Legal Commentary

Report: Alaska National Guard Mismanaged Under Palin

By Jeralyn

Remember when John McCain and Sarah Palin touted her supervisory role over the Alaska National Guard as evidence of her foreign policy experience?

A year long investigation by the non-partisan group Veterans for America has concluded with a lengthy report.

The report offers a scathing critique of the Guard's alleged lack of assistance -- particularly with health care -- for soldiers returning from overseas deployments. It asserts the Guard was sent to fight without proper systems in place to handle its returning vets and urges deployments to cease until the situation is fixed.

"As a result of inadequate leadership from the Governor of Alaska, among others, the Alaska National Guard has an inadequate understanding of the full range of post-combat issues," the report says.

The Alaska National Guard disputes the findings and calls the report a political hatchet job. The 8 page summary with preliminary findings is here. The full report should be released sometime today.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on October 14, 2008 (boomark / email).