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......."
there would be calls for impeachment right now if this were done.
where the administration made their mistake, was not going political right away - had they started questioning the governor and mayor right at the first sign of this, they would have set the early tone for the explanation of why the federal response was 24 hours late. But our guys don't know how to play gutter politics, and its costing us (to some degree) on the backside, and once again we have to battle from the defensive position.
and particularly when human lives and safety are at stake.
I don't think she has yet to declare the state of La an emergency...has she? Or rather order a mandatory evacuation...sorry
Even the Mayor, who messed up himself terribly, has come to the conclusion (either honestly or as a way to try and save his own hide) that the governor's delays, indecision, and bad decisions have cost lives.
Then you shouldn't be living here. Period.
...or in Alcotraz.
Isn't it an irrevocable, undebatable certified decree of Truth that Bush already is the moral equivalent of Hitler?
Damn if he did and damned now that he sat in frustration over Blanko's indecisiveness. I think Bush made the right choice in doing the latter.
Then again she could just be stupid or guided by the corrupt.
But I will be, and intend to be, until I assume room temperature.
I believe that is exactly what happened, but as usual the American press is not interested in the truth.
Then you'd have calls for impeachment.
But not from the "crazies".
End of story.
I think the legalisms were lost on most people who wanted to see something done.
Nagin was demanding for days that the "chain of command" be cleared up.
He realizes people get the government they voted for & does as much to lessen the consequences as he is legally allowed.
The calculus is more complex than "make a difference."
The last time a president asserted control without a request from a duly-authorized state agent was the civil war.
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