supplies from Tallil air base near Nassiriyah to Taji north of Baghdad.

Little attention has been paid to this in the media but U.S. soldiers have already begun speaking out against the war with some even going AWOL. Six U.S. soldiers have fled to Canada so far. The GI Rights Hotline, run by antiwar groups, has been receiving up to 4,000 calls per month from soldiers seeking a way out. Brandon Hughey, 19, fled Fort Hood, Texas, in March calling the war in Iraq "illegal."

During the Vietnam War tens of thousands of Americans avoided the draft by taking refuge in Canada. Currently hundreds of Israeli ‘Refusenik' soldiers, protesting the apartheid policies of their government, have been placed in jail by the Israeli army. Refusing to accept the Israeli armies' bulldozing of Palestinian villages to make room for settler colonies has made them enemies of the U.S. It may behoove potential draft dodgers to get as far away from North America as possible when the draft begins because of the new extradition treaties the Bush Administration has secretively promoted behind the scenes that will make it extremely difficult for young people to flee persecution from our government.

War brings on economic hardship and is only beneficial to those in powerful positions who can benefit off war expenditures. Those with wealth, power and influence can get deferments and safety for their children while those in poverty will serve as cannon fodder. We must find alternative forms of draft dodging such as resisting the registration laws of the United States Military Selective Service Act. By refusing to take part in a draft through non-registration, we can build a movement of mass-refusal to the war-mongering policies of our government.

Students on campus in need of advice regarding avoiding military service can get counseling from members of the Campus Progressive collective or meet with Professor Bob Brophy, formerly of the CSULB English department and a Jesuit Priest. Brophy protests yearly the U.S. Armies School of the Americas, which has trained dozens of U.S. backed dictators and paramilitary death squad leaders from South America.

We face a dilemma in which our generation is being forced to fight a war we do not believe in. We must invent new ways to boycott military recruitment. Only through educating and organizing ourselves can we be effective in halting the corporate war machine.

Jeb Sprague is a graduate student in history and a member of the CSULB Campus Progressive Collective. This is the last of a two part series on the draft.