President Donald Trump’s escalation of hostilities against Iran have caused such a panic that there will be a war with Iran and a new draft that the Selective Service website actually crashed on Saturday.
On Thursday night, an airstrike ordered by Trump killed Iranian general Qasem Suleimani at the Baghdad airport, igniting global fears that a massive war in the Middle East is about to commence. Trump ordered the strike without consulting Congress as required by law.
Trump and his cronies have been seeking a war with Iran for years and Trump needed a distraction to knock his impeachment off the news cycle.
In response, Iran has vowed to retaliate for the killing of their general and claimed to have identified dozens of targets.
“The Strait of Hormuz is a vital point for the West and a large number of American destroyers and warships cross there,” Revolutionary Guard General Gholamali Abuhamzeh said in a statement. “Vital American targets in the region have been identified by Iran since a long time ago … some 35 U.S. targets in the region, as well as Tel Aviv, are within our reach.”
And Trump just couldn’t stop himself from ratcheting up his own rhetoric on Twitter in a reply dragging the American hostages held during the 1979 Iranian Revolution into the escalation.
Iran is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets as revenge for our ridding the world of their terrorist leader who had just killed an American, & badly wounded many others, not to mention all of the people he had killed over his lifetime, including recently….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2020
….hundreds of Iranian protesters. He was already attacking our Embassy, and preparing for additional hits in other locations. Iran has been nothing but problems for many years. Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2020
….targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2020
Just hours later, Trump continued making threats.
They attacked us, & we hit back. If they attack again, which I would strongly advise them not to do, we will hit them harder than they have ever been hit before! https://t.co/qI5RfWsSCH
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2020
If Trump starts a war with Iran, especially a ground war, it would likely require a military draft because Iran is not the kind of country the United States can just waltz into and take over. Iran has a major military and can call up millions to fight if necessary. It would be another Vietnam, which was the last time the draft was used.
Naturally, Trump’s threats and escalating rhetoric sparked renewed panic as young Americans flocked to the Selective Service website to check their registration.
Due to the spread of misinformation, our website is experiencing high traffic volumes at this time. If you are attempting to register or verify registration, please check back later today as we are working to resolve this issue. We appreciate your patience.
— Selective Service (@SSS_gov) January 3, 2020
Many Twitter users responded with inquiries about how to unregister and even cited bone spurs as their reason not to be drafted, much like Trump did to dodge the draft during the Vietnam War.
Clearly, young Americans are taking the threat of war seriously and this could backfire on Trump on Election Day because if enough young Americans vote against him in opposition to his march toward war with Iran, it would likely be enough to oust him from office, and any Republicans who foolishly refused to stand up to him when they had a chance.
Featured Image: Wikimedia