Washington – The White House went on the defensive Tuesday against criticism that National Guard troop deployments to Iraq have impaired the response to the devastating tornado in Greensburg, Kan.
Tony Snow, President Bush’s spokesman, insisted that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has received all the aid she had asked for.
Snow also said the deployment of National Guard units to Iraq would not harm government help in any future disasters.
“If you take a look at the way the National Guard units are dispersed,” said “you still have considerable strength in each state, and also you still have the ability of governors to seek assistance from neighboring states.”
Snow said that “an enormous amount of planning” is underway in the federal government as the tornado and hurricane seasons get underway.
Bush is scheduled to tour what is left of Greensburg today.
Snow was responding to initial criticism by Sebelius, a Democrat, who said that about half the state’s National Guard trucks had been diverted to Iraq.
“The issue for the National Guard is the same wherever you go in the country,” Sebelius said. “Stuff that we would have borrowed is gone.”
She later toned down her criticism. Snow’s comments highlighted the administration’s sensitivity about responding to natural disasters in the aftermath of widespread criticism of the slow White House efforts to help states hit by hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Among the aid Kansas requested and received, Snow said, were a mobile command center, an urban search and rescue task force, a mobile office building, 40 two-way radios, and help coordinating with National Guard units from other states.
