Posted on 09/05/2005 11:50:30 AM PDT by tsmith130
This guy is great! What a breath of fresh air...he sure says it like it is and is really giving the press a spanking!
"He'll be a full general by Christmas I bet."
And Governor of Louisiana when he retires.
One magic word,leadership
You are soooo right on. W comes across with that idiot's smile when he should be climbing down the press's throat.
Is CNN going to replay it? I haven't put the TV on all day but for this I'll make an exception.
Can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Sorry.
Here's a General Honore CNN interview from early this morning with Miles O'Brien: PS: anytime you hear a civilian say "boots on the ground", laugh your assoff, and make sure they hear you:
"MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Not a pretty picture at all. Soledad, thank you very much. See you in just a few moments.
After days of outrage, a massive military relief effort is pouring into New Orleans and some of the other devastated areas. Lieutenant General Russel Honore is the commander overseeing military relief efforts. Joint Task Force Katrina it is called. He joins us from Camp Shelby in Mississippi.
General, good to have you with us.
LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, JOINT TASK FORCE KATRINA: Good morning.
M. O'BRIEN: Could you bring us up-to-date right now, number of boots on the ground and what the situation is right now?
HONORE: Yes. We have approximately 30,000 National Guard troops on the ground with more on the way, and approximately 10,000 active- component troops. And our priority of work will focus -- continue to focus on search and rescue, of providing food and water, and assisting the people in the devastated area that goes from Mobile to the west side of New Orleans.
This is a disaster of enormous proportion. And the big impact on the region in Mississippi, where the coastline was destroyed for two or three miles inward, then damage north of that, all the way up to I- 20, almost the entire span -- width of the state of Mississippi.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, I'm told, general...
HONORE: A significant challenge there in the rural areas.
M. O'BRIEN: ... it's the size of the country of Great Britain. Is40,000 troops enough? Do you need more people?
HONORE: Well, we have -- we still have the local officials to get the job done. And if we need more troops, they will flow. Right now, we are linking up with each one of the four parishes in Louisiana that had significant damage and in the flood areas. And we're doing the same thing in the state of Mississippi.
We are just completing the search and rescue phase of this. After we do the search and rescue and evacuate the people, we'll work off the priorities of the governor is what we do. And we'll continue to do that. And right now, we have enough people to get that done, based on what we know.
But phase two and three of this might be harder than phase one, which is to do search and rescue. We're going to have to determine what we're going to do to mitigate the water in New Orleans. And much has to be done about establishing shelter.
So, there's a lot left to be done, and much of that is a task that the industry do, not military equities. We don't build buildings, per se, or build cities, but we'll do what we are told to do to help mitigate this situation. Over.
M. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about chain of command for a minute, general, if we could. You mentioned the governors being in the mix here. The president has made an offer, put an offer on the table to federalize this whole thing, to streamline your chain of command. I assume that's something you'd like to see happen.
HONORE: We are working with the arrangements we have now, which is in relationship to the national response plan, where the inner agency led by FEMA on the homeland security will work in response to the governors at their request for support. That's what we are doing. We're getting the job done.
We evacuated 20,000 people at one location from the Convention Center the day before yesterday. We evacuated another 3,000 yesterday. We cleared the hospitals in New Orleans. We are working the outlying parish of St. Bernard and Jefferson parish...
M. O'BRIEN: General...
HONORE: ... in New Orleans...
M. O'BRIEN: General, let me ask you though...
HONORE: ... and Hancock County in Mississippi.
M. O'BRIEN: General, let me ask you this, though. If it were federalized, if the chain of command were such that it was streamlined, wouldn't that make your job easier?
HONORE: We're getting the job done. We're focusing on our search and rescue. Troops are doing a great job. That question -- I'm hearing your question, but that's a question you need to answer at a higher level.
I'm telling you, we're achieving success, and we're getting the job done working with the generals or working for the governor and meeting the requirements of FEMA. Boots on the ground, as we continue to deploy the forces in there, get the hospital ships off the coast and the aircraft carriers, we have more of ability to help coordinate the effort.
Right now, we are still in the crisis phase of this, because we have not gotten the people out of the destroyed area, because we're still looking for them. There are still people hiding in the top of their houses. If we could see them, we would go to them.
And in some cases, we're getting phone calls from them, and they're telling us where they are. And we're going after them, and we're getting them. That's what my focus is right now.
We might be in the half-time in this game, we might be losing 50- 0, but I'm going to focus on this next half. We're going to win this half, and we're going to get it done, and we're going to get it done as quick as we can. And the people of New Orleans need to know that.
And there has been much talk about the security of New Orleans. We are moving freely in and around New Orleans. And there are isolated incidents, but we're getting the job done, and we're going to continue to do it. And I wish we could of been there on day one, but wishing something is not making it happen.
M. O'BRIEN: Well...
HONORE: Playing something is not reality.
M. O'BRIEN: Let me show viewers who might have missed it over the weekend what happened when you finally got there on the ground. Let's take a look at this piece of tape and how you handled the troops in the situation there for just a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put those (EXPLETIVE DELETED) weapons down! I'm not going to tell you again, (EXPLETIVE DELETED)! Get those (EXPLETIVE DELETED) weapons down!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Well, I've got to tell you, general, if you told me to put my weapon down, I would. You went in there, and you took control very quickly. People literally applauding there. Isn't it a shame that it took that long, that it was Saturday for you to be there, and that whole scene had to even occur as it did? HONORE: I wish we didn't have to do that. But the reality of the situation, when we got the mission, we went in and got it done. The New Orleans Police Department was decisively engaged with that operation, and we evacuated that center.
And as much talk as had been had, there were ill people there, but there was not mass starvation. People were taking care of one another. They used the local stores in the region to provision themselves. And this was not -- it was filthy. It was crowded. It was uncomfortable. It was every description you could give of a situation you would not want to be in.
But the people took care of themselves. And in spite of this, they kept good order.
There was some activity inside the Convention Center. But much has been said about that. But we evacuated over 20,000 people from there. And you'll be able to go in and get the count of how many people didn't survive that. But this should be looked at as somewhat of a success that the number of people that were there, living in the conditions that there were, that many days later, we were able to evacuate them. And, look...
M. O'BRIEN: General, this is your home.
HONORE: This was -- yes.
M. O'BRIEN: This is your home. What was that like being there, having to do that job in your home state of Louisiana? Did you ever envision that?
HONORE: Now, look, the storm had a vote here. It's the storm that did this. It's not anything any government did or any individual. The storm had a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) vote, and the storm is still there. The water is there! You can't vote that water out of the city of New Orleans. That's reality, folks.
We need to get on with it. We need the big brain people in America finding a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) solution and stop worrying about the first-half. The second-half is yet to come. Take care of the evacuees. Let's get it on. And I need to go to work. Any other questions? Over.
M. O'BRIEN: No, sir. Over and out. Thank you.
HONORE: See you"
I imagine we will see clips of it on CNN news reports.
I am so glad I happen to leave the TV on mute. When I saw the General I turned up the sound. And it's no wonder they call him 'John Wayne' Honore.
BTW....YaYa123 is going to get the CNN transcrit & post it later.....ask her to ping you.
Drats, I kept to my word and refused to watch TV (but not before witnessing the masterful one-upmanship by Bush with the Roberts nomination to CJ). When you post the transcript, puleeze ping me.
'Fraid you're right. On top of which, I have growing misgivings about the border and who our Presidente really is.
I was thinking the same thing.......I really like this Gen.
no no, you spelled it the way your supposed to say it in the military. Zero, Wun, Two, Tree,Fower.....
God bless your fatherinlaw but Patton could have painted his face any color he wanted - weird is in the eye of the beholder :o) - he got the job done. Let's just call him colorful (no pun intended) He would have been crucified in this PC world.
Yes. I don't take anything away from him as Commander of the Third Army. I just don't think he could have adapted to civilian politics whereas MacArthur was born to it.
Very correct about that Mercy. I think Patton served the purpose of his life during the war.
The DUmmies are already in full confusion about LTG Honore. Some of them are bashing him as a Bush company man, some say he's actually defending the local government not the federal response etc. Hilarious!
while I wait for CNN to post the Honore press conference transcript, I was watching CNN. The new CNN reporter on the ground in New Orleans is Black African Jeff Kanange, and his report to Wolf Blitzer is gloom, doom, and how similiar New Orleans is to floods, and famine, agony, and suffering he's covered in Africa.
Gag me with Zulu spear!! The intention of CNN is so obvious now, our black citizens in New Orleans are no better off than pathetic souls in deepest, darkest Africa, and it's all George Bush's fault.
And Wolf Blitzer has more arrows in his quiver! He's stoking the flames of hate more by asking why Bush lowered the flag at the White House to honor Rhenquist, but didn't do it for the hurricane victims. Dana Bash, reporter on the White House lawn says she will "get back to Wolf" when she finds out if it's normal to half=mast the flag for hurricanes.
Aren't there more than one four starts?
And only one five star in time of war?
I love generals, they make me want to make them a nice cup of coffee and take their shoes off. I think I have a loose wire someplace but I have always adored generals.
If he ever reads this post I say to him: "Liberty Buster". He'll know what Im talking about.
a 1 min Video excerpt is up at
http://thepoliticalteen.net/2005/09/05/thatisbs/
REPORTER: The Congressman Jindal said that the real problem he sees is despite the heroic job that has been done with the National Guard and the Coast Guard and the first responders, but the problem has been with the organization - they should be behind the money and the support but it has been fractured by too much red tape and it’s delaying rescue operations, it’s delaying evacuations. There is a lack of unified chain of command, there is a lack of sense of urgency - that the normal rules
don’t apply here. People are told to send an email - -
GENERAL HONORE: - - who told you that?
REPORTER: This is from Congressman Jindal. He’s saying that people can’t get rescued [muffled]
GENERAL HONORE: That is BS. I will take that on behalf of every first responder down there. It is BS, I will not defuse where the Congressman may have got that from or if he had a personal answer, but I can tell you that, that is BS
HA!! That's just like him. I personally witnessed some of the rippings he gave poor 2nd Lieutenants and Battalion Commanders alike when they screwed up. But he's the fairest man I've ever known. If you needed a verbal ripping then he gave it. And if you did a good job then he was quick with praise. He's gonna get this thing done right!
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