bush cutting national guard

Govs. Press Bush on Nat'l Guard Strength
WASHINGTON - President Bush thanked the nation's governors Monday for their support of National Guard troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, even as state leaders are warning Bush's budget plans will cut Guard strength and leave states less able to respond to homegrown emergencies.
---
Governors are united in their stance that the administration shouldn't reduce spending for the Guard. Their meeting with Rumsfeld was sought to address those concerns.

"We're going to fight that tooth and nail," said Republican Gov. Bob Taft of Ohio. "The National Guard is not just important from the standpoint of disaster response in the state of Ohio, and homeland security, but is crucial for overall military preparedness. It would be a real mistake to cut back."

Bush's 2007 budget submission would support a state-controlled National Guard of about 333,000 citizen soldiers — the current total — rather than the 350,000 authorized by Congress. It also proposes to pay for 188,000 Army Reserve troops rather than the 205,000 authorized by Congress.

---
Why would bush cut the National Guard budget? He already has so many of them in Iraq that they cannot effectively do their real job of keeping our country secure.
But, then again, we know that bush doesn't give a f'k about our security.