Our young people can still be forced to fight

Pasadena, Calif.: Most Americans don’t realize the military draft system is still the law. Under the Selective Service Act, all men 18 to 26 are required to register, including immigrants and noncitizens, documented or not. While there is no active draft, like there last was during the Vietnam War, when some burned draft cards in protest, failure to register may subject men to a fine of up to $250,000 and five years in jail. You can be barred from a job in the federal government or federal job training programs, or denied financial aid, scholarships and employment in the public sector on the state and local level.

While the Selective Service reports registration rates for young men at 80%, the number is misleading since the majority don’t register themselves. Many states have automatic registration for men when they reach 18, so most don’t realize they’re on the draft rolls. While the likelihood of actually getting drafted is slim, the increased engagement of the U.S. in foreign wars increases the chances, however remote, of instituting the draft.

The fundamental question is whether we need a draft, and if so, should the penalties be so steep for failing to register? The current state of technological warfare suggests that making millions of Americans subject to conscription makes little sense, practically or politically. Having a government agency that automatically registers millions of young Americans for military service seems like unnecessary overreach. Many young men don’t realize that their lives are on the line when America goes to war, whether it’s popular or not. Hoyt Hilsman

Deer Park, L.I.: To Voicer Amelia Bissonette: Military force is military force, whether it’s a drone strike against Al Qaeda or bombing a state sponsor of terrorism like Iran. Furthermore, the only Epstein I’m familiar with is a television character from “Welcome Back, Kotter,” but you’re probably too young for that. Larry Nekola

College Point: Once again, the first fatality in any war is the truth. Charles Cuccia

Bronx: I read that negotiations were going well with Iran. Then it was revealed that a woman interviewed multiple times by the FBI said Donald Trump assaulted her when she was a young teenager. Suddenly, America was about to be attacked by Iran and we had to stop them by going to war. Now I hear no more talk on the news about that alleged assault. How very convenient. Pauline Graham Binder

Indian Harbour Beach, Fla.: Seeing Trump saluting the coffins of six soldiers killed, wearing his baseball cap — where is his helmet? Doesn’t he know there’s a war on? John T. O’Connell

Edinburgh, Scotland: This side of the pond, it was Boris Johnson who had the inexplicable Winston Churchill complex. However, it looks like it could also be Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Following Trump’s playground taunt that Starmer is “not Churchill,” Sir Kier has been posting silly war videos. Very embarrassing. Is it an attempt to garner some third-hand machismo? But there’s one thing no one seems to have thought of. Considering that Trump kicked this off on a whim, and Benjamin Netanyahu and Prince Bone Saw ordered him to, there has been no planning and no organization. None of the stockpiling countries do that when they’re bloodthirsty for war — or, like Russia, if they mistakenly think it’ll be a walk in the park. The big question is has our macho PM realized that militarily, Iran could turn out to be the Ukraine in this fight? Of course he hasn’t. Amanda Baker

Path to pariah status

Little Egg Harbor, N.J.: Now that Putin is giving Iran what it needs to beat Trump in his war, will Trump regret helping Putin with his destruction of Ukraine? Will Trump now allow us to help Ukraine instead of trying to get its defense secrets? Just keep burning your bridges and turning our friends against us. We’re becoming a pariah to the rest of the world. Rose S. Wilson

Briarwood: I’m writing in response to the Trumpian U.S.-NATO talks for total and complete American annexation of Greenland for military and economic exploitation. According to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Inuit Circumpolar Council, this constitutes an abrogation of the sovereignty of dominant Inuit Greenland’s land and resources as an already semi-autonomous territory of Denmark. Military and tariff threats by Trump are reminiscent of Hitler’s modus operandi in the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia. NATO appeasement of an American dictator is a dangerous precedent. The egregious list of American neo-imperialism and murder goes on in Gaza, Venezuela, Iran and Cuba. “Prelude to World War III,” allegro at the Trump-Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, conducted by Marco Rubio. Two fascist, murderous thugs: Trump and Pete Hegseth. Joseph N. Manago

Brooklyn: I just read your article about job losses (“Surprise bad news on job,” March 7) with the subhead, “92K positions shed in Feb. — Iran war to blame, say economists.” But a surprise attack on Feb. 28 can’t cause job losses earlier in the same month, except by some sort of magical foreshadowing. If your reporters have found economists (not named in the article) who can foresee future events, Daily News readers want to know. They’d help with our racing bets. Mary Foutz

Manhattan: New York City has one of the strongest sanctuary laws in the country, keeping the NYPD and other city agencies focused on keeping New Yorkers safe without being pulled into ICE’s radical deportation agenda that sweeps up citizens and immigrants with legal standing into its web of detention centers. Most of the rest of the state is vulnerable to local police cooperation and information sharing that lower real crime reporting and increase arrests of innocent people. All Gov. Hochul proposes to do is end formal “287-g” cooperation agreements between ICE and local police. That’s not enough. The New York For All Act would establish a strong sanctuary law for the state. All New Yorkers should have equal protection. Chris Jones

Bronxville, N.Y.: I’m seething after reading the article about influencer Jake Lang, who planned an anti-Muslim rally Saturday outside of Gracie Mansion. That he brought a goat to this rally in order to make a stupid point and then proceeded to throw the poor animal into a U-Haul truck when trying to escape counter-protesters is nothing short of animal abuse. The poor thing must’ve been scared out of its wits. Lang was charged and jailed for attacking officers with a baseball bat at the Jan. 6 uprising and then pardoned by Trump and has now reared his ugly head protesting what he terms the “Islamification” of NYC (where he isn’t even a resident). Can one of our great animal rescue organizations work with the police to track down this fool and save the helpless goat he chose to abuse during Saturday’s melee? Patricia N. Ravel

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