2009/02/23:National Guard has no business in Iraq

National Guard has no business in Iraq
Wisconsin State Journal
Feb. 23, 2009

While I join the rest of the state in wishing a safe journey and return for the members of the Red Arrow Brigade of the Wisconsin National Guard, I keep wondering why.

Isn't a mission to Iraq a bit outside the purview of a "National Guard?" I thought the National Guard was meant for domestic contingencies, such as floods or riots. People don't join the guard for foreign travel. To rip these "citizen soldiers" from home and hearth to pursue some misguided adventure in Iraq is unjustifiable.

But they're fighting the "war on terror!" No, they're not -- what's going on in Iraq is not a war nor is it against terrorism. I don't even know if there's a term for it. Our new president promised us a speedy withdrawal from this quagmire. Guess what? He lied.

A few years ago we crowed about how the Taliban in Afghanistan helped create the financial disaster that brought down the Soviet Union. The same thing is happening with our involvement in Iraq.

And for this, we need to deploy the Wisconsin National Guard? The time has long passed to get our troops out of Iraq, and that doesn't mean to redeploy them to Afghanistan, but back home where they belong.

-- Don Johnson, Madison