Katrina: 300 US airmen to return from Iraq and Afghanistan

While the US Army ordered its Louisiana-based troops to stay and fight in Iraq, the Air Force said today it would send 300 airmen home from Iraq and Afghanistan to handle emergencies on a Mississippi air base devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The airmen, all based at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, will start flying home during the next two weeks, said Air Force Capt. David Small, spokesman for US Central Command Air Forces in Qatar.