Yet another plank in the anti-war platform debunked

Mark it down for later use:

Middle-class youths, not the poor, are providing the bulk of wartime recruits to the armed forces, according to a new study by a conservative think tank.

The Heritage Foundation research paper found that a higher percentage of middle-class and upper-middle-class families have been providing enlistees for the war on Islamic militants since the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Researchers matched the ZIP codes of recruits over the past five years with federal government estimates of household incomes in those neighborhoods. Contrary to complaints from some liberal lawmakers and pundits, the data show that the poor are not shouldering the bulk of the military's need for new soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines.

The poorest neighborhoods provided 18 percent of recruits in prewar 1999 and 14.6 percent in 2003. By contrast, areas where household incomes ranged from $30,000 to $200,000 provided more than 85 percent.

"We found that recruits tend to come from middle-class areas, with disproportionately fewer from low-income areas," said the report, prepared by Tim Kane, an Air Force Academy graduate and economics scholar. "Overall, the income distribution of military enlistees is more similar to than different from the income distribution of the general population."

The debate was begun in 2002 by Rep. Charles B. Rangel, New York Democrat, as U.S. troops were fighting in Afghanistan and preparing for war in Iraq.

A disproportionate number of the poor and members of minority groups make up the enlisted ranks of the military, while most privileged Americans are underrepresented or absent,"

Mr. Rangel wrote in the New York Times. The lawmaker called on the Bush administration to reinstate compulsory service. Mr. Rangel's Washington office did not respond yesterday to the Heritage report.

Rangel likely won't respond because there is no response other than one whereby Rangel admits he lied or was mistaken. 

We all know that won't happen.  What is likely to happen instead is that Rangel will cook up another whopper to feed to his moonbat constituency (and the MSM that will parrot his every word without scrutiny).

Anybody want to make a friendly wager?

Comments

[Mike M]

Not only will he not respond, he wouldnt even vote for his own bill. Last year when it came up for a vote, he voted against re-instating the draft.