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14,000 National Guard Troops May Be Sent To Iraq

The Pentagon is notifying 14,000 National Guard troops they may be heading to Iraq.

The Pentagon has identified some 14,000 National Guard soldiers who may go to Iraq as part of planning for deployments stretching as far as 2010, a senior U.S. defense official said on Friday.

Some of the Guard soldiers, part of the U.S. military's reserve component, may face deployment far sooner than the Pentagon's goal of five years at home for every year they are mobilized, the official said.

This is in addition to the redeployment of 4,500 active troops announced earlier this week.

More...

On Monday, the Pentagon said it would send about 4,500 active duty troops to Iraq before they had spent even a year back at home. The Pentagon's goal for active-duty troops is two years at home for every one year deployed.

Sen. Harry Reid points out,

....the Guard would be less prepared for emergencies at home. "Our military is stretched too thin and our troops are returning to combat too soon and with too little training," Reid said in a statement.

The Pentagon responds,

"When we are a nation at war we might not always be able to make those policy goals that we have for ourselves," the senior defense official said.

There are now 145,000 troops in Iraq.

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  • Display: Sort:
    It is spring now, in the west, where the aspens (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by jerry on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 11:16:09 AM EST
    It is spring now ... Out West, where I live, the aspens will already be burning. They burn in clusters, because the hills and wind connect them.

    Our governor says that we depend on the National Guard and its aircraft and equipment to fight these fires.

    Moma!!! What will we do? (1.00 / 1) (#8)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 01:40:27 PM EST
    My advice is to start relying on yourself and your neighhbors. Volunteer Fire Departments are an old and honorable tradition.

    Parent
    Volunteer fire departments do aerial firefighting? (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by roy on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 02:41:04 PM EST
    roy, anything for you and jerry (1.00 / 1) (#15)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 03:05:56 PM EST
    is not enough

    ;-)

    Parent

    DA (1.00 / 0) (#31)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sun Apr 08, 2007 at 02:15:22 PM EST
    Yadda yadda yadda....

    Parent
    Not (1.00 / 1) (#13)
    by Wile ECoyote on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 02:51:26 PM EST
    to worry.  The Herks set up for water drops do not go to Iraq.  

    Parent
    More meat for the grinder (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by Dadler on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 11:54:19 AM EST
    And a nation that doesn't give a sh*t about its soldiers continues the path of folly and failure.  

    Jarober,
    There is no declaration of war.  There was a congressional authorization to use force built on lies and misinformation and raw stupidity.  That is not a congressionally authorized war.  Or does truth actually mean nothing to you?  The Though some of us, those of us who have been right about this all along and continue to be, marched against it and warned it would be a disaster.  Too bad this administration only wants to hear from those people who have been wrong about this all along.  

    Name a single thing this administration has been right about in Iraq.  Shock and Awe would work?  We'll be welcomed as liberators?  The insurgency is in its last troes?  Etc., Etc., Etc.

    Hell, I just read today that we hit a bunch of Shiite militiamen.  They were probably using arms the American government has generously spread around to our and Iran's common allies.

    Do you have any concept of the Orwellian lunacy your government is foisting on you?  

    Pathetic.

    Does this mean.... (1.00 / 1) (#10)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 01:45:47 PM EST
    Do you have any concept of the Orwellian lunacy your government is foisting on you?

    that you have left us?

    Say it aint so, Joe....

    Parent

    Iraq War (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by Saul on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 01:23:53 PM EST
    The Hypocrisy of It All

    History will show that this, president and vice president, will be go down in the annals of American presidents as the worst president and vice president in history of the United States.   The Iraq war was based on manufactured evidence and deliberate lies from the get go from this administration.    This administration took advantage of the 911 crisis and the lynch mob mentality that the people were in at the time and fabricated the Iraq connection to 911.    They also took advantage that it was a midterm election year, and any Congressman or Senator not favoring going to war would be considered unpatriotic which could make the difference of being elected or not.  It was an easy sell to the American people and the Congress.  One of the goals in Iraq was to bring Jeffersonian democracy to their government.  Many Iraqis are now saying, "We do not understand this Jeffersonian Democracy you talk about". Do you mean like the recent 06 November election you had in the United States where the majority of your people voted for the democrats on the basis of ending the Iraq war?  However, your president said, I don't care what 65 percent of the American people want I will continue with this war even if the only supporters left  are my wife and my dog Barney.    Do you mean like the Baker-Hamilton Commission that told your president that the current course in the management of the war was no longer viable and that major changes had to be made to include using diplomacy with the adjacent countries?  However, your president said I heard the commission's recommendation but I chose not to follow them and we will do it my way.   Do you mean like the military supplemental spending bill that both houses of your government passed with conditions of a timeline to end this war because of the mandate the people gave your Congress to end this war, along with your generals who agree that the only solutions to this war is a political solution and not a military solution? However, your president said, I will veto this bill if it has a timeline to end the war and I am requesting a surge of more troops.   "No we do not understand what new type of government you are talking about.    We already had this type of government and president.   Our government was a dictatorship and its ruler was Saddam Hussein."

    Puleaseeeeee (1.00 / 1) (#11)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 01:54:16 PM EST
    The Iraqis are saying they don't understand:

    "Jeffersonian Democracy?"

    How about Jacksonian?? Chicagoian? Bostonian??

    BTW - Please, please, please. Stop with the "mandate" nonsense. Our government is a constitutional republic, we do not have a parliment.


    Parent

    Looks Like (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by squeaky on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 03:13:40 PM EST
    Looks like he is on the same page as Rudy.

    Does Bush Support Our Troops? (5.00 / 0) (#27)
    by john horse on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 09:08:34 PM EST
    Time magazine has a cover story on how Bush is systematically destroying our Army.  I urge everyone to read this article.  I don't see how you can read it and not come to the conclusion that Bush's support for the troops is as deep as the depth of a bumper sticker based on the way he is using and abusing our men and women in uniform.

    Hmm (1.00 / 1) (#2)
    by jarober on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 11:42:12 AM EST
    It's almost as if it's a Congressionally authorized war, or something.  Leave it to the left to be continually stunned by that.

    Okay (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 11:47:17 AM EST
    So let's send them all. Every single one. Everyone who is now, or can still fit, in a uniform. And leave them till the war is done.

    Or do you not have the stomach to see things through?

    Parent

    Works for me. (1.00 / 1) (#9)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 01:42:39 PM EST
    If you will agree to a total war and an unconditional surrender requirement.

    Parent
    Who exactly (5.00 / 1) (#14)
    by Al on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 03:05:09 PM EST
    would be doing the surrendering?

    Parent
    Glad you asked (1.00 / 1) (#16)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 03:07:19 PM EST
    The terrorists who don't show up.

    Parent
    How will we know them (5.00 / 2) (#20)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 04:15:33 PM EST
    if they do show up?  What exactly is it that will define them as the terrorists, a uniform? a tattoo? the mark of the beast?  Who are these terrorists you always blabber about but can never really define?  What a bill of goods you have chosen to buy.  The people who buy into all this were paranoid to begin with and this puts a real world picture to their internal paranoia and feels factual to them even without facts.

    Parent
    Tracy, to complex, eh? (1.00 / 0) (#24)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 07:21:13 PM EST
    Ah, I should have known it was to complicated...

    You see Tracy, if we win, they won't show up.

    If they show up.... well, maybe you now get the point.

    Parent

    All's quiet..... (none / 0) (#29)
    by kdog on Sun Apr 08, 2007 at 10:34:00 AM EST
    on the Eastern front my friend, no fleets on the horizon, no squadrons in route.

    No activity on the Northeastern land border.  Can anyone report on the South, West, Northwest?

     

    Parent

    As was true on 9/10/01 (1.00 / 0) (#32)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sun Apr 08, 2007 at 02:17:57 PM EST
    you don't live (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by Jen M on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 11:47:36 AM EST
    anywhere near where forest fires are an anual problem. Obviously.

    Parent
    It doesn't count ... (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by Sailor on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 12:00:40 PM EST
    ... when it's founded on a lie:
    Whereas Iraq both poses a continuing threat to the national security of
        the United States and international peace and security in the
        Persian Gulf region and remains in material and unacceptable breach
        of its international obligations by, among other things, continuing
        to possess and develop a significant chemical and biological weapons
        capability, actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability, and
        supporting and harboring terrorist organizations;
    None of those were true, they were deliberate lies by the admin.

    Parent
    Nice Spin PPJ (1.00 / 0) (#25)
    by squeaky on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 07:59:46 PM EST
    How about some numbers rather than videotic vitriolic opinion to back up your fantasty claim.

    Waiting......but I sure won't hold my breath.

    How about you tell us (1.00 / 0) (#26)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 08:24:12 PM EST
    what you will put on the table to keep the terrorists at bay for a few years....

    Parent
    See Above Answer (none / 0) (#28)
    by squeaky on Sat Apr 07, 2007 at 09:11:41 PM EST
    And leave my first born son out of it.

    Parent
    Squeaky (1.00 / 0) (#33)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sun Apr 08, 2007 at 02:21:37 PM EST
    You can't answer because you haven't thought through what will be the cost of trying to live with the terrorists.

    Parent