WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush and Defense Department officials told the nation's governors the National Guard would be funded at its current strength.
Participants in a National Governors Association meeting turned to the National Guard when given a chance to face federal officials. About a third of the U.S. troops in Iraq are National Guard personnel.
That deployment has concerned the governors, who point to a Government Accountability Office report that said some 64,000 pieces of equipment worth about $1.2 billion had been abandoned in Iraq by National Guard units returning to the United States.
Also, the Bush 2007 budget allows for a National Guard force of 330,000, down form the current 350,000.
But after the meeting with Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace, the governors said they gained some assurances the National Guard would not be depleted.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told The New York Times federal officials said if the states recruit more than 330,000 for the National Guard, the government will fund them. The U.S. leaders also said equipment would be replaced.
