Posted on 09/03/2005 7:19:37 AM PDT by Truthsayer20
Congress Likely to Probe Guard Delay By SHARON THEIMER Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans didn't get the go-ahead until days after the storm struck - a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state's National Guard on Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn't come from Washington until late Thursday.
California troops just began arriving in Louisiana on Friday, three days after flood waters devastated New Orleans and chaos broke out. In fact, when New Orleans' levees gave way to deadly flooding on Tuesday, Louisiana's National Guard had received help from troops in only three other states: Ohio, which had nine people in Louisiana then; Oklahoma, 89; and Texas, 625, figures provided by the National Guard show.
Maj. Gen. Thomas Cutler, who leads the Michigan National Guard, said he anticipated a call for police units and started preparing them, but couldn't go until states in the hurricane zone asked them to come.
"We could have had people on the road Tuesday," Cutler said. "We have to wait and respond to their need."
The Michigan National Guard was asked for military police by Mississippi late Tuesday and by Louisiana officials late Wednesday. The state sent 182 MPs to Mississippi on Friday and had 242 headed to Louisiana on Saturday.
With many states' Guard units depleted by deployments to Iraq, Katrina's aftermath was almost certain from the beginning to require help from faraway states.
Republicans and Democrats alike in Congress are just beginning to ask why one of the National Guard's most trusted roles - disaster relief - was so uneven, delayed and chaotic this time around.
Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said the situation has shown major breakdowns in the nation's emergency response capabilities. "There must be some accountability in this process after the crisis is addressed," he said.
Democrat Ben Nelson, Nebraska's other senator, said he now questions National Guard leaders' earlier assertions that they had enough resources to respond to natural disasters even with the Iraq war. "I'm going to ask that question again," Nelson said. "Do we have enough (troops), and if we do, why were they not deployed sooner?" President Bush was asked that question Friday as he toured the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast area and said he disagrees with criticism the military is stretched too thin.
"We've got a job to defend this country in the war on terror, and we've got a job to bring aid and comfort to the people of the Gulf Coast, and we'll do both," he said.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., plans to make oversight of the Defense Department, the National Guard and their assistance his top priority when he returns to Washington next week from an overseas trips, spokesman John Ullyot said Friday.
Bush had the legal authority to order the National Guard to the disaster area himself, as he did after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks . But the troops four years ago were deployed for national security protection, and presidents of both parties traditionally defer to governors to deploy their own National Guardsmen and request help from other states when it comes to natural disasters.
Though slow at the beginning, out-of-state Guard help was markedly increasing by the start of the weekend. As of Friday, nearly half the states had Guard members in Louisiana, boosting the total to at least 5,600 from out of state. Hundreds more were on the way.
Michigan, which was ready to help before the storm began, was sending 500 National Guard troops Friday and Saturday to help with water purification in Mississippi and police duty in New Orleans.
Arizona didn't get a request for military police until Thursday, when it received an urgent message sent to all state National Guards by the National Guard Bureau at the request of Louisiana, said Capt. Paul Aguirre. He said the unit cannot leave Phoenix until Sunday because arriving units must arrive at a pace the receiving end can handle. Among those headed in were several hundred from Wisconsin, where the governor took the unusual step of declaring a disaster outside his state to activate his Guard.
"This was the first time a governor ever declared a natural disaster in another state and activated to that other state," said Gov. Jim Doyle, who issued his order Wednesday. "We were ready to be deployed within 24 hours of that order."
In addition to Guard help, the federal government could have activated, but did not, a major air support plan under a pre-existing contract with airlines. The program, called Civilian Reserve Air Fleet, lets the government quickly put private cargo and passenger planes into service. The CRAF provision has been activated twice, once for the Persian Gulf War and again for the Iraq war. ---
Oh yes, let's start a civilian airlift before the airports have been inspected for storm damage. What kind of morons are the J schools producing these days.
The governor and the mayor both stood by wringing their hands and waiting for Bush to do it. Well, Bush declared a national emergency on the 27th and made funds available for use, but still the governor and the mayor took a what the hell attitude.
No one to blame here but Democrats and the MSM knows it, so they are going all out to shift the blame onto Bush. The time for blame games is after the relief effort has been sucessfully completed not during and it also helps to get the facts straight. Rest assured, Bush is not to blame for this but rather, once again, the savior of these dip sh** Dems.
Even in an emergency, Bush must follow the LAW.
It seems what you want Bush to be is an law unto himself.
In other words, a DICTATOR!
Florida is down with hurricane preparedness. Louisiana was not. New Orleans, especially should have been prepared because of it's unique situation of being under sea level and holding back an enormous amount of water with levees.
Sheer stupidity and incompetence all around. I'm just shocked at how many alleged conservatives are jumping on the Bush-bashing bandwagon. I guess we just have alot more experience with hurricanes!
Paperwork of that importancee usually gets faxed to speed things along.
Wonder when Blanco faxed the paperwork.
Or does she even know how to use a fax machine?
It's a lie wrapped within a truth. As I said in an earlier post, this is a particularly dishonest and repulsive sophistry on the part of the reporter.
No doubt the Governor of New Mexico called Blanco on Sunday and offered NG assistance, and no doubt Blanco "accepted" the offer. The problem is that her acceptance is meaningless without an understanding and acknowledgement of the laws and regulations which govern the implementation of ANY such agreement, between ANY two state governors.
The Governor of New Mexico commands the New Mexico National Guard, unless they are federalized, and only within New Mexico. The Governor of Louisiana commands the Louisiana National Guard unless they are federalized, and only within Louisiana. Neither can deploy NG troops to another state until, let's all say it together now, they are federalized.
Until Blanco officially requested the federalization necessary to deploy NG troops from one state to another, which she did not do until Thursday, they can't legally deploy. That is the so-called "red tape" the disingenuous AP reporter was trying to lay at the feet of the feds. The truth is, that "red tape" is simply the law, and the feds and the governors of the other states were holding it out for her and urging her to cut it so they could go into action.
This is mind-numbing incompetence and criminal negligence on the part of the Louisiana governor, and probably other state and local officials. I am no fan of the federal government; they are demonstrating their own incompetence and negligence on other matters, most notably our dangerously vulnerable uncontrolled borders. This debacle, however, is NOT the fault of the feds, but of the corrupt Louisiana political establishment and state government.
Negative.
As a former National Guard soldier, I will tell you:
The president could not order troops into Louisiana over the heads of Blanco or any other states troops would be pulled from.
National Guard has both a state and federal mission.
When not activated for war, the governor acts as the commander of troops in his or her state.
BLANCO had the impetus to call them out, and FAILED TO DO SO.
It was not on the President to do her job.
And this isn't a matter of activating one single unit, you must activate supply and support units, transport, and other units as if you WERE going to war just to get supplies in and out of the area.
Again, it was on BLANCO to activate troops in her state.
Instead, she did a good job of being inept and incompetent.
If you saw Bernard Kerik on FOX this morning, he was careful to not directly criticize. But, when asked probing questions, he explained how NYC had drilled/practiced for all sorts of disasters. They had their protocol in place. NO obviously didn't do any of that. Inexperienced is no excuse.
Did you see this?
"The state hurricane control center runs the entire operation. The LA governor delayed until Monday setting up her control center and did not hand out satellite phones to all the parrish control centers . so no communication to the key parrish in the south part of LA.
I should know I am involved in the hurricane operations in Brevard county FL. The marching orders come from the state capital not the feds!
We evacuated nursing home patients for katrina and the storm was 200 miles away !
The scoop I heard from FL officials was LA
governor's office was in inexperienced and in over there heads.
52 posted on 09/03/2005 8:40:30 AM PDT by BurtTpa"
" This debacle, however, is NOT the fault of the feds, but of the corrupt Louisiana political establishment and state government."
Indeed!
Thanks for the clarification.
Liberals lie like rugs and have NO shame.
Why don't they probe Blanco's and Naggin's (my mispelling) delay in evacuating people from New Orleans before Katrina hit FIRST!!!!!?????
He can. That's all I was saying. And this was a national emergency with national security at risk, not just a mere natural disaster.
When national security is involved like it was in NO, yes, that is a federal role.
Some of the governors had their units ready to go on Monday but she never asked!
Among many things in your posts that are wrong is the fact that this storm did not hit as a CAT 5.
I think the federal government would get even more criticism if they rushed in to take over before the governor asked. They can't just assume the local leaders are incompetent simply because they are Democrats.
I was wondering when Hagel would crawl out of his slime pit.
BS is correct.
Fully 60 percent of the NG in LA and MS was available for this disaster.
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