How low will they go?

I cannot believe anyone can be so transparently politically motivated to try to tie the suffering of the recent tornado victims in Greensburg Kansas to President Bush's Iraq/Afgahnistan/war on terror policies.

Here is a smattering of stories that in essence attempt to place the blame for the suffering and damage caused by the tornado on President Bush:

www.breitbart.com...

www.crooksandliars.com...

So...Humvees are the answer to tornado recovery efforts? That KS governor is a bigger basket case than Blanco.


www.theleftcoaster.com...\

Someone please explain how this stories can be viewed as anything but politcal sniping? Or how the lack of a few humvees, water trucks, a few backhoes and dump trucks hampered the rescue efforts. I'm sure every town and county bordering the affected areas contributed personnel, equipment and material to the resucue/recovery efforts.

I suppose next we'll see a bunch of stories about how the US's failure to sign the Kyoto protocols directly caused this tornado.

hmph..

He was making a point about the National Guard. Throughout every state there are national guard stationed SOMEWHERE, these forces are used in case of emergency or "disasters." During a major tornado they would logically be called out to help clear the roads, get food and water moving, and establish homes for those who have lost them. In short make tent cities. FEMA was proven to be a joke during Katrina and that they did not care AT ALL about peoples lives... unless they were rich. If you recall there was severe manpower problems during that incident too, because over HALF the national guard in the state were overseas. I can understand how he linked the Bush admins. wars to problems in his state, because bush took his national guard who are the SAME ONES who take care of these incidences.
The lack of "humvees, water trucks" is understanable, the state does not and has not held such vehicles in its possesion. The national guard did and have. Since that same equipment got shipped off, the state is now left high and dry. Also the vehicles used to transport food and water to the affected are not police cars or police patty wagons (vans) but giant military class trucks. Once again, they all got shipped out to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Now to address his anger again: the govoner of a state CAN and WILL order the NG (national guard) out to help if he/she deems it necessary. However, if your NG has been shipped out, along with the equipment... You have nothing left to help people with. The NG are the ones with the bulldozers for road clearing, trucks for transportation, helis for emergency evac in large numbers, the tents, the rations, the water trucks, etc. Also I would prefer a humvee anyday over a police car if I had to drive through the countryside which had just been hit with a tornado, lots of sharp objects on the road would blow ordenary tires.

The anger is founded firmly. The only force that can be used in case of disaster got shipped off en mase to Iraq, and their equipment to boot. You would be suprised how long it can take to clear up a small strip of road that got hit with a twister, I know, I saw it once. A couple NG bulldozers though would have it cleared out in no time (the trees) and state street sweepers would clear the small debris off the road. Right now though, the cops are going to have to drag the logs off the road, since the state does not hold bulldozers, maybe a snowplow or two which does NOT cut it. So yes, they were left high and dry.

blame it on Iraq involvement or not, I don't care who gets the blame, but there is a major defiency in the handling of domestic issues on a large scale in this country.

I feel and believe that the greatest country on earth should have a massive response force to any type of natural disaster. Be it an earthquake, tornado or hurricane, National Guard, army, navy, I don't care who, should be in full force at the location to at least begin the clean up and start the recovery process.

They didn't tie anything to the war policies.

How low will YOU go? Putting a blatant spin on something as painfully obvious as having a lack of equipment...




Those reports simply state :

1. They are lacking equipment, transportation, etc.
2. The equipment they used to have has been shipped overseas.



Better yet... Why are you attacking the messenger of the bad news? How about you tilt your head to those who are RESPONSIBLE for the bad news!

Quit trying to spin news in order to attack a political party... cause they will fire back at you just as easily.
... and we all know the republicans aren't short of horrible mistakes we can make fun of, lol.

[edit on 9-5-2007 by johnsky]

Worldwatcher, I agree that swift and competent response to natural disasters is a neccesity. I also think its the responsibility of the local and state governments to conduct those efforts with financial support from the federal governmnet.

The intent of my post was to identify the political component of these incidents. Federal response to natural disasters has been made a political attack mechanism only recently. The next democratic president better be ready to get the same treatment Bush's administration has recieved.

From the article linked below.

By Lt. Col. Rick Francona
Military analyst
MSNBC
Updated: 12:53 p.m. ET May 8, 2007

Okay, let’s get the politics out of this up front. I am not sure how much her party affiliation – she is a Democrat – plays into her remarks. It does make a nice sound bite and checks the “attack the administration” block.

I chose the words “adequate reserves” carefully. In the final analysis, the National Guard is a reserve component of the United States Army –- about half of the Army’s combat units are in the National Guard. While the governor is correct that 20 percent of the Kansas Army National Guard is deployed to Iraq, its primary mission is to provide forces for the United States Army. It is the federal government that funds the National Guard, not the governor.

What is a governor to do when his or her state’s Guardsmen are deployed on federal service? The governor of each state is authorized to organize, train and equip a State Defense Force, not subject to federal service, to be used specifically when the National Guard is away. Kansas has such a force; I assume the governor has mobilized them.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

Originally posted by johnsky
They didn't tie anything to the war policies.

Of course they did...read between the lines....what they are imnplying is "Revovery efforts hampered because Gorge Bush sent all National Gaurd resources overseas to support his unjust war of agression".

How low will YOU go? Putting a blatant spin on something as painfully obvious as having a lack of equipment...

It was the governor of KS that put the political spin to the story. Im just bringing it to light.

Better yet... Why are you attacking the messenger of the bad news? How about you tilt your head to those who are RESPONSIBLE for the bad news!

And who would that be???

Quit trying to spin news in order to attack a political party... cause they will fire back at you just as easily.

Don't tell me what to do.

... and we all know the republicans aren't short of horrible mistakes we can make fun of, lol.

Thank you for illustrating the very phenomena I was adressing. The injection of politics into what should be a non-political story.

To me it just proves too great of dependence on the government.

In my hometown of Camden, Ohio we pitch in as a community when things happen. In Janurary 1996 we had an unsually high snowfall. Despite having only one city truck and one county truck we cleared all streets the next day. Because the local framers came in with tractors, the gravel pit drove the two backhoes from south of town, ATV's had makeshift scoops added and about 1/5 of the town came out with shovels. Local restaurants and wealthier families provided free coffee and hot sandwiches to the workers, gas stations gave the gasoline and diesel used, food, water, blankets and kerosene heaters were loaned to those in need and the elementary gym was opened to people to provide care for elderly and others that needed more attention and care.

Eaton, the city to the north is roughly three times our size had several state, county and city trucks as well as the National Guard removing their snow and took nearly a week before it was all removed.

Camden didn't complain. We didn't need the Red Cross and National Guard nor FEMA or anything else. We laughed as community that it took them so long to get things done. Same thing in 1989 when Camden had a massive flood. We pitched in as a community to get things done. Although Eaton, Gratis and West Elkton did send some people to help our town as well as Somerville which is farther downstream and in another county.

Yes, where I grew up is as about as small town as it gets. One of those places that if you got into mischief you hoped that your father caught you because whomever did usually had "spanking rights" too. Always better to get it once than twice. But rather than lay down and cry when bad things happen we stand up do what has to be done. More than once I have relieved an officer, fireman or EMT from directing traffic so they can deal with the situation at hand. And yes, even helped roll up hoses after the fire was out. And you know what, helping out in times of need doesn't prevent you from getting a speeding ticket either when you earn one.

Back in 1999 I mortified an elderly woman when I said that we needed Y2K to happen to give us a chance to clear out the deadwood. I then asked her if she were out walking in the woods and fell and broke her leg if she would lay there until she died or someone came and found her or would she try to drag herself out and hope someone would see her? She said well live or die, she would try to crawl out. I told she had nothing to fear from Y2K then as most of my generation would have laid out in the woods blaming the world instead of doing something about it. I told her she might be too young to remember the Great Depresision but I knew she remembers the ration cards from WWII. I said my generation can not imagine that the government said tighten your belts and make do with less. Let alone know how to go about it by pooling resources with friends and family. I asked her if she knew how to salt pork. And she said that she did. I said well, I have never done it and only have an idea how to go about it. But she could always trade knowledge for a portion of the yield and would end up doing better than most. She just smiled and said you know, that Y2K would be a good wake up call and that it wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

Originally posted by Vekar
The lack of "humvees, water trucks" is understanable, the state does not and has not held such vehicles in its possesion. The national guard did and have. Since that same equipment got shipped off, the state is now left high and dry.

High and dry? Really?

National Guard Has Manpower, Assets Needed for Kansas Relief Effort
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON (5/8/2007) – National Guard troops responding to a tornado that devastated Greensburg, Kan., have the manpower and resources they need and can tap into additional support if they need it, defense officials said today.

Kansas Guardsmen responding to the disaster have 60 percent of their Army Guard dual-use equipment and more than 85 percent of their Air Guard equipment on hand, officials said.

Whitman reported a full range of Guard equipment on hand to support the mission. The Kansas Guard has 352 Humvees, 94 Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks, 24 medium and light tactical vehicles, 152 2.5-ton cargo trucks, 76 series 5-ton trucks, 13 M916 tractors, 870 trailers, 52 Heavy Equipment Transport Systems, and 30 Palletized Load System Trucks.

Full Story:

www.ngb.army.mil...

The governors comments pertaining to inadequate National Guard support and all the stories citing those statements are nothing but pure politics.

you are missing the point national guard has no business in iraq
they are supposed to be fore diaster relief and domestic defense like coast guard. army reserves are the ones who are supposed to help when there are not enough troops for deployment.