Powell: Miltary draft won’t be reactivated

Powell: Military Draft won’t be reactivated 

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Colin Powell, once the nation’s highest-ranking soldier, reaffirmed his distaste Sunday for Vietnam War draft policies that allowed sons of the powerful to avoid combat.

He avoided a question about whether George W. Bush was exercising that privilege when the future president joined the Texas Air National Guard in 1968, the height of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia.

Powell, an Army general and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, also said he does not expect the military draft to be reactivated “under any set of circumstances that I can see.”

The year that Bush joined the National Guard, both Powell and John Kerry, now Bush’s Democratic rival for the presidency, were young officers among hundreds of thousands of American troops in Vietnam.

In his 1995 autobiography, “My American Journey,” Powell characterized draft policies during most of the Vietnam era as “an antidemocratic disgrace.”

“I am angry that so many sons of the powerful and well-placed managed to wangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units,” he wrote.

Asked about that and Bush’s military career on “Fox News Sunday,” Powell said: “I disagree with the policies that were in place at that time. I didn’t think it was the right set of policies for the challenge the nation was facing.

“But those were the policies that were in place at that time. President Bush and Senator Kerry volunteered to serve their nations under the policies that were in place. They both served honorably, and they both were discharged honorably.”

On ABC’s “This Week,” Powell added: “Yes, that system was disturbing to me. That’s why I was such a supporter of the voluntary army when it came. I was also a supporter of cleaning up the draft system, so that you couldn’t duck the draft.”

Questions have arisen about the Vietnam service of both Bush and Kerry.

-CBS’ “60 Minutes” aired interviews and documents last week that indicated Bush, whose father was a Texas congressman at the time, was given preferential treatment in a National Guard unit and was lax in fulfilling his duties late in his six-year obligation.

The Associated Press and other news organizations have questioned the authenticity of some of the documents. Dan Rather, managing editor of “CBS Evening News,” rebutted the criticism on Friday’s newscast with the assertion they are from “solid sources.” He acknowledged that definitive authentication of the documents will be difficult.

-Kerry was awarded a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts for his command of a river Swift boat, considered among the most dangerous jobs in the war zone. “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” has accused Kerry of exaggerating his exploits, including his story of rescuing under fire a Special Forces officer who had fallen from Kerry’s boat. The Navy awarded Kerry’s Bronze Star with “V” for valor for the rescue. Another of the group’s ads attacks Kerry’s anti-war activities in the early 1970s after he returned.

On ABC’s “This Week,” Powell expressed exasperation over the controversies. “I don’t think much is to be gained by going back and fighting these 35-year-old battles,” he said. “I think the American people are smart enough to make a judgment about what they want to see in their president today.”