To the Point

Revisiting the Draft

No American has been drafted since 1973, but there is still a Selective Service, which says it-s ready if Congress and the President issue the call. As the war in Iraq increases demand for more soldiers, the number of re-enlistments is on the decline. The Reserves and the National Guard have already been called on, and the one-year tours of 20,000 regular soldiers have been extended. One Republican Senator says next year will -make or break- America-s volunteer military, and two Democrats have proposed re-instituting the draft. Warren Olney examines the pros and cons of -citizen soldiers- in modern warfare with a former commandant of the Army War College, a spokesman for the Selective Service System, a national military correspondent, the editor of a student-run University newspaper and a domestic policy advisor to then-President Clinton. Making News: Capitol Hill Hearings on Iraq With US forces suffering their deadliest month since the war in Iraq began, Congress is beginning to ask tough questions. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee wants to know how political power will be transferred on June 30, but the Pentagon has not yet agreed to send a witness. Democrat Joseph Biden has expressed outrage Pentagon's indifference. The Christian Science Monitor's Peter Grier of has covered military and foreign affairs for 25 years. Reporter's Notebook: Israeli Deputy PM Briefs Evangelicals on Settlement Pullout Plan American Evangelicals are concerned about Israel, dubious about a Palestinian state, and want President Bush to take a hard line in the Middle East. So in February, when word got out that Israel might pull out of Gaza and parts of the West Bank, no less that Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was sent to provide reassurance. Rabbi Daniel Lapin, president of Toward Tradition, a national coalition of Jews and Christians, set up the meeting.