The National Guard Isn't in Kansas Anymore

The governor of Kansas was on the tube yesterday stating a couple of disconcerting facts--all of which involve the state's national guard and the war effort in Iraq. The State of Kansas was unable to respond effectively to the tornado in Greensburg, Kansas, because too much of its equipment and manpower is on duty in Iraq. Further, studies indicate the state's guard will not return to "strength" until some four or five years from now. The guard manpower and equipment problem is not limited to Kansas. Problems are arising in other states. The question, then, is to the administration (and supporters of the administration's specific plans for this battlefront in the "ideological struggle" of the century): how much longer are you going to ask to country to fight this war against Islamist extremism without total commitment? What happens to the next national guard effort at sustaining a major public crisis in states such as Kansas, or Louisiana, in the aftermath of a natural disaster? This "war" has been a combat success, but it is an occupational disaster--with no end in sight. Waiting for September is like waiting for Godot. Metaphorically, it will never arrive.