Draft us, we dare you Draft us, we dare you (March 11, 2005)

Local peace group tells military 'we won't go'

By Jon Wiener

Lenny Siegel dutifully told his 18-year-old son to register for the draft last October, then he started dreaming of 1968 and the glory days of the anti-war movement.

As the Vietnam War was heating up, Siegel was leading demonstrations at Stanford University and putting up anti-draft fliers.

Now, after two years of holding vigils to protest a new war that Siegel and the other members of Mountain View Voices for Peace (MVVP) have been powerless to stop, the group is launching an initiative it hopes will attract national attention.

The group will start its ad campaign for the "we won't go statement" next week. Those who sign it pledge not to serve in the armed forces "as long as the U.S. troops are occupying or waging war in Iraq."

The campaign, which also gives people who are not eligible for the draft the opportunity to sign a statement of support, comes at a time when almost every branch of the armed forces is reporting difficulties meeting its recruiting goals.

Major Mike Samarov, a Marine recruiting commander stationed at Moffett Field, said that he does not expect the campaign to deter any potential volunteers. He added that protests like this one "validate what it is that we do."

Said Samarov, "Frankly, it's their way of saying 'thank you.'"

With a preliminary campaign budget of only $1,500, MVVP will need a push from students if it is to attract the attention it wants. To that end it has coordinated with the Progressive Student Alliance at the University of Tennessee to promote the campaign nationally.

As of Monday afternoon, only 216 people had found the on-line petition and affixed their names to it. And at Siegel's former stomping grounds, even the war protesters are skeptical.

Marie Jonas, president of the Stanford Democrats, organized a walkout at her high school two years ago, encouraging students to go join an anti-war rally in San Francisco. But now, she says, times are different.

"There's just not that much interest in an anti-war movement here," she said.

Still, Siegel believes it is time to move from protesting the war to trying to stop it.

"The primary leverage the public has is to prevent their kids from being cannon fodder," he said.

E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com

E-mail a friend a link to this story.