Oregon Guard to Deploy Again

The U.S. is fighting two wars--one that we started, one that we didn't. But these continue to be mostly TV wars. There is little sense of shared sacrifice on the part of most Americans and while most want us out of Iraq, we are passive about it. That's partly because we don't have a draft and partly because the Bush administration has not asked us to make any sacrifices on the home front. Now the Pentagon has alerted the Oregon National Guard for possible--and we think probable--deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan in 2009. This may be a wake-up call for Oregonians.

In 2004, Oregon had 16-hundred soldiers from the guard in Iraq and it took a toll, especially in small towns where police officers, firefighters, teachers, and community leaders left their homes and families behind. This time, more than twice as many soldiers will be called up. And when we lose half the Guard and its equipment, who will be there when we have an earthquake, another huge forest fire, or a Columbus Day storm? Our soldiers, both guardsmen and regular military, have been making amazing sacrifices. If we feel that more, maybe we will protest more, write more letters, and force our U.S. Senate candidates to take a position: Do they oppose this deployment or not?

Some of us who think it was a mistake to go into Iraq and who think we blundered badly in executing the war, still wonder if there is a middle way between total troop withdrawal and the current situation. While we can support a U.S. training mission for Iraqis, we don't support keeping a large deployment in Iraq to fight terrorism. Terrorists and terrorist training camps are highly mobile and there is no reason for a multi-year deployment of U.S. troops in Iraq to fight terrorists. Maybe this newly announced deployment of Oregon soldiers will make us raise our voices for a fast and significant troop withdrawal.