[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 72 (Thursday, May 20, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H3496-H3497]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       A DRAFT BY ANY OTHER NAME

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. King of Iowa). Under a previous order

[[Page H3497]]

of the House, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, the President came to Capitol Hill today 
to rally his Republican troops. Why did he need to do that? Well, a 
District Work Period is about to begin, that is why. Members of 
Congress are going home to face questions from their constituents. Here 
are some of the questions the Republicans are going to have to answer:
  Why did a Republican President send our soldiers off to war without a 
plan? Almost 800 brave American soldiers have died and several thousand 
soldiers have been injured in Iraq. Well over half the casualties have 
occurred since the President's PR stunt on the deck of the Abraham 
Lincoln to announce that combat was over. If combat ended months ago, 
what exactly is going on in Iraq today?
  Here is another question on the minds of Americans: How did the 
President's team in the Pentagon allow the worst atrocities in our 
history to occur in Iraq? New abuse revelations surface every day, but 
the administration keeps looking the other way as if hoping the crisis 
will go away is an effective strategy. It is the President's favorite 
tactic.
  There is another question just beginning to emerge that the President 
and Republicans will consider radioactive, that means deny, deny, deny. 
The question is: Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, why did the President not 
tell the American people we were going to reinstitute a military draft? 
Why did the Congress not have an opportunity to debate the issue?
  Why did you reinstitute a draft without considering the bill that the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) and I cosponsored? At least, under 
our bill, young Americans would have a choice about whether they fight 
in Iraq or perform public service.
  America needs to understand the President is not calling it a 
military draft. That is the White House way, call it something else and 
hope you get away with it. But as the saying goes, if it looks like a 
duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck. It 
is a silent draft.
  Here are some of the headlines and news stories that America should 
know about before the Republicans arrive home to say they are doing a 
great job. In Seattle, ``Military Says It Might Return Some Former 
Soldiers to Duty.'' Here is the lead sentence. ``Hundreds of Washington 
residents who thought they might be done with their days in the Army 
may be pulled back into service in the weeks ahead.''
  The Oregonian newspaper says, ``Army Does About-Face on Call-Up 
Readiness.'' The story says, ``Thousands of recent U.S. Army veterans 
nationwide were told to choose by Monday a new assignment in the Army 
Reserve or National Guard, meaning a potential return to active duty, 
or the military would decide for them.''
  Rumsfeld blind-sided the Congress and the American people and the 
Supreme Court on the prisoner atrocities in Iraq. The Vice President 
and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz did it this time. They 
never mentioned the new order when they briefed the Senate Committee on 
Armed Services the other day. Maybe they can update the Congress and 
comment on something else the Pentagon has ginned up.
  UPI reports today that the Pentagon may use the IRS to find the 
Reservists. Imagine, soon American men and women can get a tax refund 
and orders to report for duty in one envelope. That is real government 
efficiency.
  Thousands of soldiers were recently denied what President and the 
Defense Secretary promised, a one-way ticket home after a year of 
combat in Iraq. They were not asked, they were ordered to stay. That is 
no choice. That is a de facto military draft.
  The President has reinstituted a military draft, but he will not tell 
the American people he needs more soldiers to fight his war in Iraq 
because he has no plan and the fighting gets bloodier every day. The 
President is keeping soldiers in combat for over a year. That is more 
than twice as long a stretch as was expected of people in the Second 
World War.
  The United States today has a draft. No wonder the President was on 
Capitol Hill today trying to rally Republicans. Maybe he should draft 
them. At least they would see real shared sacrifice and shared risk.
  Today, America's minorities bear an unfair share of the consequences 
of this war. The President and the Republicans will not tell us that, 
they will say the war is going well, the department of war is doing 
perfectly. Watch the evening news, read the newspaper, decide for 
yourself whether the President's war is going well.
  Make no mistake about it, they need more soldiers and they are taking 
the steps to get them, whether they volunteer or not. That is the 
definition of a draft, Mr. Speaker. You ought to tell the President 
that he ought to just come right out and say it, he is going to draft 
people any way he can to avoid talking about it before the election.

                          ____________________