Lynn C. Woolsey: “Katrina, the Category 4 hurricane that hit the gulf coast last week, leveled nearly everything in its path. It tore…”

“Katrina, the Category 4 hurricane that hit the gulf coast last week, leveled nearly everything in its path. It tore apart homes and destroyed entire coastal cities. It has taken the lives of countless hundreds, if not thousands. It will cost an estimated $150 billion to rebuild and repair the affected region. Sadly, the Federal Government's response to Katrina was lackluster at best and shamefully negligent at worst. Despite the public's forewarning that there was a knowledge of Katrina's severity, the Bush administration failed to provide adequate Federal aid and hands-on support for the thousands of citizens stuck in the storm's aftermath. A large part of this failure stems directly from the lack of qualified first responders, the thousands of Guardsmen and Reservists who are currently stuck fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is during wholesale natural disasters like these that Americans should be able to rely on our Nation's capable National Guard and Reserve forces. Unfortunately, it has not worked out that way because the Bush administration has more than 50,000 National Guardsmen and Reservists stationed in Iraq. That amounts to just over 40 percent of the total U.S. military forces there. The Army's Guard and Reserve units are supposed to be our Nation's emergency force, America's defenders of last resort.…”