Politicising the armed forces' Army veterans' warning over national guard deployment

Army veterans' warning over national guard deployment

- Ed Pilkington

The Trump administration's deployment of national guard troops to Los Angeles to intervene in civilian protests in the face of opposition from the Californian governor is a major escalation that risks the politicisation of the US military, armed service veterans have warned.

Former top military figures said the decision to put up to 2,000 troops under federal control and send them onto the streets of LA was a violation of the military's commitment to keep out of domestic politics in all but the most exceptional circumstances. The last time a US president federalized the national guard against the wishes of a state governor was in 1965, when Lyndon Johnson deployed them to protect civil rights marchers in Alabama.

"This is the politicisation of the armed forces," said Maj Gen Paul Eaton. "It casts the military in a terrible light - it's that man on horseback, who really doesn't want to be there, out in front of American citizens."

Eaton, who commanded the training of Iraqi troops during the invasion of Iraq, said the LA deployment could lead to the invocation of the Insurrection Act. The 1807 law empowers the president to deploy the full US military against insurrection or armed rebellion.