Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)

: Kathy Barker; Articles Archive; 01 April 2016; Hits: 1040

Counter Recruiting at Educational Conventions

From Draft NOtices, April-June 2016

— Kathy Barker

As many counter-recruitment groups do, Washington Truth in Recruiting (WaTiR) has participated in dozens of tabling events. Usually these are local, and we are invited because of contacts we have made within the schools or peace communities. School career fairs, state PTA meetings, local school counselor meetings, National Lawyers Guild meetings, LBGT meetings, church meetings, Democratic State conventions, antiwar meetings -- we table and present anywhere we can, sometimes through the invitation of allies.

We eventually thought it would be interesting to table at places where we weren’t invited, at some of the state or national conventions of “educational influencers.” So in lieu of gaining entrance through invitations, we spent money to become exhibitors at meetings and conventions. We targeted education-related, in-state conventions to minimize travel expenses, and we found conventions with exhibitors by web searches or by asking teachers and counselors what meetings they thought were worthwhile.

Still, we sometimes couldn’t get a table at a convention because someone on a committee thought we were too anti-military. More often, the calm and formidable Marion Ward (shown in picture) would work to persuade the booking committees that we would add to the convention by offering help in navigating the legal commitments for the No Child Left Behind Act. Marion was so effective that she sometimes got a discount better than the non-profit rate offered.

And it was a good thing she did. Donations were more frequent during the overt Iraq war, and conventions are expensive -- the price for a table at a state convention runs around $1000, with more for a corner location. Typically, that money buys a 6-foot table, two chairs, and a backdrop behind you.

: Edward Hasbrouck; Articles Archive; 01 March 2016; Hits: 948

Will women be drafted? Will women be required to register for the draft?

From Draft NOtices, January - March 2016

— Edward Hasbrouck

When the Supreme Court upheld males-only draft registration in 1981, it based its decision on "deference" to the decisions of the Department of Defense and the Commander-In-Chief, at that time, not to assign women to any combat position. The facts underlying that Supreme Court decision have now changed with the announcement on December 4, 2015, that women in the military will be considered for all combat jobs.

Several lawsuits again challenging males-only draft registration had been filed when the Pentagon announced that it would begin considering women for some combat positions in 2013. It's unclear which of these lawsuits, or which new one, will be the first one to be decided. But it's now highly likely that males-only draft registration will be found unconstitutional. Such a court ruling would force Congress to choose whether to extend draft registration to women, or to let a court decision ending registration stand.

Under current law, the courts can't order women to register. Nor can the President or the Pentagon, without action by Congress to change the law. So unless Congress extends the registration requirement to women, registration of men will have to end if courts find that it is illegally discriminatory. On the other hand, the current males-only draft registration could be ended by Presidential proclamation, by Congress, or by the Federal courts if they find that it is unconstitutional.

: Luis Villanueva; Articles Archive; 01 January 2016; Hits: 948

Historic Violence and Repression in Mexico: Follow the Weapons Trail

From Draft NOtices, January - March 2016

— Luis Villanueva

Despite what the U.S. and Mexican governments would have you believe, there is no democracy in Mexico. The proven complicity between the corrupt Mexican government and organized crime, 150,000 violent deaths in the last 8 years, thousands of missing people, hundreds of political prisoners, the displacement of entire rural communities by the military -- all of these horrors, which describe a country at war, are connected by one blaring event: the Merida Initiative.

The Merida Initiative of 2008, an agreement between the U.S. and Mexico, supposedly establishes four basic goals: deter organized crime, maintain rule of law throughout the country, establish control at the border with Guatemala to prevent Central American migration, and create safe and secure communities within Mexico. Perhaps not surprisingly, the plan is being implemented through massive sales of U.S. military vehicles and weapons (to Mexico) and extensive American military training of the Mexican army. As a result, the consequences have been the exact opposite of the intended goals.

Historically, the possession of weapons has been strictly forbidden in Mexican society. In just a few years, Mexico went from 25th to 5th worldwide in importation of arms. The weapons passed from the U.S. military to the Mexican military are often later found in the possession of the drug cartels. After organized government confiscations of illegally possessed arms by citizenry, those arms are also later found in possession of drug cartels.