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August 18, 2004
The Change is Forever
The first law-suit against Army's "stop-loss" orders was filed yesterday:
Attorneys for a decorated combat veteran serving in the Army Reserve are announcing Tuesday the filing of a petition challenging a "stop loss" order that requires the reservist to remain in the military beyond the term of his enlistment for possible duty in Iraq.The reservist is identified as "John Doe" for reasons of privacy. According to his attorneys, Doe's case is the first legal challenge to the Army's current "stop loss" program. Under the program, tens of thousands of soldiers have been prevented from retiring or leaving the military upon completing their enlistment terms so that they may be deployed to Iraq. The petition asserts that the program is arbitrary, unfair, and unauthorized by law. The stop loss program has been widely criticized as a "backdoor draft."
His attorneys say that Doe, a San Francisco Bay Area resident, served in combat during the invasion of Iraq last year, and has more than nine years of active service in the military. Doe currently serves as a reservist in the California Army National Guard under a one-year enlistment. He has a wife and two daughters, ages 6 and 3. The stop loss order could require Doe's return to Iraq for up to two years, and possible continued military service beyond that time. Doe is one of up to 40,000 service members forced to serve beyond the expiration of their enlistment terms since the war in Iraq began.
I personally think there is no chance of a real draft coming our way anytime soon. Neither this, nor any other, administration is going to do the one thing that will guarantee a middle-class revolt against it's foreign policy. We all gotta do our part appropriately, you see, the poor should enlist in the army and the rest of us should spend money in the mall.
But I suspect they will do more stunts like these stop-loss orders that turn military enlistment into servitude. It's one thing to further entrap the already entrapped segments, it's totally another thing to threaten the "middle class."
Posted by zeynep at August 18, 2004 01:27 AM
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Comments
I'm afraid that I do think that a draft is coming and probably as soon as 2005 or anytime after the 2004 presidential election. My understanding is that the old Selective Service apparatus is already in the process of being re-activated. The White House and the Pentagon can not continue to operate as they have the past almost 4 years without a draft. Perpetual war? Where will all the expendables come from if not through a military draft? This lawsuit, which seems like a type of slam-dunk to me for the plaintiff, is only the beginning of the resistance that will come from within the military and is already happening through Bring Them Home Now, Military Families Speak Out, and other anti-war NGO's that have been formed by military people directly impacted by the fascist and imperialist policies emanating from Washington, D.C. I hate to disagree with you, Zeynep, but I fear that a military draft is inevitable given contemporary American foreign policies which have only become more hubristic and conquestorial during the Bush-43 regime. And Kerry, if he is elected, doesn't seem much less imperial to me than the Bush-43 sluggos in the White House and the Pentagon right now. Regarding American foreign policy I don't see much to feel positive about even if Kerry does replace Bush. I hope that you are right about the draft, but I fear not and I fear the worst out of our political "leaders."
Sincerely,
Old & In The Way
Posted by: Phil Cicchi at August 18, 2004 04:19 PM
Yes, this is an issue over which there is a lot of disagreement. I know a lot of people think the draft is inevitable, but my question is this: how would they account for the inevitable middle class revolt that would follow even the suggestion of sending their children to wars? Why not keep the current system, or expand it a bit and not draw the ire of the pacified, consumption-oriented masses?
Posted by: zeynep at August 19, 2004 06:00 PM
As I understand the general argument regarding the reinstitution of a military draft and the ensuing "middle class revolt" that would surely follow it goes something like this and it is truly a cynical view. Incidentally I recently learned in a Jim Hightower interview on Democracy Now that it was Lily Tomlin who said, "No matter how cynical I get, I can't keep up." Nevertheless, here is the answer that I have heard people like Frank Morales, researcher and author, and Ralph Schoenman of Taking Aim give to your question regarding the public revolt and resistance to a miliary draft. The so-called War on Terror is really a War on Dissent both globally and domestically. The public is being inured already to the concept that terrorists and dissenters are equivalent. Patriot Acts I and II will be used to criminalize anyone who challenges the government's policies. Anyone protesting government policies will be painted with a broad terrorist brush and be aggressively suppressed under the general banner of the War on Terror, using provisions legalized in Patriot Acts I and II. I don't think that Patriot Act II has actually been passed or implemented yet but I can't remember for sure. However, Patriot Act I by itself it draconian enough to suffice and "legitimize" any kind of political oppression or suppression of dissent that the government wishes. This is a very "dark" view, but it is a view that is hard to ignore. I'm not saying that this scenario will occur but one can easily imagine, given what has already occurred over the past 3+ years of the Bush-43 regime, that it certainly could become a very real and very harsh reality on the ground. It is already happening to some degree. Look at the notorious "Free Speech Zone" cages set up in Boston for the Democratic National Convention. Look how south Asian immigrants have been outrageously mistreated since 9-11. Look how anyone who has challenged the Bush-43 regime policies since 9-11 has been treated. Frank Morales in his writing refers to a militarized police state in America in which local law enforcement agencies have adopted a military approach to their routine duties. The so-called "Free Speech Zone" cages in Boston came straight from military crowd-control manuals. So did the tactics employed by the NYC Police Dept. during the February 2003 anti-war march and rally in Manhattan.
So the short answer to your question is that the government plans to use Patriot Acts I and II to violently and aggressively oppress any dissent or challenge to their authority and their policies. According to this argument the American policies and crimes exposed in Abu Ghraib Prison, and at Guantanamo Bay will not stop at the shores of the United States but will effect American citizens just as they do everyone else who is under the thumb of this profoundly fascist form of American imperialism and hegemony. If anyone doubts this, it might be useful to examine the policies being utilized in American domestic prisons at this very moment.
Sorry it took me so long to anwser your question. I thought I could do it more concisely, but I guess not. Hope this helps answer your question, and I apologize for the bleakness of this viewpoint. But it isn't too hard to imagine that this viewpoint has more basis in fact than fantasy.
Sincerely,
Old & In The Way
Posted by: Phil Cicchi at August 19, 2004 07:25 PM