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Senator says US may need draft
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A senior Republican lawmaker said that deteriorating security in Iraq (news - web sites) may force the United States to reintroduce the military draft. "There's not an American ... that doesn't understand what we are engaged in today and what the prospects are for the future," Senator Chuck Hagel told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on post-occupation Iraq.
| er, Michael Moore? Sean Penn? |
"Why shouldn't we ask all of our citizens to bear some responsibility and pay some price?" Hagel said, arguing that restoring compulsory military service would force "our citizens to understand the intensity and depth of challenges we face."
| Yes, perhaps, but it would also re-introduce problems into our military that we don't need right now. |
The Nebraska Republican added that a draft, which was ended in the early 1970s, would spread the burden of military service in Iraq more equitably among various social strata. "Those who are serving today and dying today are the middle class and lower middle class," he observed.
| They're the ones who volunteer. I'd like to see a young Kennedy volunteer. |
Posted by: Steve White 2004-04-21 |
