Democrats’ 2006 National Security Strategy

Get set for a Democrat campaign in 2006 of heightened misinformation and false pretenses.

Rowan Scarborough at the Washington Times obtained a copy of the Senate Democrats’ national security strategy for the 2006 election. What the memo titled “Real Security” lays out as the Democrats approach is to whine without program. This “political offensive targets Bush” stands in stark contrast to the serious presentation of issues and policies presented by President Bush this week. See here.

Example of Democrat Strategy:

"Hold a town hall meeting with state officials and a local National Guard unit at their armory to discuss the security impact of long deployments. ... Ask National Guard members to offer input on how security and disaster response at home is compromised by long deployments."

As the reporting of the new commission to study the National Guard and Reserves lays out:

As the commission begins its work, 120,125 National Guard and reserve personnel are on active duty, about half the peak number mobilized for Iraq and Afghanistan. At one point last year, nearly half of all U.S. troops in Iraq were from the Guard and reserves.

The Washington Post points out that:

The Pentagon says the decline in Guard and Reserve call-ups also reflects that some troops whose specialties make them among the most frequently deployed have served their required time. Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said some "high demand" units such as military police, military intelligence and special operations forces have completed their 24 months of mobilization time. This means they are no longer available unless they volunteer.

Greyhawk collects some of the recent stats belying claims of a demoralized or broken armed services. Nonetheless, recruits are flocking to service. The Army Guard exceeded its target by 7% so far this fiscal year. The regular Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force also exceeded their recruitment goals in the latest month. Are active duty members fleeing service? The 2005 desertion rate is 7% of that during 1971, and since 9/11 the annual rate of desertion in the Army, Navy and Air Force has dropped by 57%.

Meanwhile, this recent study of response to Katrina last year, when National Guard and Reserves in Iraq were far higher, puts to rest that the Guard and Reserves were not up to the task:

While the press focused on FEMA's shortcomings, this broad array of local, state and national responders pulled off an extraordinary success--especially given the huge area devastated by the storm. Computer simulations of a Katrina-strength hurricane had estimated a worst-case-scenario death toll of more than 60,000 people in Louisiana. The actual number was 1077 in that state.

The Democrat memo calls for photo ops that “clearly conveys the message in the shot. Planes, vehicles, equipment and signage in the background enhance the pictures coming out of your event.” That should say, clearly mis-appropriates images of many of the weapons programs Democrats sought to eliminate or reduce, and try to appear more real than Dukakis in his tank photo-op.