that's what the *White House* said. The head of the Kansas Nationl Guard said they were just barely ok for this one disaster, and in trouble if anything more happened. And yes, I believe he said 40%. Heard a live interview. Furthermore he said that they were having trouble training people because of equipment being in Iraq.
Dana On 5/10/07, Sam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > They're at 88% > > http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,271070,00.html > > JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- > over): Strong words after the storm, words that appear to support the > arguments of those opposed to the war in Iraq, that the war is > stretching the country's National Guard to the point where it cannot > respond to the nation's natural disasters. After one of the most > powerful tornadoes in a decade struck Greensburg, Kansas, Democratic > Governor Kathleen Sebelius said the war in Iraq had left her National > Guard without enough equipment to respond to the devastation. > > GOV. KATHLEEN SEBELIUS (D), KANSAS: About 50 percent of our trucks are > gone. Our front loaders are gone. We are missing humvees that move > people in and out and we cannot borrow them from other states because > their equipment is gone. > > GRIFFIN: The White House was quick to counter, saying 88 percent of > Kansas's National Guardsmen are available to help with the cleanup and > only 566 of their guardsman are deployed to Iraq right now. The > Pentagon, citing National Guard statistics, said today the Kansas > guard is not facing any equipment shortage that would harm its rescue > efforts. It currently has 352 humvees, 72 dump trucks and more than > 320 other trucks. > > White House Spokesman Tony Snow said Homeland Security Chief Fran > Townsend called Governor Sebelius and asked if she needed more help > from FEMA or neighboring National Guard units. > > TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: And Fran again said, is there > anything you need to respond effectively to this disaster? The > governor said, no, we could not have asked for a faster response. > > GRIFFIN: A view echoed today by the head of the rescue effort in Kansas. > > DAVE STERBENZ, INCIDENT MANAGER: We have all the staff that we need > and can manage at this time. If we had more people right now, it would > just start being a cluster. > > GRIFFIN: Kansas Senator Sam Brownback added > > SEN. SAM BROWNBACK (R), KANSAS: I asked specifically yesterday, the > Kansas adjutant general, the head of the Kansas National Guard, do you > have enough equipment on the ground to take care of Greensburg? And he > said, yes, we have enough equipment. > > GRIFFIN: Following Brownback on the Senate floor came Democratic > leader Harry Reid, a staunch opponent of the war, who appeared to > ignore reports that the Kansas National Guard had what it needed. > > SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: The toll of the war in > Iraq crippled the ability of the National Guard to do the dangerous > and heroic jobs they're charged with doing. And the inability of the > Kansas National Guard to rescue and recover more quickly. > > > On 5/10/07, G Money <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On 5/9/07, Sam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > They are in Kansas. > > > > > > At 40% capacity, which stresses them to the breaking point with a single > > disaster (the greensburg tornado). If the recent flooding had been even one > > iota worse than it was, the Guard would have been overwhelmed. > > > > You simply cannot deny the fact that if 60% of the National Guard is in > > Iraq.....they aint here. No matter how you want to spin it, that's the > > truth. > > > > Oh, and I just read today that the Greensburg tornado was an EF-5. Yikes. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| ColdFusion MX7 by Adobe® Dyncamically transform webcontent into Adobe PDF with new ColdFusion MX7. Free Trial. http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion?sdid=RVJV Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:234476 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
