The National Guard Disappeared by Bushwar Inc.

New Orleans and other Louisiana and Mississippi cities and towns now face mammoth cleanup and repair work from hurricane Katrina. Health and safety are threatened, and the entire nation’s economy may hang in the balance.

It’s the time for the National Guard. But they aren’t there. Neither is their equipment.

Over 3,000 members of the Louisiana National Guard 256th brigade is in Iraq. So is their equipment—including high water vehicles and generators, particularly important in flood disasters.

Of the many deformities to this nation perpetrated by Bushwar Inc., the misuse of the National Guard is one of the scariest. Not only are men taken from their jobs and families who depend on them; not only are they usually no longer young and not really trained for what they face in Iraq, and so they die and are wounded for no good reason and a lot of bad ones, but the nation they are supposed to guard is left defenseless in emergencies like this one.

It’s unlikely this is the last hurricane to do damage this year. More frequent and more ferocious storms have been predicted by climate crisis models for years, and the trend is starting to show. At a time we ought to be anticipating danger to lives, infrastructure and the economy, we’re bleeding ourselves dry in Iraq. The United States of denial cannot stand.

UPDATE: Though other National Guard units were said to be deployed to the disaster area, they were apparently not present in force in New Orleans by Wednesday the 31st. According to figures broadcast by Democracy Now!, 40% of the Mississippi National Guard personnel and 35% of the Louisiana Guard are in Iraq. Louisiana's Guard has suffered 23 deaths in Iraq, more than any other state except New York, which also lost 23.