By now we know the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and the strain the aftermath has put on the men and women of our National Guard. Over 7,500 National Guard soldiers have been mobilized by the Governors of the four states hit the hardest, but according to Reuters “Thousands more who might have been part of the (relief) effort are deployed in Iraq.
Thinning Guard ranks are a worry for many states. “ (The states) don’t have the level of personnel that they might desire to handle some of these situations.” Said Ted Carpenter; a Cato Institute defense analyst
This problem raises some serious questions about the safety of our country.
The question remains, who is left to protect us at home? President Bush claims that fighting terrorists in Iraq keeps terror out of the US, but clearly the bombings in London have shown us that this theory is “unsound” at best. In turn, we must assume that there is still the possibility that we may be attacked on our own soil, and if we are who will be there to help us recover.
With Guard ranks so thin, how are we to protect ourselves? One of the most critical elements of disaster management (natural or otherwise) is organization. While local law enforcement is also responsible for keeping order, one of the main duties of the Guard is to act as a support structure to supplement and act as a bridge between the states in need and the federal government. Without that bridge, communication and therefore the relief effort itself is compromised.
Partisan politics aside, It is a shameful and frightening thing to know that we are not able to protect ourselves in our own country, as well as being hampered in our ability to combat the aftermath of large disasters because we are fighting wars abroad.
The President must remember that his duty is to protect this country, and implied in that duty is the responsibility to make sure we have sufficient protection here at home. The fact that our National Guard is being used (misused?) to the point where it is detrimental to the citizens of the US is clearly a failure on the part of Mr. Bush to properly manage the safety of the nation he proclaims to lead.