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Pentagon guidance mentions both 'first,' 'second' years
Friday, May 19, 2006; Posted: 8:50 p.m. EDT (00:50 GMT)
SACRAMENTO, California (AP) -- President Bush's planned deployment of National Guard troops to the Mexican border would last at least two years with no clear end date, according to a Pentagon memo obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
The one-page "initial guidance" memo to National Guard leaders in border states does not address the estimated cost of the mission or when soldiers would be deployed. But high-ranking officials in the California National Guard said they were told Friday that deployments would not begin before early June.
Although the military document makes clear the troops would remain under the command of their governors, it also indicates a high degree of federal control over operations. It states that the National Guard Bureau's Army and Air Directories "will serve as the states' focal points for force-planning, training, organizing and equipping their forces."
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he has not yet decided whether to commit troops to the mission because he has serious concerns about how long the mission would last and whether the deployment would hinder the state's ability to respond to a natural disaster or terrorist attack. *** So ... haven't we been down this road before ? Does ** ever plan an end date for ANYTHING ??
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