Posted on 09/08/2005 6:57:07 PM PDT by sissyjane
Edited on 09/08/2005 11:37:58 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
>> WHITE HOUSE MULLED SEIZING RELIEF MISSION // Invoke the Insurrection Act? Bush's senior advisers debated last week whether the president should seize control of the chaotic hurricane relief mission from the governor so that active-duty combat troops could be sent to enforce order... Developing
Update******
Political Issues Snarled Plans for Troop Aid
"WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 - As New Orleans descended into chaos last week and Louisiana's governor asked for 40,000 soldiers, President Bush's senior advisers debated whether the president should speed the arrival of active-duty troops by seizing control of the hurricane relief mission from the governor.
For reasons of practicality and politics, officials at the Justice Department and Pentagon, and then at the White House, decided not to urge Mr. Bush to take command of the effort.
Instead, the Washington officials decided to rely on the growing number of National Guard personnel flowing into Louisiana, who were under Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco's control. The debate was triggered as officials began to realize that Hurricane Katrina exposed a critical flaw in the national disaster response plans created after the Sept. 11 attacks. According to the administration's senior homeland security officials, the hurricane showed the failure of their plan to recognize that local police, fire and medical personnel might be incapacitated and unable to act quickly until reinforcements arrive on the scene..."
".. To seize control of the mission, Mr. Bush would have had to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows the president in times of unrest to command active-duty forces into the states to perform law enforcement duties. But decision makers in Washington felt certain that Governor Blanco would have resisted surrendering control of the military relief mission as Bush Administration officials believe would have been required to deploy active-duty combat forces before law and order had been re-established. While troops can conduct relief missions without the legal authority of the Insurrection Act, Pentagon and military officials say that no active-duty forces could have been sent into the chaos of New Orleans on Wednesday or Thursday without confronting law-and-order challenges......."
So far, the number of deaths is countless. The few numbers I've seen are small...perhaps in the range you quoted. I suspect they will grow but I remain skeptical about the tens of thousands so many in the MSM keep claiming. IOW, I agree with you completely.
There is a level of court between the federal district court and SCOTUS. It is called the Appellate Court.
But, Dick Morris spilled the beans on that today -- she has Whitewater history with Michael Chertoff.
You could be right. Especially knowing the military would have handled it all so well and then the DEMS would be screaming that it wasn't that big a deal and BLANCO could have done it on her own and just as well.
(Sarcasm alert. Yes it's come to that)
This comment by Peach deserves a repeat:
To: Arizona Carolyn
I'd like to know how they spent that money too.
This comes from another freeper:
A HISTORY OF LEVEE NEGLECT--BROUGHT TO YOU BY LOUISIANA DEMOCRATS
1991-1995: New Orleans Levee Board allegedly undertakes a $140 million building campaign covering 41 projects to close "within four years" the gaps in New Orleans protection from floods.
1996: New Orleans Levee Board cited by Louisiana Legislative Auditor for the way "it awards contracts, spends money, and ignores public bid laws.
1996: The New Orleans newspaper, the Time-Picayune States Item reports the levee board is near bankruptcy and, quoting the Legislative Auditor, stated it "should not be allowed to refinance any bonds, or issue new ones, until it submitted an acceptable plan to achieve solvency.
1996: New Orleans Levee Board loses its authority to refinance its debts, jeopardizing the building campaign. Without the bond financing, the Levee Board is also unable to obtain Federal matching funds.
1998: Louisiana enacts a $2 billion construction budget. Only 0.1% is dedicated to levee improvements ($1.98 million). The construction budget does fund improvements to the Louisiana Supreme Court ($22 million), and the New Orleans Convention Center ($35 million).
1999: Louisiana appropriates $49.5 million for levee improvements, subject to allocation by the State Bond Commission. Levee improvements are designated "Priority 5"--projects "least likely to receive full or immediate funding". It is likely that no construction took place.
2001: The New Orleans Levee Board defers $3.7 million in capital improvements because local residents voted down a proposed tax increase to fund expanding operations by the Board. This will result in $47 million in work, covering 60 projects, to be deferred long term. The projects included work to shore up floodwalls.
2002: Louisiana allocates ZERO dollars to hurricane protection projects, leaving 65 percent Federal matching funds for such efforts untouched. State senator Francis Heitmeier (D-Algiers [the "West Bank" of New Orleans] would tell the Times-Picayune: "The problem is money is real tight in Baton Rouge right now; we have to do with what we can get."
2002: Louisiana Commissioner of Administration tells local officials (presumably Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines parishes) that they stood a higher chance of getting flood control projects funded if they reduced their requests to the state for money in less critical areas. There is no record of any discretionary funding requests being reduced or withdrawn.
2003 (October): St. Charles parish receives a Federal grant for $475,000 for levee construction--this is used to build a bike path on top of the levee.
246 posted on 09/07/2005 4:52:53 PM PDT by Peach (South Carolina is praying for our Gulf coast citizens.)
I had not read that before. Is there a source that I can bookmark?
I was just pointing out that the Left and the MSM would have condemned him NO MATTER WHAT HE DID and will continue to do so, NO MATTER WHAT HE DOES!!
Maybe the media will be forced to cover the Red Cross/Salvation Army/LA Homeland Security Office story. It goes hand in hand with Feds taking control of the city.
If the MSM wants to play with this, don't they have to ask why would the state need to be taken over?
Karl, did you leak this?
Pelosi demanded Bush fire Brown. She reported that Bush said "Why would I want to do that?" Before we fire Brown, what to the hell does she say should be done with Nagan and Blanco? Straining at a gnat to swallow a camel.
They already have their signs made up, in fact they've used them b4.
You cannot keep a timeline like this horrific timeline secret for long.
LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!
Beautiful website. God Bless you and your wife for all you are doing.
Here is the story:
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 - As New Orleans descended into chaos last week and Louisiana's governor asked for 40,000 soldiers on Wednesday, President Bush's senior advisers debated whether the president should seize control of the hurricane relief mission from the governor so that active-duty combat troops could be sent to enforce order.
For reasons of practicality and politics, officials at the Justice Department and Pentagon, and then at the White House, decided not to urge the president to take command of the effort by invoking the Insurrection Act, which allows the president in times of unrest to command active-duty forces into the states to perform law enforcement duties.
Instead, the Washington officials decided to rely on the growing number of National Guard personnel flowing into Louisiana, who were under Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco's control.
This debate over federal versus state control of the military relief mission was triggered as officials began to realize that Hurricane Katrina exposed a critical flaw in the national disaster response plans created after the Sept. 11 attacks. According to the administration's senior homeland security officials, the hurricane proved to them the failure of their plan to recognize that local police, fire and medical personnel might be incapacitated and unable to act quickly until reinforcements arrive on the scene.
http://nytimes.com/2005/09/09/national/nationalspecial/09military.html?ei=5094&en=29839ee3ffe8c2ba&hp=&ex=1126238400&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1126233782-TyWdDhBZdEpX1YjGpoRFnw
"Blanco met the presidential party at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, carrying a letter to Bush which showed she's not budging on the issue of federalizing local law enforcement and the state's National Guard, which the president had attempted to do Friday.
"I write to ask you to work with me in developing a long-term plan for the rebuilding of the Louisiana economy," Blanco says in the letter."
______________________
The federalization, somehow, would cede redevelopment control to the Feds. The unreported side of this story is control of the money.
There is NO DOUBT in my military mind that the MSM and the DIMS would LOVE the number of deaths to be astronomical.
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