Spidergrrl's Web: draft board link

November 06, 2003

draft board link

I found the email that discussed the draft board stuff and checked out the link at
http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/sss092203.html, and it's all there. Defend America, the newsletter that is subtitled, "U.S. Department of Defense News About the War on Terrorism," offers this headline: "Serve Your Community and the Nation -- Become a Selective Service System Local Board Member." Here's the paragraph that contains the sentence that begins with, "If a military draft becomes necessary..."

Local Board Members are uncompensated volunteers who play an important community role closely connected with our Nation's defense. If a military draft becomes necessary, approximately 2,000 Local and Appeal Boards throughout America would decide which young men, who submit a claim, receive deferments, postponements or exemptions from military service, based on Federal guidelines.

Why do I have waking daydreams of Canada?

Seems like the best antidote is to list resources for conscientious objectors, which someone on the RFP list did in response to the draft article. I've included these resources here, also.

Today I also read Maher Arar's 4 Nov. statement to the media about his year-long ordeal of torture. Arar appeals to Canadians and wants to ensure that no Canadian ever suffers what he did, but it seems that the criminals who set the events rolling were actually U.S. immigration folks in NYC. A Syrian-born Canadian, as Arar self-identifies, he now wants to get to the bottom of his case, as he says. Here's a link from Amnesty International - Canada -- Why was Maher Arar Deported to Syria?.

12 November is the German release date for a documentary on Guatanamo Bay. OK, the email I saw said the director is Ashwin Raman and the documentary is supposed to show on ARD, Germany. But I've searched Google (which gives me a couple links to info on Raman) and have just gone through the ARD schedule for the 12th and done a search on ARD for "ashwin raman" and "guantanamo" and haven't yet found the documentary. Here's the link to Raman's paper on Guantanamo, presented 30 Sept. 2003 in Brussels: Guantanamo: a right to a fair trial. Raman is 56 years old, born in Bombay -- looks like he's lived in Germany for a while. Has done a lot of reporting from Afghanistan and also interviewed Osama bin Laden over 15 years ago.

November 06, 2003 at 01:53 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink

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