General Lute: 'It makes sense to... consider' reinstating draft; Says it 'has always been an option on the table'

Federal law requires that all male United States citizens and male aliens residing in the United States and its territories must register within 30 days of their 18th birthday, including parolees, refugees, and applicants for asylum and all disabled men who are able to function in public, with or without assistance, and that any changes (such as addresses) must be submitted within 10 days until reaching the age of 25. Women are excluded from selective service.

It "makes sense" to consider a draft, war czar says

The White House's war czar said in a radio interview Friday that he thinks it makes sense militarily to consider a draft as an option for relieving war-related stresses on U.S. forces.

President Nixon abolished the draft in 1973. Although Bush administration officials and U.S. military leaders long have shunned the notion of reinstating it, Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, Bush's top military adviser on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the draft has "always been an option on the table" and that it "makes sense to certainly consider it."

In an interview on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," Lute said the military is competing for a "very narrow slice" of high-school graduates and that the draft is one of several options to prevent the military from breaking.

Read the rest at the Seattle Times

Bush War Adviser Says Draft Worth a Look

Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President Bush's new war adviser said Friday...

"And I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table. But ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another," Lute added in his first interview since he was confirmed by the Senate in June...

The repeated deployments affect not only the troops but their families, who can influence whether a service member decides to stay in the military, Lute said.

"There's both a personal dimension of this, where this kind of stress plays out across dinner tables and in living room conversations within these families," he said. "And ultimately, the health of the all-volunteer force is going to rest on those sorts of personal family decisions."

The military conducted a draft during the Civil War and both world wars and between 1948 and 1973. The Selective Service System, re-established in 1980, maintains a registry of 18-year-old men.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has called for reinstating the draft as a way to end the Iraq war.

Bush picked Lute in mid-May as a deputy national security adviser with responsibility for ensuring efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are coordinated with policymakers in Washington. Lute, an active-duty general, was chosen after several retired generals turned down the job.

Read the rest at the Guardian

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