The Iraq occupation is often described in grandiose terms: aggression, liberation, quagmire, spreading democracy. But the effects are deeply personal. If you have friends or family over there, as I do, you tend to have a slightly different focus: will MY friend/relative come back alive?
Given the huge numbers of troops need to occupy Iraq (and Afghanistan), the job can not be done simply with ordinary, active duty soldiers. National Guardsmen are normally under the control of the state governor and typically deployed to deal with local emergencies like flooding and ice storms. Yet lots of them have been shipped over to Iraq.
As a result, the Vermont state legislature is considering a study that would look at the effects on the state of Vermont National Guard deployments to Iraq. This was after 57 towns voted on such a resolution at this spring's town meetings, 49 of which approved the measure.
"I am not concerned about the committee so much as I am about the approach," said Maj. Martha Rainville, head of the Vermont National Guard.
Instead of being based on public forums, she said, the study might be more useful if it was based on statistical information, much of which the Guard already has, reported The Rutland Herald.
A fair enough comment.
Anyone paying attention has read the stories of National Guardsmen getting injured or dying because they were poorly equipped (take this one for example). In fact, the only casualties from my area have been Guardsmen killed (1) or injured (several) because they were forced to ride through dangerous areas in a vehicle without armor plating. With the over $165,000,000,000 spent on Iraq so far, you'd think that such things might be taken care of. But that can never be questioned, lest one 'undermine troop morale'
If that doesn't make your head spin...
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