"Absolutely not"

Leave it to the Liberal MSM to write this sort of article: Katrina Deployments Add to Military Strain---

WASHINGTON - President Bush's decision to put thousands of active-duty soldiers and Marines on Hurricane Katrina relief duty adds a new dimension to the enormous strain on the military from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Senior military officers said Saturday they have plenty of troops to handle their wide range of missions at home and abroad, and they discounted suggestions that the urgent deployment of soldiers and Marines to the Gulf Coast would interfere with the rotation of combat troops in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We can handle the overseas war-fight commitment and still defend our homeland and support the Department of Homeland Security simultaneously," Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, told a Pentagon news conference.

Perhaps if we had France's military, we might be stretched thin.

Lt. Gen. Joseph Inge, deputy commander of Northern Command, told reporters at the Pentagon on Saturday that the Katrina mission would have no negative effect on executing the missions in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"Absolutely not," Inge said.