U.S.-Iran tensions: How close are we to WWIII? | Just The FAQs

Fears are mounting around the world following the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani - but is World War 3 about to happen?
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The killing of top Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani in an airstrike ordered by President Donald Trump last week sparked concerns about the possibility of World War III and renewed fears about the return of the draft. So many people visited the Selective Service website on Jan. 3, it crashed. The agency attributed the traffic increase to "the spread of misinformation," in a tweet.

By now you've probably fielded a question or 15 from your children asking if they'll be forced to pack up and go to war. Here's how you can answer their queries.

How does the U.S. draft work?
As of today, it technically doesn't work because there is no active draft.

"It would take an act of Congress signed into law by the president for the Selective Service Administration to go back in action and call people involuntarily to military service," Davis Winkie, a project archivist for the Veterans History Project at Atlanta History Center and a serving officer in North Carolina's Army National Guard tells USA TODAY.

Eric Fleury, assistant professor of Government and International Relations at Connecticut College, describes the Selective Service as simply a database for the government to keep a list of eligible males that they can draft to serve in the military should there be a need.

Enacting a draft is a congressional power, not a presidential one, Fleury explains. Should there be a need for people to serve in the military involuntarily, then that list will be used to start calling people to service.

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