Ill-equipped, stretched to the limit, Mississippi Guard may go back to Iraq

Still recovering from Hurricane Katrina and a previous stint in Iraq, the Mississippi Guard is among a flock of ill-equipped units. But ready or not, some of the state's guardsmen have been told to align personal affairs and begin girding for possibly another trip to Iraq.

President Bush is betting on a surge of more troops to yield what the White House considers victory in Iraq, regardless of shriveling public support; a bevy of Guard units hardly ready to respond; and a survey earlier this year that showed U.S. troops were growing increasingly skeptical, too.

The report released earlier this month from the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves reckoned that deployments of Guard units to Iraq and Afghanistan has helped exaggerate equipment shortages and hampered recruiting, resulting in 88 percent of National Guard units being "not ready."