Mississippi guardsmen in Iraq refused leave time

[ECH1969]

BAGHDAD - Scores of Mississippi National Guardsmen in Iraq who lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina have been refused even 15-day leaves to aid their displaced families, told by commanders there are too few U.S. troops in Iraq to spare them, according to guardsmen.

About 600 members of the Mississippi Guard's 155th Brigade Combat Team, posted south of Baghdad, live in the parts of southern Mississippi and southeast Louisiana hit hardest by Katrina, Maj. Neil F. Murphy Jr., a spokesman with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, said by e-mail Saturday. The brigade is attached to the expeditionary force.

Guard members and relatives said in e-mails or telephone interviews that virtually all of the roughly 300 soldiers of the 155th Brigade's B and C companies had their homes destroyed or severely damaged in the hurricane. Eighty Mississippi Guard members have been granted emergency leave, Murphy said. The rest have been refused leave, told by their brigade command that all other forward operating bases "are tapped out and cannot send troops," one Mississippi Guard member wrote in an e-mail that was shared by a family member.

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/iraq_conflict/article/0,1406,KNS_9217_4072166,00.html

[Erika]

1. W's priority is oil and $ to his corporate buddies

Not the worries, lives, and homes of American troops in Iraq.

[dweller]

2. and Rummie said there was no shortage ...

i wonder how Haley Barbour is feeling right about now?

BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
dp

[Hekate]

4. We all saw ol' Haley boasting about his "personal friendship" with Bush

He looked a lot happier than Governor Blanco that day, didn't he?

Ya' think this will put a crimp in his undies? Or not -- because maybe the poor Mississippians who joined the Guard don't count in the same way as Trent Lott, who lost his vacation home?

Maybe someone should ask him about cashing in some of his "personal friendship" capital with Bubble Boy.

Hekate

#Why won't the Chickenhawk cross the road?#
#Why isn't the Chickenhawk waitin' on the levee?#

[DELUSIONAL]

3. This really pisses me off!

WE are so screwed --

I believe that a lot of the chaos in New Orleans and throughout the Katrina ravaged Gulf States is & was due to the lack of National Guards -- local people with local knowledge.

Can we please impeach these bastards NOW?

[CoffeeCat]

5. It's obvious...

...that they are stretched thin in Iraq, and that we don't have enough soldiers there to fight the ever-growing insurgency.

It's also obvious that this bungled war has led to drastic decreases in the number of people signing up for the military.

So basically--We're short on military to help with national disasters, because we're too busy failing in an ill-planned war that we'll end up losing in Iraq. Lovely.

So, what happens to us if some other disaster or terrorist attack happens?

What then, Junior?

[halobeam]

6. we be toast and the whole world knows it......

Feel safer now? I didn't think I could feel less safe, two weeks ago. How completely naive of me.

[CoffeeCat]

11. The scary thing is...

THEY know it. BushCo knows how vulnerable we are.

They don't care.

They know it, and they try to hide it from us. They deny it. But they damn well know it.

It's incredibly ironic that many Americans trust this bungling fool to save them from the turrists. The reality is...we are so vulnerable and so unsafe, and their savior created this mess and doesn't give a damn that the mess exists.

Bastard!

[MelissaB]

17. That is exactly what I was thinking.

If we can't even afford to send this few troops home for 2 weeks, we are screwed. Big surprise? Not here.

[Maple]

7. You can see trouble coming

a mile away on this one

[Erika]

8. These troops are there to protect Iraqis who never wanted us there

But denied a chance to help their very own. The NG was to protect us internally in these very conditions. W negated that.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

9. I wonder if any of the senior commanders who refused those requests....

...know one or more of the terms "frag", or "fragged", or "fragging"?

[texpatriot2004]

10. Those soldiers should be here. Shameful it is. n/t

[Straight Shooter]

12. bush on vacation 5 weeks. Soldiers can't get a lousy 15 days

Not even to help their families in times of crisis. The party of *cough* moral values is such a shining example of *cough* virtue, isn't it?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

13. Says it all.

[OneGrassRoot]

14. Everything you all have said here.........

is exactly why I pray the Dems (and sane Repubs) have SOME sort of coherent plan to turn this mess around ASAP, after initiating impeachment, of course.

If making us MORE vulnerable to attacks, natural and otherwise, isn't a reason to get their asses out of there, I don't know what is.

[54anickel]

18. Sure points out the fact that we cannot protect the "Homeland" OR Iraq

doesn't it?

They can't spare 300 bodies from Iraq to come home for a measly 2 weeks.

We are ill-prepared for any type of emergency here at home as evidenced by the Katrina fiasco. DHS has been proven to be a sick joke put in place for control of the masses and greed. The only security they are really concerned with is the security of the ubber-rich.

[BlueJac]

15. This just sucks to hear!

The World according to Bush is total BS......bring the troops home now! The US needs their soldiers home.

[all.of.me]

16. sick. just sick.

compassion TRULY is not part of their vocabulary, is it?!?!?!

[Nothing Without Hope]

19. Guardian/UK: 100 Louisiana Guard going home- but this is NOT leave either

These 100 Guards going home already even before the storm. It's utterly inhuman to not allow Guards to go home to see if their families are alive and their homes still there. Rumsfield is a soulless monster, if anyone was still doubting it after all his crimes.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5265153,00.html

La. Guardsmen Depart Iraq to Find Families

Friday September 9, 2005 12:31 AM

By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer

CAMP VICTORY, Kuwait (AP) - A plane carrying 100 Louisiana National Guardsmen left this U.S. base in the desert late Thursday, most returning to damaged homes and families-turned-refugees by Hurricane Katrina.

The troops ended their Iraq duty a little more than a week before they were scheduled to return to the United States on regular rotation.

(snip)

But after the ravages of the hurricane, New Orleans is no longer home.

``It's like Armageddon hit the city,'' said Gantt, who was a medic at a military prison for Iraqi insurgents. ``We were scared to death. We don't know what our houses are going to be like. We don't know what our situation is. Some guys have nothing.''

(snip)

[pfitz59]

20. What about the "other" war?

News today from Afghanistan was pretty grim....helicopter crash and assassination attempt! Those poor guardsmen, stuck in hell while their homes are destroyed! Latest Rovian spin is its all Gov Blanco's fault (even the problems in Mississippi!)Not happy time for US.....