From the article:
"The army cannot account for over half the equipment that Army National
Guard units have left overseas," Walker said. "And it has not developed
replacement plans for the equipment, as Defense Department policy requires."
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National Guard Drained by Iraq
International Herald Tribune | March 01, 2006
State governors from both parties say that Bush administration policies are
stripping the National Guard of equipment and personnel needed to respond to
hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, forest fires and other emergencies.
Tens of thousands of National Guard members have been sent to Iraq, along
with much of the equipment needed to deal with natural disasters and
terrorist threats in the United States, the governors said here Sunday at
the winter meeting of the National Governors Association.
The guard, which traces its roots to the colonial militia, has a dual
federal-state role. Governors normally command the guard in their states,
but guard members deployed overseas in support of a U.S. government mission
are under the control of the president.
The governors said they would present their concerns to President George W.
Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Monday. In a preview of their
message, all 50 governors signed a letter to the president opposing any cuts
in the size of the guard.
"Unfortunately," the letter said, "when our National Guard men and women
return from being deployed in foreign theaters, much of their equipment
remains behind." The governors said the White House must immediately
re-equip guard units "to carry out their homeland security and domestic
disaster duties."
Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, a Republican and chairman of the
governors association, said: "The National Guard plays an incredibly
valuable role in the states. What we are concerned about, as governors, is
that when our troops are deployed for long periods of time, and their
equipment goes with them, but does not come back, the troops are very
strained, and they no longer have the equipment they were trained to use."
Nearly one-third of the U.S. ground forces in Iraq are members of the Army
National Guard.
Earlier this month the Pentagon backed away from a budget proposal to reduce
the authorized strength of the guard to 330,000 Soldiers, from 350,000. "We
have no intention of cutting the number of guard or reserve brigades,
reducing the number of guard or reserve Soldiers, or cutting the level of
guard or reserve funding," said the U.S. Army chief of staff, General Peter
Schoomaker.
Governor Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho, a Republican, said Sunday that he was
still "very concerned." The administration may have set aside the proposal
on authorized strength, but it has not restored money to the budget to pay
for 350,000 guard members, he said.
In a recent report, the Government Accountability Office, an investigative
arm of Congress, said that "extensive use of the guard's equipment overseas
has significantly reduced the amount of equipment available to governors for
domestic needs."
Since 2003, the report said, the guard has left more than 64,000 pieces of
equipment, valued at more than $1.2 billion, in Iraq. The army has not kept
track of most of this equipment and has no firm plans to replace it, the
report said.
Kempthorne said the guard was bearing "a totally disproportionate share" of
proposed cuts in the growth of the military budget over the next five years,
even as the guard's responsibilities at home were increasing.
Governors from both parties said a Pentagon plan to restructure the guard
would significantly weaken its ability to save lives and property at home.
David Walker, the comptroller general of the United States, who is head of
the accountability office, said the governors had some basis for their
concerns.
"The army cannot account for over half the equipment that Army National
Guard units have left overseas," Walker said. "And it has not developed
replacement plans for the equipment, as Defense Department policy requires."
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,89617,00.html?ESRC=dod.nl
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"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the
country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag
the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a
parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can
always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have
to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for
lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
-- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/goering.htm
--
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