I just watched a bit of the press conference being held by the governor or Louisiana and the mayor of New Orleans regarding the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans in the face of Katrina, now a Category 5 hurricane.
The levee system is endangered by the flood waters and winds that will accompany this storm when it hits landfall.
Historically, it is the National Guard, along with other emergency personnel, who attempt to provide emergency services to the community in disaster relief situations like Katrina.
And where are these National Guard right now?
Iraq.
If they are alive.
In an August 1 article, Ron Harris writes for the St. Louis Dispatch
America's citizen soldiers of the National Guard and the Army, Navy and Marine Reserves increasingly are casualties in the war in Iraq. And the nation's reliance on the Guard and Reserves is changing them.
Currently, members of the Guard and Reserves make up four of every 10 military personnel in Iraq. It's the largest long-term deployment of the nation's reserves in 50 years. And their casualties reflect that.
Men and women who just months ago held jobs such as truck driver, accountant and teacher now make up nearly one of every four servicemen and women being killed in the war.
And when they are killed, their deaths resonate differently back home, because unlike regular military, guard and reserve units are populated predominately by people from the same communities.
and this
In no state have those deaths registered more than in Louisiana. Louisiana, along with New York, has lost more guardsmen and reservists - 23 as of July 24 - than any state in the nation, and all but one of those deaths have come in the last eight months.
And like so many fighting in Iraq, the soldiers are from small, tightly knit towns - Olla, Batchelor, Opelousa, Pineville, Natchitoches, Ruston, Crowley and Houma.
Unfortunately, the citizens of the state of Louisiana are about to face the full force of Katrina without the benefit of their National Guard troops to protect them.
This is a direct consequence of President Bush's bad decision to invade Iraq.
Bush's decision to fight terrorism by taking the battle "over there" is about to hit home.