Katrina - Iraq Had No Impact on National Guard

The Telegraph knocks down one the left's loony arguments.

The most childish allegation to surface since Katrina is the claim that "had there been no invasion of Iraq, the troops to control New Orleans would have been available". The claim is false - the slowness of the military response to the disaster had nothing to do with Iraq - but even if it were true, the idea that America's armed forces should never be allowed overseas because they might be needed for humanitarian aid at home is self-evidently absurd.

I've already addressed the issue of "the slowness of the military response" in earlier post.

Redstate has the Guard numbers that totally debunks this leftist nonsense.

Let's strangle this one in its cradle. First, let us note that the National Guard Bureau some time ago committed to the various state governors to keep approximately 50% of Guard strength undeployed for precisely these situations. Second, let us note that of the stricken states now, roughly 60% of their Guard strength is available for disaster duty now. That breaks down to about 6,500 Guardsmen in Louisiana, 7,000 in Mississippi, and 10,000 in Alabama. That's just the numbers available: of those activated, we see that it comes to 3,500 in Louisiana, 1,600 in Mississippi, and 750 in Alabama. Or, 50%, 19%, and 7.5% of available totals respectively. This doesn't even begin to account for Guardsmen from adjacent states: the Arkansans are ready to deploy, and there are 8,200 Guardsmen available in Florida -- for starters.

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