Day: July 12, 2005

National Guard chief says Iraq danger “misrepresented”

The head of the National Guard says the dangers American troops face in Iraq have been exaggerated — complicating recruitment efforts at home.
Lieutenant General Steven Blum says the casualty rate for Guardsmen is low compared to any previous armed conflict. He says he loses more people in private car and motorcycle wrecks.

Blum says Iraq is dangerous — but that the degree of danger has been “misrepresented.”

Surveys of potential recruits and their parents show fear of being hurt as one of the major reasons young people don’t enlist.

Blum says more than 250-thousand National Guardsmen have been mobilized since Nine-Eleven. Only 262 of them have been killed. Pentagon figures show more than 90 percent of those were in Iraq.

Part-Time Forces on Active Duty Decline Steeply

The number of Reserve and National Guard troops on domestic and overseas missions has fallen to about 138,000, down from a peak of nearly 220,000 after the invasion of Iraq two years ago, a sharp decline that military officials say will continue in the months ahead.

The decrease comes as welcome relief to tens of thousands of formerly part-time soldiers who, with their families, employers and communities, have been badly stressed by their long call-ups for duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Reserve and National Guard members from all of the armed services make up about 35 percent of the troops in Iraq, a share that is expected to drop to about 30 percent by next year; the vast majority are from the Army Reserve and Army National Guard.

Despite these pieces, a lag is to be expected before reality sinks in, if in fact the media truly ever lets the reality be well broadcast.

U.S. National Guard chief sees recruiting shortfall

The Army National Guard, tapped heavily by the Pentagon for soldiers in Iraq, likely will miss its recruiting goal for the third straight year, the general who runs it said on Tuesday.

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau at the Pentagon, argued that the Army National Guard was not in “serious crisis mode” even as it stood about 19,000 troops below the 350,000-strong force authorized by Congress.

Perhaps there’s a need for this old soldier, perhaps not. I know a dear friend has gone back in and is over there in the sandbox. That little fact lives as a daily itch.

The California National Guard, already facing an investigation into allegations of spying on anti-war activists [discussed here], is now under attack for being culturally insensitive towards our enemies.

Islamic leaders and peace groups are criticizing the California National Guard for a flier posted in its headquarters suggesting the United States should execute Islamic terrorists with bullets dipped in pig’s blood to deny them entry to heaven.

The poster attributes the practice to World War I General John J. Pershing.

“Maybe it is time for this segment of history to repeat itself, maybe in Iraq?” the flier stated. It was posted outside a cubicle in the Guard’s Civil Support Division.

A second flier showed the wings and tail of a bomber forming a peace sign with the slogan, “Peace the old fashioned way.” Also posted was a cartoon from a Web site showing a Red Crescent ambulance stuffed with weapons and a caricature that looks like the late-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat unloading the weapons.

Let’s see. The peace-through-strength poster, an idea that has stood the test of time, isn’t even worth mentioning beyond saying it sounds like a cool graphic. Yes, the other two posters sound culturally insensitive … to terrorists. Cue the freakin’ violins. Frankly, I have no problem with insensitivity towards our enemies. However, these fliers should not be on display in a home-front headquarters, at least not in today’s overly sensitive, politically charged world. At the absolute very least, they most definitely should not be up when it is known that CAIR and peaceniks are going to be visiting. That’s just stupidity.

Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Doug Hart at first defended the postings to the San Jose Mercury News, which reported the posters Tuesday but later said they had been removed.

Peace activists spotted the fliers during a tour last week. The tour came after peace groups and a state senator questioned whether a new Guard unit had been formed to spy on U.S. citizens and had monitored a Mother’s Day anti-war rally.

“It’s troubling to see a governmental organization dedicated to the security of our country promoting culturally and religiously insensitive ideas,” said William Youmans, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Santa Clara. “It’s very possible to combat terrorism without offending the cultural values of a major world religion.”

No, what’s troubling is that this political correctness garbage is trying to make an issue with how our military views our enemies. We’re talking about a dark-humored flier suggesting a foul way of treating animals who would want nothing more than to carve off the heads of our soldiers. We’re talking about posters not insensitive to Islam but rather fairly insensitive to terrorists. It was dumb for the posters to be up during the visit; it will be tragic if this story gains any further mileage.

For the soldier or soldiers who put up the fliers, give the mildest of reprimands and maybe an annoying one-hour sensitivity lecture. Slightly more to the commander. For those offended, give a sample of caricatures of our enemies from WWII-era for maybe some hopefully annoying perspective.

As an aside, Snopes.com has more on the Gen. Pershing story.