A Katrina Question

I wonder whether we’d see a swifter emergency response and better rescue efforts in the wake of Katrina, “one of the most devastating storms ever to hit the United States,” if so many of the Army National Guard and Army Reservists were not in…Iraq. Just asking a question the cable-news nincompoops can’t (or won’t; but I think they honestly can’t… think, that is). Or if critical questions are eventually asked, it’ll be weeks or months hence.
The Army National Guard has brigade combat teams in Iraq from Idaho, Louisiana, Tennessee, Hawaii, Texas, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Illinois, Maryland, Puerto Rico, Missouri, Virginia, Mississippi—you name it. Recruitment is lagging by approximately 23 percent. In 2003, the National Guard spokesman said there were “presently about 30,500 National Guard troops stationed in Iraq and Kuwait—or about 18 percent of the total 166,000 US forces.” I’ve not been able to locate updated estimates.
Recently, a spokesman for the 155th, of which 3,500 are Mississippi National Guard soldiers, waxed about the joys of dedicating his life (and American tax dollars) to Iraq (now that’s what I call patriotism): “We are helping establish the essential needs for all people in Iraq. Electricity, water…” blah blah. “We live in a world without borders, and a threat to freedom anywhere is a threat to freedom everywhere.” Hey, what do Americans have to do to get their army reservists to bat, not for Baghdad, but for the homies and the homeland? Climb on their rooftops and yelp for help?