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Murtha, Again
Seeking to boost the movement to reinstitute a military draft, Rep. John Murtha is arguing that the U.S. should have a "citizen's army" in addition to a "volunteer, professional army." However, a critic of the Pennsylvania Democrat on Monday called his statement "ridiculous" and "without merit.""I voted against the volunteer army because I felt if we ever had a war, we wouldn't be able to sustain [it]," Murtha said during the March 29 edition of CNN's "The Situation Room." "This is one of the smallest armies we've had since before World War II, right before the Korean War," added the congressman. Murtha, a frequent critic of the war in Iraq, claimed that the president's handling of the war has depleted the country's strategic reserve. "And I think also, everybody ought to be able to serve in this country," Murtha said. "I think we ought to not just have a select few who volunteer. I think everybody ought to be obligated to serve. "We'd do it by lottery, and we'd call everybody up," he continued. "I think we have a citizen's army is what it ought to be, not just a volunteer professional army." When host Wolf Blitzer noted that most members of Congress, the military and the American public don't want to bring back the draft, Murtha responded, "I think it's absolutely needed." Murtha's comments make him the latest member of the U.S. House of Representatives to support a return of the draft, which is also the focus of a bill sponsored by Rep. Charlie Rangel. On January 10, the New York Democrat introduced H.R. 393, which would "require all persons in the United States between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform national service, either as a member of the uniformed services or in civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security." The bill would also "authorize the induction of persons in the uniformed services during wartime to meet end-strength requirements of the uniformed services." As Cybercast News Service previously reported, Rangel and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) in Dec. 2002 proposed a reinstatement of the military draft in an attempt to stall possible military action against Iraq. "I think if [members of Congress] went home and found out that there were families concerned about their kids going off to war," Rangel said at the time, "there would be more cautiousness and more willingness to work with the international community than to say, 'Our way or the highway.'" Rangel's proposal was voted down 402 to two despite his claims that the current volunteer military was the only employment option for minority youths living in impoverished areas. However, the situation on Capitol Hill changed when Democrats won marginal control of both houses of Congress in November of 2006. As a result, Rangel now serves as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, while Murtha chairs the Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on defense. The concept of restoring the draft has received support from such individuals as John Roper, professor of history at Emory & Henry College in Emory, Va. Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-04-03 |
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