Oregon Can't Fight Wildfires Because Its Helicopters Were Sent To
Afghanistan
Many of Oregon's largest firefighting aircraft are not available because the
Department of Defense has sent them to Afghanistan to fight in the
20-year-old war.
by Alan Macleod
September 11th, 2020
By Alan Macleod
More than half a million Oregonians have been forced to flee their homes, as
wildfires continue to ravage the West Coast of the United States. Amid
record-breaking temperatures, the wildfires, which have charred one million
acres of land, have caused the sky to turn a terrifying shade of red, with
many comparing it to Mars, hell, or the apocalypse. Air quality in Portland,
the state's largest city, is currently the lowest in the world, below even
that of infamously polluted cities like Delhi and Beijing.
The state's Democratic governor Kate Brown did not mince words when advising
what to do. "Get the hell out," she told her fellow Oregonians. While Brown
described the fires as "unprecedented," she also warned that they "will not
be a one time event." "Unfortunately, it is a bellwether of the future," she
said. "We are seeing the devastating effects of climate change in Oregon, on
the entire West Coast, and throughout the world."
Firefighters are having a great deal of trouble dealing with blazes of this
size and ferocity, despite receiving support from the rest of the country. A
group of Mexican firefighters also arrived in the state yesterday, keen to
help their American compatriots. One major reason they are having such
difficulties combatting the blazes, the Portland Tribune noted deep in one
article, is that many of the state's largest firefighting aircraft are not
available because the Department of Defense has sent them to Afghanistan to
fight in a 20-year-old war. Six Chinook helicopters, for example, have been
redeployed to the Asian nation, critically undermining both rescue and
firefighting missions at home.
The Defense Department's decision is the latest example of the skewed
priorities of the U.S. government when it comes to protecting its citizens.
More than twice as many people have already died in California alone from
the summer's wildfires than Americans in Afghanistan all year. The
occupation of Afghanistan will turn 20 years old next month, and, with
troops removals being blocked, shows no sign of coming to an end soon. Even
before the latest increase, the United States' military budget already
rivaled that of the rest of the world combined. In July, both Congress and
Senate rejected a bill calling for a modest reduction in defense spending,
overwhelmingly voting against it.
What the government could have done to improve the country with the savings
is considerable. The National Priorities Project calculated that a ten
percent cut in military spending would be enough to end homelessness in
America, fund free college for two million students, convert the U.S. to
renewable energy, hire 900,000 new teachers, or send two more $1,200 checks
to every American.
While Oregon is among the hardest hit, states across the western United
States are feeling the impact of colossal wildfires. In Washington state,
more acres were burned on Monday alone than in 12 of the past 18 years of
forest fires, according to Governor Jay Inslee, with the large majority of
the state under a red flag fire warning.
Meanwhile, the fire season has been particularly harsh in California, with
six of the state's twenty largest fires in recorded history occurring this
summer. Authorities have been critically short on firefighters as the
prisoners it normally uses to tackle the blazes have been locked down
because of a COVID-19 epidemic raging through the state's prisons. Inmates
are paid between $2.90 and $5.12 per day, plus $1 per hour to risk their
lives, and are barred from applying for jobs in the fire department once
they are released.
Oregon has fared relatively well at limiting the spread of the coronavirus,
with fewer than 500 deaths statewide. However, with half a million people
fleeing their homes, it is feared that the communal indoor spaces they are
being relocated to will become hotbeds of transmission.
Governors like Brown and Inslee, as well as scientists, have explicitly
framed the fires within the context of man-made climate change. "[The] West
is on fire. Air can't be breathed. Sky is pink. A half million [are] fleeing
Oregon. An environmental reckoning has come. Whatever we call it - Green New
Deal, Climate Revolution, End of Fossil Fuels - we must radically alter the
way we live, or our lands will be uninhabitable," wrote former Secretary of
Labor Robert Reich.
Yet corporate media have been far less willing to discuss global warming. In
a 1,700 word article entitled, "Extreme Heat Turns State Into a Furnace,"
for instance, the New York Times failed to mention climate change even once.
Perhaps more alarming was the choice of outlets across the spectrum to
illustrate the historic and deadly September heatwave with happy pictures of
Americans enjoying themselves at the beach, completely missing the severity
of the climate crisis.
The diversion of crucial firefighting resources away from high risk areas of
the United States so they can be turned into weapons for a 20-year-long war
on the other side of the world is an axiomatic example of the priorities of
the United States government. While the rhetoric of war planners is all
about keeping Americans safe, the huge concentration of resources devoted to
conflicts in the Middle East, it could be argued, is actually undermining
Americans' safety at home.
