I read with interest Cecil talking about how if you don’t declare war, you can’t be called up for the draft. This got me a-wondering . . .
Did America declare war on Iraq? If not, does that mean that a draft couldn’t be called?
And that got me thinking even more. What counts as “declaring war”? Is it a good idea or a bad one to declare war, or is marching into someone’s country a declaration of war in itself?
Any thoughts would be gratefully recieved.
JB
The last official Declaration of War from the US Congress was for World War II. The US has certainly engaged in a lot of wars since then, but Congress has not issuesd a Declaration of War since 1941. This is mostly because a DoW activates a lot of emergency war-time statutes that were not necessary for the relatively small-scale engagements in the post-WWII era.
I’m not sure what Cecil wrote regarding the draft (the server seems to be misbehaving at the moment) but there was certainly a big one during the Korean and Vietnam wars, which did not have DoW’s from Congress.
A Congressional resolution declaring that a state of war exists between the United States and [fill in the country]. It must be passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President. Just like any other legislation, the President can veto a resolution of war. Congress can override his veto, but it may be silly to declare a war when the person who is, by virtue of his office, the commander-in-chief, is against the war.
Zev Steinhardt
[nitpick] 1942 [/nitpick]
The last declaration of war by the US was 5 June 1942 against Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.
But declarations of war seem to be out of fashion these days. I don’t know of any country formally declaring war since the end of WWII. I think we had a thread about this not too long ago, but I’m too lazy to do a search.
The biggest problem with a draft is that the US military doesn’t want one. Our military is all-volunteer, which translates to smarter, more motivated, more capable troops who gave a damn while they were training and do their jobs well. Throwing a bunch of draftees who don’t want to be there into the mix is a guarantee for chaos.
Recent threads related to this topic:
Has the US declared war on Iraq?
I can’t find Cecil’s article, either, but a declaration of war does not trigger a draft. A draft may only begin when legislation authorizing a draft is enacted. The draft that was in effect for World War II, for example, began as a peacetime draft in 1940, which, IIRC, was passed by the House of Representatives by only a one-vote margin.
Are you quite certain that this is what Cecil claimed? The US government can institute a draft any time it darn well pleases. All that has to happen is that Congress passes a conscription law and the President signs it or fails to veto it (either by veto or pocket veto). There would be no Constitutional basis to challenge a peacetime draft.