Posted on 09/03/2005 7:19:37 AM PDT by Truthsayer20
So, what we have here is a number of ignorant and inept governors. My, my, my. It's Bush's fault. /sard
Darn! "/sarc"
Well. it seems that Blanco accepted New Mexico's offer of NG assistance already on sunday, but federal red tape was not finished until thursday. This makes no sense at all.
I got hammered on another thread for saying this very thing.
When this is investigated we will find this investigation similar to the 911 commission. Democrats will be appointed to the commission to whitewash any Demorat involvement . The bulk of the blame must fall on the Governments of New Orleans and Lousianna and that simply will not fly in washington.
This is my question.
We know (filed docs.) that the Gov. declared SOE on the 28th and requested Fed. assistance.
Did she not request the proper help? If she didn't why didn't someone on the Fed. level help her?
It says that ultimately Bush had the power to step in and manage the relief efforts. He could have had a plan at the ready to force upon NO/Louisiana once it was clear that Blanco and Nagin weren't up to the task, as well as use the CRAF provision.
Federals have nothing to do with sending in the gaurd. The guard is under control of the state governors and they have the power to call them out. The governor of LA failed to do so. She had plenty of guardsmen in LA to handle the initial stages but failed to call them out. The other states couldn't do anything until LA actually asked them to come in. The feds couldn't do anything until actually asked to come into LA and help unless they made special declarations and overrode the local government, which is very seldom done, and if Bush had done so he would have been ripped for that also.
The governor of LA standing in front of cameras pitching a fit and crying does not qualify as asking the feds for help.
The sole blame for inaction rests with the governor of LA and the mayor of NO.
The President commands the NG. Period. This wasn't a case of some neighborhood riot needing NG assistance to manage. This is the largest natural disaster in US history-- a Cat 5 hitting one of the most important cities in the US. And Bush's authority to use these troops however he wants is legal. SCOTUS would not do anything about Bush mobilizing NG troops to go to NOLA. It's very much a national security issue because of the importance of NO to our way of life and because of the scope of the damage that would occur with a Cat 5 strike.
If what you are saying is true, there's a s*itstrom headed Bush's way...
Did I miss the story about all the men and material that we had staged, but could move due to lack of airlift?
I didn't think so. No need to activate the CRAF.
We don't know if it was red tape in Washington or a delay by the governor in letting Washington know she wanted the help. I suspect it was the latter, but don't know the answer.
My preliminary conclusions are that the governor was conflicted between her political aspirations and the need to help her people. By trying to retain control - and get the credit - rather than pursue the resources needed, she guaranteed her political future. It seems to me that she demonstrated her amateur status of "I have to do it myself" rather than seeking help when it was/is needed.
That is what I am questioning. I plead ignorance of the particulars but I have heard of something called the posse comitatus Act which limits the use of Federal troops within the U.S. ( a wise restriction most would agree).
Plus the NG is ordinarily on State status (either drilling or on what is called State Active Duty" and are "federalized" only when that status changes to Federal Active Duty.
I will be researching and will hopefully return with information.
Luckily, what he is saying is false.
It's so nice to be in "arm-chair first responder " heaven with all of you heros.
Lord help us with all the dingbats running around.
It is seldom done, but the specifics of this event make it worthy of a seldom used plan. Bush just needed to have a plan to use the full resources of the federal government once it was clear a Cat 5 was about to strike the Gulf, with the obvious consequences of such an event, call Nagin, Blanco and Barbour and tell them of his intention to take this problem off their plate, and give a speech to the nation once it hit declaring that the elected officials have been notified of the plan and are on board and that the federal government would be mobilizing its available resources to fight this national security crisis. The National Weather Service issued a release Sunday morning detailing in perfect detail what was about to happen to NOLA in what was probably seen by many Average Joes as hysterical Hollywood-esque hype, so the feds were certainly aware of what that area would look like after the strike by Katrina.
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