Can the Guard Respond to Katrina?

There is concern that the Iraqi deployment may impact the ability to respond to this disaster. The government has said this is not the case, but a look at past history may be very telling.

The Red Cross has indicated its response will be the largest in its history. So how many National Guard and military troops will Bush send to help save these people? Well, in 1992 his father sent over 30,000 troops to Florida after Andrew, in addition to over 6,000 National Guard activated by the state. According to today's Chicago Tribune, Louisiana has activated 3,500 National Guardsmen.

This will be another detail to follow in the next couple of days. As time passes will see if the deployments have disaster affected response ability

One side note, one of the large La. Guard units in Iraq is coming home next week