More than 3,000 members of the Louisiana Nat’l Guard’s 256th Brigade serving in Iraq will return home in October, unless their tour is extended. Worse yet, all of their high-water-level equipment, vehicles and generators are in Iraq:
Louisiana National Guard Equipment in Iraq
The war in Iraq may also play a role in the recovery and cleanup of the hurricane. Earlier this month the Louisiana National Guard publicly complained that too much of its equipment was in Iraq. The local ABC news affiliate reported dozens of high water vehicles, Humvees, refuelers and generators are now abroad. (DN! Headlines, Aug. 29, 2005)
“Mississippi and Alabama, the other states under threat from Katrina’s second assault on the Gulf Coast, also have Guard contingents in Iraq, with 3,500 troops of Mississippi’s 155th Brigade Combat Team serving near Karbala and Najaf, while 140 Alabama Guard troops left last Sunday for training preparatory to joining some 2,000 Alabama troops already deployed overseas,” writes BTC News. MORE BELOW:
Governors throughout the country have watched anxiously as the Guard units they count on to see their states through natural disasters have been called up for service in Iraq, in many cases leaving behind tanks and other heavy armor while taking with them the kinds of equipment that are most valuable in coping with the aftermath of storms, floods and earthquakes.
President Bush has already created one Gulf wasteland. In a few days he’ll be offering condolences to the residents of another; one he didn’t create, only stripped of its guardians in service of something he can’t even define.”
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
Actually, yesterday I had started to wonder where the reserve trucks and ‘copters were. Too bad my suspiscions have been confirmed.
Yup, fight them over therer so we’re safer over here. How’s that working for you, W?
And our bike-boy in chief is where? Golfing in AZ?
Christ Jesus: It’s not in vain that I call upon your name. Please have mercy.
Georgies is in a state of blissful ignorance. The original “What, me worry?” president…
San Diego today Auntie! Just can’t get away from the asshole. I was a mile and half from him in Crawford on Sat. and now he’s coming to my city to spread more propaganda about how well things are going in Iraq. Yeah right! Just ask my new friend Scott how well it’s going over there. George will never talk to the truth tellers though now will he? Candle vigil tonight at the Hotel Del Coronado for anyone in the area. I am still finding the location and will try to update when I find more info.
As far as the Guard equipment and troops go, tells you how important George thinks safe guarding the Homeland is!!
So he’s doing something more akin to work than just working on the golf swing? Touching.
So let’s see: What might his day include?
-wake
-shower & dress (this task he may actually complete independently)
-make coffee for Pickles (Laura)
-eat breakfast
-listen to staff read him news (30-45 seconds)
-play golf
-lunch
-deliver propaganda line of the day; Message: I care about the hoi polloi (Turdblossom! What’s that?!)
-ride bike, pretend to be Lance Armstrong
-eat dinner
-stick thumb in mouth and sleep
Hey. It’s hard work.
You are a real stitch. Think you have the schedule down pat. Did Scottie McMuffin send that to you? LOL
I aim to please. Or inform–whatever the case may be!
:<)
Of course, it does rather seem that some of boy wonder’s schedule came straight from the Prevaricator to the Press.
C-posted at DKos.
This is a good story for CNN’s ‘citizen journalist’ program. They’re looking for people to provide them with news by sending in stories and pictures. I’ll be sending this one along with the $71.2 million cut in the NO Army Corps of Engineers budget due in 2006. story here Join me: hurricane@cnn.com
Let’s use this opportunity to ask the media why they are doing such a lousy job.
I wondered about this yesterday when I heard La’s governor wax poetic about how she has 3,000 National Guard troops at her disposal, happy happy, no problems, blah blah. I just knew she was blowing smoke out her ass… she downplayed everything about this storm. If she was the mayor of New Orleans with that attitude, few would have bothered to evacuate and there would have been hell to pay. She did mention that National Guard units from surrounding states are available to her and that’s probably the only real way they could keep their heads above water. ‘Robbing Peter to pay Paul’ seems to be Rummy’s secret plan, doesn’t it? Incompetence and corruption have become the watchwords of our Republican overlords and the weakest and most unfortunate among us are always the first victims… now the poor storm victims will be the next to pay for the mistakes of others.
These companies had a contract with FEMA to look for solutions in New Orleans in case of a catastrophic hurricane. It looks like this lack of guards and resarves would have been known by them. Here is my diary on this.
3 companies given a contract for New Orleans by FEMA and Homeland Security over a year ago.
I am extra sensitive to preparation or lack thereof because of what I went through last year here in Florida. I hurt for those people there. Many are still recovering here.
Why is high water level equipment needed in a freaking desert??? That just blows my mind.
.
Commanded by Col. Augustus L. Collins, the 155th Brigade Combat Team will conduct security and stability operations in the Babil, Karbala and Najaf provinces.
PHOTO: Members of the 155 Brigade Combat Team from Tupelo hand out candy and school supplies as they escort a humvee filled with supplies destined for Al Mutnba Primary school located near Camp Kalsu.(U.S. Navy Photo)
FOB KALSU, Iraq – The 155th Brigade Combat Team, which is spread through five forward operating bases in southwestern Iraq, has developed a program to improve the education system in the area while allowing students in Mississippi to learn about the Iraqi culture.
“We want the people to be comfortable with us being here,” said Augusta Collins, 155th commander. “If we can convince the people that the real reason we are here is to spread peace and prosperity through their country, and give them the opportunity to be successful, then they will open up to us a lot better.”
Soldiers stationed at Forward Operating Base Kalsu have been conducting anti-mortar foot patrols in the farmlands around their post since they arrived in Iraq.
While conducting the patrols, they have built relationships with many of the people in the area, which has in turn increased the security of the camp and is beginning to provide opportunities for the troops to help the local population.
Iraq Map (2003, US NIMA)
● Kevin Sites Blog
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Stupid Priorities, Iraq, oil, and GLOBAL WARMING are mentioned in this excellent article: Katrina and the waves: We’re going down to Washington to do nothing
LINK: http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/002330.html
“But Mother Nature has a way of bringing all these chickens home to roost, as it were. And so today in New Orleans, we are seeing what happens when our government sends our tax dollars and our human capital some 7,000 miles away, instead of keeping them here at home where they’re needed most. And we are also beginning to learn, unfortunately, what happens when that same government ignores the two greatest (and interlocking) challenges of the 21st Century, global warming and peak oil.”