Selective Service to Test Call-Up System

Color me cynical, but I actually think the administration held onto this for just this very Friday afternoon - Congress is adjourned, the holiday is looming, the public is apathetic anyway, and it's a three-day weekend...Good time to drop the little bombshell that they are testing a call-up system for the Selective Service.

Did that fucking sink in? They are testing the draft, while the president talks about increasing the size of the military substantially and of a troop buildup in Iraq.

I have not been big about screaming "Iraq is Viet Nam redux!" because I am savvy enough to know that every conflict is unique. But holy chocolate-covered Christ! I'm about to start! I can just plainly see too many obvious parallels.

Look for this little snippet in the paper as you have your coffee tomorrow and before you head out to shop for those last minute gifts. They are counting on this not registering. But if there is a young male on your list, you might want to pick up some Dragon Skin for under the tree.

Dec. 22, 2006 — The Selective Service plans to test its operational system in case the United States again opts to draft young American men into military service — a test laden with meaning as the Bush administration considers increasing the size of the military and a surge of new troops in Iraq.

Preparations for the new test, slated for 2009, will begin in June. But Selective Service officials, who have been overwhelmed with telephone inquiries over the news, are quick to say that this test is merely a routine exercise.

"The whole thing's a tempest in a teapot," agency spokesman Dick Flahavan said. "We're not getting ready to spring a draft."

The Bush administration has opposed a draft, with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld saying the current all-volunteer force is adequate and more effective. But the prospect of a draft has been increasingly controversial as the three-year-old war in Iraq grows progressively more unpopular with the American public.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson on Thursday told reporters that "society would benefit" under a renewed draft, though he later said he did not support bringing it back.

Mr. Nichols did what is known as floating a trial balloon and it was shot down quick, as it should have been.

Don't let this news pass into the ether. A new congress takes their seats in a couple of weeks. Let them know just exactly what you think of this.

Hat tip to Pale Rider for the Washington feed, as usual. the Friday News Dump exists because of him.