Blogoland

Interesting little article here regarding a Government Accountability Office report on the National Guard's ability to respond during Katrina. In a word? Bad. Why? Iraq:

Army National Guard units have run into problems responding to domestic disasters like Hurricane Katrina because much of their equipment is in Iraq, according to a report released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office and Guard officials.

[...]

Guard officials believe the response to Hurricane Katrina "was more complicated because significant quantities of critical equipment such as satellite communications equipment, radios, trucks, helicopters and night-vision goggles were deployed to Iraq," the report said.

Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum acknowledged in his prepared remarks to the committee that current equipment levels "permit a response to domestic contingencies that falls short of our objectives."

As an example, Mark Allen, a spokesman for the National Guard Bureau, said that some units deployed during Hurricane Katrina last month were unable to communicate by radio with active-duty soldiers because their tactical radios had been given to other Guard units headed for Iraq.

That sound you heard is Taranto sobbing.