Dennis talks about the military draft
From a speech about the draft on March 18, 2004, in Juneau, Alaska:
One of the reasons why I led the effort against the war in Iraq is not only because it was all based on lies, but because I also know who pays the price. There's more than 570 casualties now. You read the stories about where these people come from. They are the same kind of neighbors that I grew up with.
The question of whether young women would be subject to the draft came up in a national television debate, I think it was in New Hampshire, in the early part of the election. And there were some candidates who took a position of saying that young women should be subject to the draft, trying to dress it up as some kind of an equal rights position. I happen to believe that there shouldn't be any draft at all.
I mean, if this country is under attack and we are at risk of losing it all, you know, providing for the common defense is a foundational principle of this country and everybody ought to defend the country. But that's not what's happening here in Iraq. This is a crooked war in every way, and there shouldn't be any draft, and if we don't get out of it, we have to be very concerned that there will be a draft.
If the administration brought up a draft in the middle of a presidential election, suddenly every young person in this country would say "what?" And they'd flock to the voting booths and change the election. So they're not going to talk about it before the election, they'll keep it quiet. But there is legislation in to create a draft, and it's wrong. It's just wrong. The whole thing about this war is just a nightmare. To follow it up with a draft would be to compound the cruelty.
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