Amid outrage by lawmakers, National Guard troops have been allowed back into the Capitol Complex after they were forced to use a cold parking garage as a rest area.
The Guard will now be allowed to rest in the Capitol Visitor Center, CNN reported.
“We honestly just feel betrayed,” one guardsman said when the orders hit Thursday morning. “We were deemed useless and banished to a corner of a parking garage.”
The outrage was bipartisan, with Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee announcing an investigation and Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth promising she would follow up to make certain the Guard was allowed back in.
Guard members were seen in photos lying down on a concrete parking lot floor, with some resting against pillars. One report said there was one electrical outlet and two restrooms for 5,000 personnel.
“The Geneva Conventions expressly forbid forcing prisoners of war from sleeping on concrete, or in parking garages, noted Breitbart’s John Nolte.
While technically not a violation, because the Geneva Conventions directly relate to prisoners of war, the troops who guarded the Capitol during the inauguration certainly deserve better.
He cited the relevant portion of the Geneva Conventions Act of 1964: “The premises shall be fully protected from dampness, adequately heated and lighted, in particular between dusk and lights out. The sleeping quarters shall be sufficiently spacious and well ventilated, and the internees shall have suitable bedding and sufficient blankets, account being taken of the climate, and the age, sex, and state of health of the internees.”
“Let’s count the violations shall we? Not adequately heated, Not well ventilated (exhaust fumes), No suitable bedding, No sufficient blankets,” he wrote.
A military source told TPUSA that former President Trump invited troops to stay in his hotel in Washington.
MILITARY SOURCE IN DC:
“For the last week my battalion has been sleeping on the floor in the Senate cafeteria. Today the Senate kicked us out & moved us to a cold parking garage.
5000 soldiers.
1 power outlet.
One bathroom.
This is how Joe Biden’s America treats solders.”PHOTOS pic.twitter.com/622sQmciq4
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) January 22, 2021
Talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh cited a military source who that this “is how Joe Biden’s America treats soldiers.”
“The Democrats, when they no longer needed the National Guard, sent them to a parking garage. There were no beds. There was just a parking garage. There were oil slicks in there under the places where people would park their cars. That’s where they were sent, after they had done their duty of being the photo op. Yeah, we need the Guard here because you never know what kind of plans the Trump people might have!” he said.
“We need the Guard here to protect the government, to protect the Capitol, to protect the immaculation of Biden,” said Limbaugh.
Limbaugh said he believed the presence of the military in Washington was “to send a message that the nation’s capital is still unstable, that the nation’s capital may not be held totally by friendly forces, that there is a slight possibility that domestic terrorists are planning yet another operation to take back control of the government from Joe Biden.”
Fox News reported troops were being ordered to return to their states by Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida, Chris Sununu of New Hampshire and Greg Abbott of Texas.
It was U.S. Capitol Police who ordered the Guard members to move, Fox News said.
But acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman insisted the order didn’t come from him.
“I want to assure everyone that, with the exception of specific times on Inauguration Day itself while the swearing-in ceremonies were underway, the United States Capitol police did not instruct the National Guard to vacate the Capitol Building facilities. And on Inauguration Day, the Guard was notified and encouraged to reoccupy the spaces in the Capitol and CVC at 2 p.m.”
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said there was “one uniformed police officer who issued an order without authority or without going through the chain of command, and I’m glad the Capitol Police and the Guard are talking and trying to figure this out.”
“We are going to be able to identify who that person was,” he said.
DeSantis didn’t wait to act.
“Last night, I ordered our Adjutant General to bring Florida National Guard soldiers home from the National Capital Region,” he said.
The Washington Examiner reported DeSantis explained the Guard members are “soldiers” and “not Nancy Pelosi’s servants.”
It was not the first controversy this week regarding the deployment of the Guard at the Capitol. Earlier, some Democrats insisted on investigating the political backgrounds of Guard members, suspecting some might be disloyal.
The move was canceled by several of the governors who allowed their troops to be summoned to Washington.
“This is the most offensive thing I’ve ever heard,” Abbott tweeted. “No one should ever question the loyalty or professionalism of the Texas National Guard. I authorized more than 1,000 to go to DC. I’ll never do it again if they are disrespected like this.”
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