Sorry if this is super obvious, and I'm just thick to have not realized it before, but it's not necessarily simple to send in thousands and thousands of extra troops to the New Orleans area.

I've read on other blogs that there are tens of thousands of National Guard in other states ready to mobilize when given the word, the response from those bloggers being "what the hell are you waiting for?"

That was my first reaction too. More troops are needed to regain control of the city so that rescues can proceed at maximum speed.

But where are all of those extra thousands of troops going to get drinking water from? Obviously they have the same problem in Iraq because drinking water is (or was last time I read about it) very scarce there too. I would also assume the military "has ways and means" to provide their troops with drinking water, but I'm guessing the military was so unprepared for a domestic event of this magnitude that there just aren't adequate supplies on hand to make this speedy.

The buildup to deployment in Iraq was a months-long procedure, not immediate.

So, assuming there are massive logistic issues preventing national guard from blanketing New Orleans, I can understand the delay... but if not, shame on the powers that be for dragging their feet.