Home > The National Guard Belongs in New Orleans and Biloxi. Not Baghdad.

The National Guard Belongs in New Orleans and Biloxi. Not Baghdad.

by Open-Publishing - Thursday 1 September 2005
4 comments

Edito Governments Catastrophes USA

by Norman Solomon

The men and women of the National Guard shouldn’t be killing in Iraq.

They should be helping in New Orleans and Biloxi.

The catastrophic hurricane was an act of God. But the U.S. war effort in Iraq is a continuing act of the president. And now, that effort is hampering the capacity of the National Guard to save lives at home.

Before the flooding of New Orleans drastically escalated on Tuesday, the White House tried to disarm questions that could be politically explosive. “To those of you who are concerned about whether or not we’re prepared to help, don’t be, we are,” President Bush said. “We’re in place, we’ve got equipment in place, supplies in place, and once the — once we’re able to assess the damage, we’ll be able to move in and help those good folks in the affected areas.”

Echoing the official assurances, CBS News reported: “Even though more than a third of Mississippi’s and Louisiana’s National Guard troops are either in Iraq or supporting the war effort, the National Guard says there are more than enough at home to do the job.”

But after New Orleans levees collapsed and the scope of the catastrophe became more clear, such reassuring claims lost credibility. The Washington Post reported on Wednesday: “With thousands of their citizen-soldiers away fighting in Iraq, states hit hard by Hurricane Katrina scrambled to muster forces for rescue and security missions yesterday — calling up Army bands and water-purification teams, among other units, and requesting help from distant states and the active-duty military.”

The back-page Post story added: “National Guard officials in the states acknowledged that the scale of the destruction is stretching the limits of available manpower while placing another extraordinary demand on their troops — most of whom have already served tours in Iraq or Afghanistan or in homeland defense missions since 2001.”

Speaking for the Mississippi National Guard, Lt. Andy Thaggard said: “Missing the personnel is the big thing in this particular event. We need our people.” According to the Washington Post, the Mississippi National Guard “has a brigade of more than 4,000 troops in central Iraq” while “Louisiana also has about 3,000 Guard troops in Baghdad.”

National Guard troops don’t belong in Iraq. They should be rescuing and protecting in Louisiana and Mississippi, not patrolling and killing in a country that was invaded on the basis of presidential deception. They should be fighting the effects of flood waters at home — helping people in the communities they know best — not battling Iraqi people who want them to go away.

Let’s use the Internet today to forward and post this demand so widely that the politicians in Washington can no longer ignore it:

Bring the National Guard home. Immediately.

Norman Solomon is the author of the new book “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.” For information, go to: www.WarMadeEasy.com

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0831-27.htm

Forum posts

  • Bring them home and bring the money needed for this hurricane relief back from Iraq!
    It is a sin that they are not here helping our fellow citizens in a time of crisis which is what they are supposed to be doing!

  • What a mess.....what a mess....what a mess. They knew this hurricane was coming and they told everyone to evacuate, but they left all the poor people to fend for themselves instead of helping them evacuate before it hit. What a messed up government, its like a third world country. The only thing this government cares about is their own money and how to get some more of ours. They have stolen all of the social security funds, they tell us they can’t afford anything but bombs or other war accessories, while they sit and rub their hands together and salivate thinking about their war profiteering and who is going to give them another bribe. In America bribery is considered as "Free Speech" by the Supreme court. They hide behind their phony terrorist war which is only an excuse to be warmongers for profit. The National Guard is being USED to do their dirty work. The regular miliary forces are off living the high life in other more civilized countries far away from any threat, while these poor little jerks who are too young and stupid to know any better are being sent into harms way for a bunch of maggots in government. Meanwhile there are few left to Guard the nation.

    • Do you think that it might actually suit the-powers-that-be to have the poorest and disabled citizens gone from the welfare and medicaid and social security rolls?

      the hurricane strenghths were not updated on tv very often before it hit...

      AND, it certainly knocked Cindy Sheehan off the front pages...

      cassandra

    • Probably you are right, these people ARE that evil. As that bastard Bush keeps going around yelling 9/11, 9/11, 9/11, the biggest threat to the citizens here is our own government that is robbing us blind and giving back nothing. They always have unlimited funds for their wars and weapons, their spying on the citizens, their Guantanimos, their lavish lifestyles in Washington D.C., their phony drug war that has never worked the whole 35 years they have squandered billions and billions of dollars on it (meanwhile the CIA is in the drug pushing business....Afghanistan, controlled by the U.S.A produces 85% of the herion, Columbia which is also controlled by the U.S. produces most of the cocaine). We need to throw the entire government out that is the only way to fix the mess that is the U.S.A today.