Political Firestorm over California Wildfires

By Tony Vega for AmericanAngle.blogspot.com
Wednesday, October 24, 2007

The Orange County Tip Line is open and a
$ 70,000 Reward leading to an arrest is offered. 1-800-540-8282

California is in a state of emergency due to the wildfires plaguing seven counties. Billions of dollars in property damage will result and more lives will be lost before the fires are extinguished. This is a tragedy of epic proportions to say the least. California is evacuating people in record numbers, an amount of evacuees this country has never seen, not even during the Katrina crisis.

California has implemented NIMS (National Incident Management System) as a result of a multi agency response to combat the wildfires. This system is a mandate put in place by President Bush post 9/11. Geraldo Rivera on the ground has reported communications between the varying agencies are in place and working very well under this universal system.

Now enter the elite left, such as Senator Boxer. It is amazing how the left loves to wallow in negativity. It is shameless that Senator Boxer will exploit the California situation in an attempt to embarrass President Bush. In a hearing, today, Boxer claims that most of our National Guard troops and machinery were in Iraq, therefore unavailable to assist with fighting the fires. Senator Reid made similar comments. California’s Lt. Governor Garamandi states a visit by the President will serve only as a distraction. He commented on MSNBC, referring to the Presidents planned visit, “we’ll be polite, but frankly that’s not the solution.” He claims the fire is worse because of the war in Iraq. The Democratic Lt. Governor poses this question, apparently to the President: “how about sending our National Guard back from Iraq so that we have those people available here to help us”? There were also complaints from certain sectors claiming federal air response was inadequate.

The comments made by these politicians are simply dishonest. It’s an attempt to mislead the American people. According to the Pentagon there are more than enough resources available to rapidly mobilize and provide assistance, Major General William Wade of the California National Guard mirrored these comments. Further reports claim that there are 17,000 National Guard troops available in the states awaiting word from California Governor Shwarzenegger to mobilize. It appears that there are only 2,000 National Guard members assigned in Iraq and Afghanistan. In regards to the air federal response, Californian local authorities, themselves, held up that response for pragmatic reasons. A common method to combat wildfires is a technique called “backfires” this is when fire fighters intentionally and strategically set fires to eliminate the fuel and contain or redirect the fires marching in a certain direction. Local authorities, such as CalFire know where the back burn fires are located. The fear was that the federal air response would spot these isolated fires and douse them. Therefore, California authorities were endeavoring to have a local air vessel armed with this information to lead any federal response.

There is no need for partisan politics during a time of crisis. It appears that it’s chic amongst the left to exploit the war in Iraq during trying times in our nation. Whether it’s an attempt at insuring our children, as the SCHIP post points out, or fighting fires in California, the Democrats embark on this antiwar campaign of misinformation. Americans should resent this blatant attempt by these politicians to manipulate us.

The FBI and ATF have confirmed arson in the Santiago area. Santiago is in Orange County, one of the designated counties in the emergency zone. Evidence was recovered in three different distinct areas. The Orange County Tip Line is open and a
$ 70,000 Reward leading to an arrest is offered. 1-800-540-8282