<div><A href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/19/rangel.draft.ap/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/19/rangel.draft.ap/index.html</A></div> <div> </div> <div><B>WASHINGTON</B> (AP) -- Americans would have to sign up for a new military draft after turning 18 if the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has his way.</div> <div> </div> <div>New York Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel said Sunday he sees his idea as a way to deter politicians from launching wars. He believes a draft would bolster U.S. troop levels that are currently insufficient to cover potential future action in Iran, North Korea and Iraq.</div> <div> </div> <div>"There's no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft, and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities
would be placed in harm's way," Rangel said.</div> <div> </div> <div>Rangel, a veteran of the Korean War who has unsuccessfully sponsored legislation on conscription in the past, said he will propose a measure early next year.</div> <div> </div> <div>In 2003, he proposed a draft covering people age 18 to 26. This year, he offered a plan to mandate military service for men and women between age 18 and 42. It went nowhere in the Republican-led Congress.</div> <div> </div> <div>Democrats will control the House and Senate come January because of their victories in the November 7 mid-term election.</div> <div> </div> <div>At a time when some lawmakers are urging the military to send more troops to Iraq, "I don't see how anyone can support the war and not support the draft," said Rangel. </div> <div> </div> <div>He also proposed a draft in January 2003, before the U.S. invasion of Iraq.</div> <div> </div> <div>Sen. Lindsey Graham, a
South Carolina Republican who is a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Standby Reserve, said he agreed that the U.S. does not have enough people in the military.</div> <div> </div> <div>"I think we can do this with an all-voluntary service, all-voluntary Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy. And if we can't, then we'll look for some other option," said Graham, who is assigned as a reserve judge to the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals.</div> <div>Rangel and Graham appeared on "Face the Nation" on CBS.</div> <div> </div> <div>Rangel, the next chairman of the House tax-writing committee, said he worried the military is strained by its overseas commitments.</div> <div> </div> <div>"If we're going to challenge Iran and challenge North Korea and then, as some people have asked, to send more troops to Iraq, we can't do that without a draft," Rangel said.</div> <div> </div> <div>He said having a draft would not necessarily mean everyone called to duty
would have to serve. Instead, "young people (would) commit themselves to a couple of years in service to this great republic, whether it's our seaports, our airports, in schools, in hospitals," with a promise of educational benefits at the end of service.</div> <div> </div> <div>Graham said he believes the all-voluntary military "represents the country pretty well in terms of ethnic makeup, economic background."</div> <div> </div> <div>Repeated polls have shown that about seven in 10 Americans oppose reinstatement of the draft and officials say they do not expect to restart conscription.</div> <div> </div> <div>Outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told Congress in June 2005 that "there isn't a chance in the world that the draft will be brought back."</div> <div> </div> <div>Yet the prospect of the long global fight against terrorism and the continuing U.S. commitment to stabilizing Iraq have kept the idea in the public's mind.</div>
<div> </div> <div>The military drafted conscripts during the Civil War, both world wars and between 1948 and 1973.</div> <div> </div> <div>The Selective Service System, an agency independent of the Defense Department, keeps an updated registry of men age 18-25 -- now about 16 million -- from which to supply untrained draftees that would supplement the professional all-volunteer armed forces.</div> <div> </div> <div class=cnnSCAttribution>Copyright 2006 The <A href="http://www.cnn.com/interactive_legal.html#AP">Associated Press</A>. <!--startclickprintexclude--></div><p> 
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