Monday, August 18, 2008

Legislators want National Guard troops home

Lawmakers in several states want to do something that's long overdue: bring National Guard troops home from the Iraq War.

In New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin, legislators are trying to defederalize the National Guard. It's an excellent idea, but the situation shouldn't have gone this far out of control in the first place - for the National Guard is made up of state units and is supposed to serve in domestic disasters, not foreign wars.

Because Bush was using the National Guard for his war, the National Guard couldn't be used to its full potential during major domestic emergencies like Hurricane Katrina.

All the states need to bring the National Guard back home. As one New York legislator said, "The governor has the power to decide if our National Guard troops are to be used on a federal level." The governor. Not Bush.

One of the reasons the Bush regime is using the National Guard instead of full-time military troops is that the National Guard is considered part-time and its members aren't eligible for the same benefits. Bush spends billions on the war, but he doesn't even want to spend the money to pay people to fight it for him!

I guess this is like how he forces injured soldiers to pay for their flights back home and steals signing bonuses from them if they're too injured to complete their service.

(Source: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-lisold0817,0,770155.story)

1 comment:

  1. This is a fine example of what I have been saying about our second amendment. I thought our National Guard in each state was our well regulated state militia (mentioned in the constitution). The National Guard didn't see much wartime in the past, just ask George W. Bush about that.

    I hope they succeed and bring them home, they are supposed to be our backup, not the front-line in a war that we shouldn't have started.

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