If there were Army and National Guard to actually show up in FORCE,

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

no idiots would shoot at them. End of story. Food and water distributed as needed.

This emphasis on the "lawlessness" getting in the way of recovery efforts is total B.S. Of COURSE there is lawlessness. What do you think would happen, with tens of thousands of people stranded without food and water?

The job of the federal government, and the National Guard, is to be able to stabilize situations like this. It is no excuse because some people took shots, that no aid could be rendered.

Remind people that the whole PURPOSE of the National Guard is PRECISELY to help control situations such as this. NOT to adventure in foreign lands. That's why it's called "National" Guard!!! That's why it was so unusual for the NATIONAL Guard to be sent to a foreign war, not since Korea.

It's because the "mission" in Iraq, however it is defined this week, is not POPULAR enough with Americans, including wingnut shrub worshippers, for them to ENLIST and fill the needs of the Army for that mission. Hence the utilization of a domestic resource, away from its intended purpose, for which it's desparately needed now, for a foreign occupation.