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CounterPunch
February
7, 2003
Fragging and the Draft
The Call to
Empire Act
by KURT NIMMO
As Rummy and the guys over at the Pentagon know,
reinstituting the draft is a bad idea. Last time young people
were forced into the military meat grinder (during the Vietnam
War) many responded by fragging (either shooting or throwing
grenades at) officers. Morale was dismal, as should have been
expected considering the depravity and organized mass murder
soldiers were forced to partake in. Not long ago Rumsfeld admitted
the Pentagon is not interested in drafting kids from the traditional
pool -- the working class and poor of urban and rural America
-- when he said Vietnam era draftees added "no value, no
advantage" to the military. No doubt, as well, the current
crop of officers don't relish the prospect of a return to fragging.
Enter the so-called "Call to Service
Act," billed as "the most important change in America's
military recruitment policy since the end of the draft.'' It
is designed to allow "patriotic" young Americans to
join the military for 18 months of "active service"
instead of the standard four years. "This would make enlisting
in the military a decision upper middle-class youth could identify
with,'' opined Charles Moskos, a Northwestern University military
sociologist who developed the scheme. "Today, they don't
even know anyone in the military.''
Well, Chuck, that's because the average
upper middle-class youth usually doesn't hobnob with the working
class and poor who comprise Rumsfeld's and Dubya's grunts.
It didn't take John McCain, R-Ariz.,
and Evan Bayh, D- Ind., long to gush over this harebrained scheme
to populate the sagging military as it gears up for endless wars
of conquest in the name of transnational corporations and rich
folks with a stake in Lockheed Martin and other death merchants.
"No national endeavor requires as much unshakable resolve
as war,'' McCain said. "Before we enter one, we should know
that most Americans share the commitment and are prepared to
make the personal sacrifices it entails.'' Translation: it's
probably a good idea to do a more effective job at brainwashing
the middle class so they will donate (i.e., "sacrifice")
their kids to Bush's envisioned future of perpetual war.
As for the required propaganda barrage
required to sell what should be entitled the Call to Empire Act,
consider the following:
"Disparities in military service
can undermine the civic ethic of equal sacrifice, undercut public
support for military campaigns, and weaken the effectiveness
of civilian oversight,'' a report issued by the Progressive Policy
Institute, a think tank for "centrist" Democrats concludes.
Naturally, donating your children to
wars devised by chicken hawks who never saw fit to join the military
(like Cheney, they had "other priorities") should be
viewed by the public as a "civic ethic of equal sacrifice"
instead of what it really is: a con game perpetuated by the ruling
elite on those they view as expendable pawns. How many senators
do you think will be urging their loved ones to join up for 18
months of "equal sacrifice?" None, nada, zip. As for
"civilian oversight" of the military, one has to wonder
what planet the "centrist" Democrats at the Progressive
Policy Institute came from. There's no such thing.
Hopefully, not many people will be fooled
by this nonsense. Military recruiters already have unprecedented
access to America's youth as they attempt to coerce them into
becoming cannon fodder for Bush's New World Order of Shock and
Awe Mass Murder on a global scale. If they have any doubt about
what happens to far too many veterans, they may want to have
a chat with the homeless Vietnam vet down on the corner or one
of the hundreds of thousands of veterans suffering from Gulf
War Syndrome.
Bush can't run his all-war, all-the-time
scheme if people refuse to join the military. As the Call to
Empire Act demonstrates, the military is desperate to replenish
its ranks with fresh meat. Rumsfeld likes to brag America can
run multiple wars simultaneously, but if young people refuse
to join up the war machine will eventually sputter and grind
to a halt. The only alternative will be a return to the draft,
which the Pentagon fears almost as much as it fears budget cuts
and thumbs down to frivolous weapon systems.
If the draft returns, fragging may also
return -- and in a big way.
Kurt Nimmo
is a photographer and multimedia developer in Las Cruces, New
Mexico. Visit his excellent online
gallery. He can be reached at: nimmo@zianet.com
We highly recommend regular visits to
Nimmo's website, Another
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