What War? I Live in a Small Town.
By James T. Moore (06/30/07)
Count the times the word "Iraq" or "war" appear in your local newspaper and if you see it it's on the back page - or maybe not at all - it will give you some idea of how unconcerned or preoccupied we are by the latest fashions or sports scores, to give the death and destruction going on in Iraq much thought.
But why don’t we, since it’s our country that’s paying the awful price in money and lives?
The answer is outrageously simple: we, the people, are to blame, yes, but that blame must be shared by the local news media which daily spoon-feeds us stories about neighborhood robberies, gang rapes, car crashes, beatings, suicides, and other “meaningful” stuff, that regrettably, does not include news about the war, the cost, the casualties, the dissenting voices, or the corrupt administration which got us into war, and the Department of Defense which never saw a war it tried to stay out of.
It is difficult, therefore, to give any thought to the effect the war is having on your state, your city, or your town. But it is no exaggeration to say that the war is having drastic consequences for your hometown, however small---and ultimately on you.
The fact is, half of those killed in Iraq come from towns of no more than 25,000 people, and one in five from towns with fewer than 5,000 people.
On it’s face, the following report by columnist Alan M. Weber in USA TODAY, seems unrelated to the war in Iraq, but it will become glaringly apparent that just the opposite is true.
Just one example. Residential burglaries in idyllic Santa Fe, New Mexico are way up. Even some City Council members had their homes burglarized. What does this have to do with the war in Iraq? Crime is growing because there were 20 vacancies out of 155-person police force. Why the vacancies? The Iraq war. The police are trying to recruit the same men and women as the military recruiters, which were paying $40,000 enlistment bonuses. So the police lost out. That’s not all. The Santa Fe police couldn’t even get the ammunition it needed. There was a 6-to-12 month wait because priority went to the army for use in Iraq.
And this problem is rampant across the country. Police officers in most towns are being called to duty in Iraq, leaving their hometowns understaffed; and costing the local law enforcement agencies $1 billion per year. In fact, things have gotten so bad in Santa Fe that the police department is hiring Mexican nationals to serve as police---in essence (get this) outsourcing their own protection! Talk about an ironic twist to the immigration dilemma,
One other little known or recognized aspect of the Iraqi drain on our military is the abortive mishandling of our National Guard. A substantial number of Guard units has been sent, not to protect our “open” borders, but to back up our regular Army troops fighting in Iraq.
In addition, according to a USA TODAY review, 31 states have 60% or less of their National Guard’s authorized equipment, thanks to their use in Iraq. And if this trend continues the Guard “may be hampered in responding to large-scale domestic events.”
Translation: if a tornado, flood, hurricane, or other major natural disaster hits this country, especially in smaller towns, the National Guard might not be around to help you recover. They’ll be “somewhere else” unable to hear your call for help. And all this time you never thought the war would come to your little town, did you?
James T. Moore
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