By Tara Conry
Representatives in Washington suppressed the public’s fears by voting against a bill on Oct. 5 to reinstate the draft. The bill failed to receive the necessary approval of two-thirds of the House after an overwhelming majority voted against it, including Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel who introduced the bill in January 2003.
The inconsistent support of the bill by Rangel and fellow Democrats has spurred Republican accusations of Democrats using the draft bill as a device to raise fear among voters that President Bush may implement a draft in light of the strains on the military in Iraq.
After the bill was introduced to the House by several Democrats, anti-war activists and Democrats sounded the alarm across the web through chains of e-mails and personal websites such as www.talkaboutrecovery.com and a selective service site.
The creators of this public warning fueled suspicion and mistrust towards the Bush administration by stating, “The Pentagon has quietly begun a public campaign to fill all 10,350 draft board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots nationwide and if Rumsfeld’s prediction of a ‘long, hard-slog’ in Iraq and Afghanistan proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to draft.”
“This bill was proposed by liberals in an attempt to embarrass the Bush administration with the intent of scaring citizens from supporting U.S. military action,” Dr. Richard Himelfarb, a political science professor, said.
The tactic of scaremongering has been used by both Republicans and Democrats throughout the presidential campaign to manipulate the fears of the public. In September, Vice President Dick Cheney was criticized for such tactics after stating at a campaign event, “It’s absolutely essential that eight weeks from today on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we’ll get hit again.”
In an attempt to squelch the fear raised by Democrats regarding the draft bill, the House Armed Services Committee released a statement saying, “This overwhelming defeat will hopefully stifle those who seek to spread deliberately false information of an impending draft. We simply do not need a draft. The Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines are meeting their recruitment goals and are still attracting and retaining the people we need to fill all ranks. Our military today is highly qualified because it is comprised of an all volunteer force.”
A Newsweek poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International from Sept. 20 to Oct. 2 surveyed 1,013 registered voters nationwide on the likelihood of the draft to be reinstated if either Bush or Kerry were elected. Thirty-eight percent believed Bush would reinstate the draft compared to Kerry’s 18 percent; however, the results show that less than half of voters feel a draft is included in either candidate’s agenda.