Gridlock News

The Governor of Kansas seized an opportunity to jump in the car with President Bush this week following his tour of the tornado ravaged areas of Kansas.  Governor Sebelius like many governors all across the country are concerend about the depletion (and lack of replenishment) of their National Guard resources.

Troops deploy to Iraq with their equipment.  Some of the troops return but the equipment does not.  Some of the troops take leave upon their return and some leave the service entirely despite stop loss orders.  This leaves states like Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Kansas and many more states at a loss to deal with emergency response situations.

FEMA provides help and people can purchase their own Disaster Kits but at the beginning of a crisis National Guard troops are the closest resources to respond to emergencies.

Governor Sebelius is extremely concerned that the Pentagon's current plans only provide for replacement equipment over a 6 year time frame.  Six years is not fast enough for hurricane victims, flood victims, tornado victims nor even for troops redeploying back to Iraq again and again. 

The President and Congress are at odds over funding the Iraq war with an open check book.  That is a question over funding continued Iraqi operations in the future.  What neither Congress, nor the President nor the Pentagon have yet dealt with is that they have been running operations in Iraq on borrow equipment, borrowed money and borrowed time.

The current strategy in Iraq is requiring a sacrifice not just paid by the troops that are deployed but also by each of the states that provide their first responders.  This problem is rooted in part in the un-Total Warfare strategy kicked off by Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld four years ago.  President Bush chose to follow their advice and kick of a war with out a declaration of war, without a complete committment by the people of the United States and the world.  That lack of support was just a wedge in the early days when many people trusted the President.  The wedge has grown into a chasm and the repurcussions hit every time we have a natural disaster or terroristic attack in our country.