I saw on CNN that the rest of the Louisiana National Guard will return from Iraq in eight days. According to this news report, Gulf state National Guardsmen stationed in Iraq are devastated by the news of Katrina, however this is disturbing and the man who said it must have had a gun to his head as we all know that you don't sign up for the National Guard if you want to fight wars overseas:
Asked how his troops felt being in Iraq while their state was in such difficulty, Jones replied: "Well, we all know our primary mission is the federal one."More on Guard Units at the NY Times.
"The secondary mission is to serve at the pleasure of the governor in disaster-relief and other missions," said Jones, 44, who works for a company managing the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
I read that US Agencies are slow to respond to major US health threats such as botulism, anthrax, smallpox and bubonic plague. This is bad news as the areas ravaged by Katrina, particularly New Orleans will soon be a petri dish of disease as bodies from cemeteries may emerge, the sewage system has overflowed, there are chemical spills and I see kids swimming in the flood waters. Oh baby, we're talking about cholera, tuberculosis, malaria, West Nile virus, and dengue fever. US agencies had better get their acts together. This is a tremendous catastrophe.
If you'd like to help agencies who work in the field of emergency response to this disaster, check out networkforgood.org.
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