US Congress says no to new military draft, calls it a last-minute Kerry campaign tactic

BOSTON (CUP) — As military recruitment continues to slump across the United States, the House of Representatives defeated a proposal Oct. 5 that would have reinstated the draft.

The bill, introduced by Charles Rangel, a Democrat from New York, would have made two years of military service mandatory for all American men and women between the ages of 18 and 26. The measure was overwhelmingly defeated by a vote of 402 to two.

House Democrats accused Republicans of using the vote on the bill to stifle persistent rumours President George W. Bush would reinstate the draft if re-elected, as well as to divert attention from problems in Iraq.

But Republicans fired back, saying Democrats are trying to instigate fear among young women and men in order to encourage them to vote for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Boston University student Jessica Weiss said she thinks the draft will probably not be reinstated unless the troop levels in Iraq get dangerously low.

“If Bush gets re-elected and the situation in Iraq keeps deteriorating, then eventually more troops will be needed. In that case, the draft may be considered again, though it would be a stretch,” she said. “I believe that the initial proposal of the bill was a ploy by Democrats to scare voters to vote for Kerry.”

-Ahmed Shihab-Eldin (The Daily Free Press, Boston University)

U of T greenhouse reopens

U of T’s former Department of Botany greenhouses were reopened on Wednesday October 13 as the new Allan Gardens Children’s Conservatory. The greenhouses were to be scrapped in 2003 when U of T started building the new Pharmacy building where they sat at the corner of College Street and Queen’s Park, but a last-minute heritage designation by City Hall saved the building from the scrap heap. Taken apart like Lego, scrubbed up and reassembled just off Jarvis Street, the greenhouses will be used to teach children about plants and ecology. They can learn about a whole different breed of wildlife that surrounds the conservatories, however; Allen Gardens park has long been a hangout-of-choice for drug-dealers and their jittery clients.

-Graham F. Scott