The Kansas Army and Air National Guard is prepared to help support the troop surge if called on, said Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the adjutant general’s office.

Some 5,600 Army Guard and 2,000 Air Guard troops are available to the state, Watson said, and there are about 600 Guard troops now deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, she said.

“The biggest concern is if we have to send more equipment oversees and we don’t have enough here to support homeland defense or disaster efforts,” Watson said.

As President Bush announced plans Wednesday to increase troop strength in Iraq, emotions were mixed in Lawrence.

“I support my president. I think we’ve got some good people making some decisions for us,” said Joey Kean, a sergeant who served with the Kansas National Guard in Iraq.

Others couldn’t disagree more. Some of them will gather at 5 p.m. today in front of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Mass., to rally against the troop “surge” and to convince Kansas’ congressional delegation to vote against funding the effort.

“I imagine it will be a pretty big crowd. I expect people to come from as far away as Emporia,” said Cammy Challender, who was helping to organize the rally in behalf of the nationwide political action group moveon.org. Other rallies are planned across the nation.

The rallies won’t be needed to sway U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. Brownback just completed a two-day visit to Iraq that included a visit with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and others. He issued a statement Wednesday saying he is opposed to sending more troops to Iraq.

“I came away from these meetings convinced that the United States should not increase its involvement until Sunnis and Shia are more willing to cooperate with each other instead of shooting at each other,” he said.

Brownback, who left Iraq for Ethiopia, said the Iraqi government needs to reach its own political solutions.

“The best way to reach a democratic Iraq is to empower the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own nation building,” Brownback said.

Moveon.org is especially interested in the stance that U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan., ultimately takes, Challender said. Boyda has said she would vote for funding to support troops in Iraq even though she called the Bush effort “misguided.”

Challender thinks Boyda can be convinced to change her mind and she hopes U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan., also will vote against troop funding.

“I believe that if enough of her constituents speak out against it she (Boyda) will change her vote,” Challender said. “I don’t think she is really firm on that.”

Strategic questions unanswered

Will more troops make a difference in the war?

“I really don’t know,” said Erv Hodges, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel and former Lawrence city commissioner. “You can increase the troop strength in an attempt to quiet the situation and create an atmosphere so that the (Iraqi) government can protect itself or you can withdraw.”

But a U.S. withdrawal could open the door for a greater sphere of influence in the Middle East by a Syrian-Iranian axis, said Hodges, a Vietnam veteran.

“I wish I had the intelligence to tell me what would happen,” Hodges said. “I’m glad I’m not making those decisions.”

In Vietnam, Hodges saw allied South Vietnamese troops struggle with some of the same problems the Iraqis appear to have. Strong troop leadership is a key factor, he said.

“We did not see the tribal influences (in Vietnam) that we have in Iraq, where even the Shiites have different tribes,” Hodges said.

Sending more troops to Iraq should have a clear purpose, said Lee Tafanelli, who spent a year in Iraq as a lieutenant colonel leading a Kansas Army National Guard battalion.

“I would say the additional troop strength coupled with a specific mission makes pretty good sense from my perspective,” said Tafanelli, who is a Kansas Republican state representative from Ozawkie.

Tafanelli described the military situation in Iraq as complex.

“The Iraqis are truly trying to make this work,” he said. “Is it as fast as we would like it? Certainly not. Can we do things to help speed it along? I believe we can.”