John Kerry's position on

Military Draft: Over 1,000 US soldiers have died in Iraq, and the ratio of civilians to soldiers is 180 to 1. The preferred ratio in occupation situations is 30 to 1. Two bills are circulating within Congress that would reinstate the military draft next June.

Description of candidate's position: John Kerry does not support reinstating the draft. His plan for securing Iraq involves persuading NATO to deploy a number of troops to help secure the region. Kerry's plans include a massive effort to train and equip Iraqi security forces. Kerry sees the need to win over the hearts and minds of the Iraqis. He intends to bring in more international support for the reconstruction of Iraq, with the intention of making the US seem less like an occupying force. (Information link). To address the situation of our overburdened troops, Kerry will make homeland the security the primary task of the National Guard, a group which has many members stationed in Iraq. He also plans to add 40,000 troops to the Army, and only deploy one third of them at a time. (Information link).

Quotation from the candidate: "I don't think we need a front-door draft. I don't think we need any kind of draft. I think we need a president who puts a foreign policy in place that doesn't overextend our troops, that brings other countries to the table to share the burden of what's happening in Iraq, and I believe I have a plan and the leadership skills to get America out of Iraq in a way that's honorable and responsible. . . . A change in leadership will have a profound impact on restoring America's credibility in the world." June 18, 2004 in an interview with the Rocky Mountain News. 

Assessment of the proposal:

Positive: The Center for American Progress is "a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all. (Information link). CAP policy strategist Lawrence J. Korb does not believe that the draft be reinstated, but instead recommends that the Army redistribute its mixture of military and civil personnel (Information link). The CAP favors John Kerry over George Bush.

Negative: StoptheDraft.com is a website that includes "information, news, analysis, opinion, and published resources to help [the viewer] better understand the emerging debate about…bringing back the military draft" (Information link). The website (which gets over 100,000 hits per month) contends that Kerry's anti- draft rhetoric is half-hearted and does not go far enough (Information link).

Comparison: Bush also has no plans to reinstate the draft. He approved the Pentagon's stop-loss order, which kept an additional 30,000 troops in Iraq by preventing them from ending their tours of duty (See Financial Times article). He does not want more international involvement. 

Sources:

Sevastopulo, D. US puts curb on troops leaving army service. The Financial Times of London, p. 8.

D. Tankersley, J. (2004, June 18). Kerry out to carry Colorado; Candidate touts jobs in bashing Bush just days before state visit. Rocky Mountain News, p. 5A.

Link to Bush's issue page