Chicago Needs a Troop Surge

Obama should do same in his hometown as Afghanistan, pundits argue
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 9, 2014 11:57 AM CDT
Chicago Needs a Troop Surge
Chicago police display some of the nearly 3,400 illegal firearms the have confiscated so far this year in their battle against gun violence during a news conference in Chicago, July 7, 2014.   (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

Last weekend 84 Americans were shot in Chicago, 16 of them fatally. "If this happened in Kabul, Afghanistan, it would spark a change in policy," observes John Feehery at the Wall Street Journal. Instead, President Obama has barely acknowledged the wave of gang violence in his hometown. "Why doesn't he say anything about it?" Feehery asks. "Why doesn't he do anything?" Over at the Daily Beast, Roland Martin has a suggestion for what to do: Send in the National Guard.

Ret. Lt. Gen. Russell Honore, who led the military's response in the aftermath of Katrina, can "help thicken the police support," while federal and state police try to cut the flow of drugs and guns to the city's gangs. Some argue that sending troops will send the wrong message, but Martin disagrees, making a point that echoes Feehery's. "Chicago needs a troop surge like what we saw in Iraq and Afghanistan," he argues. "If we wanted to make the lives of residents there safer, why not do the same for Americans?" Click here for Feehery's column; here for Martin's. (More Chicago stories.)

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