Hurricane Katrina: National Guard

The following are links related to the role and activities of the Army National Guard with Hurricane Katrina.

"The guardsmen remain under their respective governors' control, which enables them to provide law-enforcement support in the affected regions -- something the Posse Comitatus Act prohibits active-duty forces from doing within the United States. While under state control, the National Guard is not bound by Posse Comitatus, NORTHCOM officials explained." [1]

Also see:

• Joint Task Force Katrina

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Articles & Commentary

August 2005

• Will Dunham, "Strained US National Guard has hurricane relief role," Reuters, August 30, 2005.
• "Katrina Rescue Operations: Are National Guard and Equipment Stretched Thin by Iraq War?" Democracy Now!, August 30, 2005.
• Norman Solomon, "Bring Them Home...NOW! The National Guard Belongs in New Orleans and Biloxi. Not Baghdad," CounterPunch, August 31, 2005.
• Dave Moniz, "Pentagon to send 10,000 National Guard troops," USA Today, August 31, 2005.

September 2005

• "Military due to move in to New Orleans. Governor warns thugs: Troops 'know how to shoot and kill'," CNN, September 2, 2005.
• Allen G. Breed, "National Guardsmen Pour Into New Orleans," Associated Press (Yahoo! News), September 2, 2005.
• Arianna Huffington, "Are People Dying Over Here Because We're Fighting Them Over There?" The Huffington Report, September 2, 2005: "... every national guardsman who is in Iraq (and there are 118,000 of them) is one less guardsman who can help out right now in Mississippi and Louisiana. ... About 40 percent of Mississippi's National Guard and 35 percent of Louisiana's -- a combined total of roughly 6,000 troops -- are unavailable to help out because they are currently in Iraq. And despite the protestations of unnamed officials that 'this had not hurt the relief effort,' does anyone really believe that having 6,000 more well-trained citizen-soldiers on hand would not have made a huge difference?"
• Robert Burns, "Gen.: Big Troop Increase in Iraq Unlikely," Associated Press (Yahoo! News), September 2, 2005: "U.S. troops in Iraq whose family members were injured or killed by Hurricane Katrina may be allowed to go home, but those who have no confirmed casualties among family members will have to stay in Iraq."
• "Troops told 'shoot to kill' in New Orleans," ABC News (Australia), September 2, 2005.