COLUMN: Hell No, Let's Go (fwd)

[noelle <http://dummy.us.eu.org/noelle>]

http://dummy.us.eu.org/noelle                         (
http://www.purl.org/net/noelle

  1,187,037 Americans killed in wars 1775-1998
                  3,159,489 Americans died in U.S. Highway accidents 1900-1998

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2003 13:12:01 EST
From: http://www.aol.com/~Tedrall
To: undisclosed-recipients:  ;
Subject: COLUMN:  Hell No, Let's Go

HELL NO, LET’S GO
See the World, Minus Killing
NEW YORK--Here’s another sign that the world is coming to an end:
conservative Republicans are now fighting off liberal Democratic efforts to
bring back the draft.
    On New Year’s Eve Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY), a liberal
African-American who represents Harlem, announced his contrarian war cry on
the op-ed page of The New York Times.  Noting the White House’s desire to
attack Iraq with or without an excuse, Rangel linked Bush’s bellicosity to
the fact that the soldiers in America’s all-volunteer armed forces are
disproportionately black and poor:  “I believe that if those calling for war
knew their children were more likely to be required to serve--and to be
placed in harm's way--there would be more caution and a greater willingness
to work with the international community in dealing with Iraq.”
    Fellow Congressman John Conyers Jr. (D-MI), echoed Rangel’s remarks,
arguing that lawmakers would be less likely to send young men into frivolous,
politically-motivated oil wars “if their own family members and neighbors
faced the prospects of serving in the military on the front line.”
    The current Selective Service system was created in 1980 by Jimmy Carter.
 If Rangel gets his way, 11.1 million registrees representing every class and
race, starting with 20-year-olds and working up to age 25, would be called to
serve in the armed forces.  Eighteen- and 19-year-olds would go last.
    “We're not going to re-implement a draft. There is no need for it at
all,” counters Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
    Rangel has a point.  Only one of the Congressmen who voted in favor of
war with Iraq has a child in uniform.  No wonder legislators consider
soldiers disposable--they’re someone else’s kids!  But let’s get serious.
Neither the military nor the Bushies want to draft the children of white
suburban swing voters.  And Rangel’s merely making a clever wee point about
Iraq.
    So why are we talking about the draft?  Our present and possibly
permanent war footing came out of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, which were
carried out by men who hated Americans.
    Why do they hate us?  Two years later, we’re still arguing about this
question.  Hawks believe that Islamists and other anti-American groups are
jealous of our freedoms.  Doves blame us for insensitivity and arrogance:
throwing our weight around the world as if we owned it generates resentment
and anger.  Either way, it’s clear that the best way to avoid future World
Trade Centers is to get to a place where foreigners like Americans more than
they do now.
    That’s where my idea comes in.  Mandatory public service is a good idea,
but rather than send young adults off to war or make them put in time
planting trees or picking up trash--wasting the best years of their lives on
killing and make-work--why not send them to study overseas for two years?
    Sound crazy?  Here’s crazy:  only seven percent of Americans own a
passport--fewer than 20 million people--and only a fraction of those ever use
one.  Citizens of the United States, whose military and culture exert more
international influence than those of every other nation combined, are among
the planet’s least-traveled homebodies.  We’re love to tell other folks what
to do, but we never see where or how they live, much less get to know who
they are.
    And that’s also nuts.
    I propose an International Youth Service, which would require every
able-bodied 18-year-old American to travel, at government expense, to a
foreign city of the federal government’s choosing.  They would remain there
for two years, acting as cultural ambassadors while learning about other
societies firsthand.  They would learn the local language, make friends,
study, play sports, work, volunteer--whatever they would have done had they
remained in the United States.  Though taxpayers would provide a modest
stipend to cover basic expenses (which would cost less per person than a
draft), they would be expected to earn money and live in typical local
housing.  Work permits and places in foreign universities would be provided
by host governments.  U.S. International Youth Service agencies in each city
would employ counselors to check up on “draftees.”
    Aside from providing them with marketable skills during an age of
increasing globalization, International Youth Service would open the eyes of
Americans to the simple fact that we are not alone.  There are other ways of
worshipping, of looking at the world, of existing, than the American way.
Most kids will probably come home more convinced than ever that the U.S. is
the best country on earth--but that belief would be based on something more
substantive than jingoistic team spirit.
    At the same time our youth are broadening their horizons, citizens of
their host nations would be getting to know us.  They would soon realize
that, at the core, our similarities outweigh our differences.  And they’d see
Americans at their best, fresh out of high school with high hopes for helping
people and making a difference.  Overseas, the Ugly American stereotype would
fade, replaced with a view of Americans as inquisitive, outgoing, curious and
well-informed.  Although foreigners often dislike our government policies--as
we often do--they tend to like us as individuals.  The more Americans they
meet, the better.
(Ted Rall is the author of “Gas War: The Truth Behind the American Occupation
of Afghanistan,” an analysis of the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline and the
motivations behind the war on terrorism.  Ordering information is available
at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.)
COPYRIGHT 2003 TED RALL
DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE/TED RALL