Posted on 01/15/2010 4:39:13 AM PST by TornadoAlley3
Washington (CNN) -- The retired general who took charge of relief efforts in New Orleans, Louisiana, after Hurricane Katrina said Thursday that the U.S. military should have arrived in earthquake-devastated Haiti 24 hours earlier.
"The good Samaritans who moved early on the first day are to be applauded. They made a difference," said Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, a CNN contributor.
"What we've got to do now is get the heavy equipment in. I thought the U.S. military could have been there a day earlier. They're on the ground now, and they have a brigade en route, and that's going to make a big difference," he said.
Honore, best known for his management of the recovery efforts after the hurricane that killed about 2,000 people on the Gulf Coast, said "time is of the essence" in helping quake survivors.
Repairing the seaport at Port-au-Prince and keeping the airport open are key to bringing in equipment, food, water and medicine, Honore said.
Regarding the airport, he said, "You need to put the right commander there who's going to be a battle captain and keep those aircraft flowing. You come in, you drop off what you have, you put the sick and wounded on and then move out. No one is standing any time on the airfield. You can be in and out in a half hour."
Speaking at the House Democratic Caucus Retreat later Thursday, Obama acknowledged the scrutiny focused on U.S. response.
"This is a time when the world looks to us and they say -- given our capacity, given our unique capacity to project power around the world -- that we have to project that not just for our own interests but for the interests of the world as a whole," he said. "And my national security team understands that
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
An aircraft carrier is the ideal answer to this. It has a functioning airport, a hospital, and it produces fresh water.
You raise excellent points; General Honore should know better. After the earthquake, the Port-au-Prince Airport was without power; no lights, no radar, no ATC. I’m guessing that everyone was operating on the “big sky, little airplane” theory. The fact that a number of flights made it into Haiti—without an accident—is a testament to the skill of the crews. I also give the FAA minor kudos for wisely halting flights into Port-au-Prince as the airfield became congested.
I’d also like to know how many Haitian controllers stayed on the job after the quake. With no power—and worries about their families—I’m sure that many of them headed home. That’s one reason the first two USAF aircraft to arrive (MC-130s out of Hurlburt) were carrying a number of combat controllers. They’re best known for directing airstrikes in support of ground forces, but they’re also fully-qualified air traffic controllers. For pilots flying into Port-au-Prince, that “voice on the other end” is probably an Air Force combat controller, or other military air traffic controllers.
I only hope they don’t decide to add UAVs to the mix (beyond Global Hawk, which flies 30,000 feet above everyone else). The FAA was adamant about no UAVs after Katrina, and they should hold the line this time. There will be a few near-misses in the skies above Haiti until the ATC situation is straightened out. Pilots don’t need to worry about dodging UAVs along with other aircraft.
He will you need have no doubt. However he will not leave. He will stay and atay and stay.
There is ONE damaged airport...Where does the general think those planes should have landed?
The port is basically destroyed- IF a ship can get there- the system for offloading cargo is destroyed- How does the general think that cargo can get offloaded?
Perhaps by breaking pallets down into smaller sizes and forming a ‘bucket brigade’ of refugees moving the goods, but the photo I saw of the port didn’t lead me to believe that a ship of any size could get close enough for a gangplank to be deployed.
What are we missing?
3 million people. 10 million after the adoption papers are signed.
“Planes can be in and out in half an hour”.
As many as 8 planes at a time were circling, waiting to land. I can only think that there were NO WORKERS to offload the planes if it was taking longer than the general is thinking it should have.
And the planes have to bring in enough fuel to leave. Fueling facilities are out of commission at the airport.
It is a mess, but why can’t helicopters drop food and water to people?”
What is the distance from Florida to Haiti?
A helo would have to use alot of fuel to get there one way- loaded with goods—and refueling from a totally damaged airport would not necessarily be feasible. I sure would not want to be the pilot depending on possibly comtaminated fuel to get back to Florida.
I also don’t know how much chaos would be created by ‘dropping food & water’ for a small number of persons into the huge numbers which are displaced by this quake.
It does take some time to organize things, but our military is good at getting things done-—when the politicians stay out of their way.
I understand it is hard getting supplies into Haiti because of the damaged ports and airport; so why don’t we drop by parachute the needed supplies? Any ideas?
Haiti is not a place where success stories are easily made. It has quagmire written all over it - Obama’s quagmire.
This could easily become an unwelcome & costly distraction from his domestic agenda. I doubt he wants that.
He will turn over responsibility to the UN at first opportunity, to the detriment of the Haitians. The difficulty is that if he hands over to the UN when things are still chaotic, he looks like he failed. But the longer he waits, the more burdensome it becomes.
Remember, the UN was there long before the earthquake. It was a shiite hole then & it will just be a worse shiite hole now.
For the immediate future though, Haiti is his to screw up.
I thought maybe they had helicopters in Haiti already, and fuel there, I am not being critical, just asking. I know it is a tough job that takes time.
He likes to be in the spotlight with provocative blatherings, though.
Leni
Why? If I remember correctly there was much bitching and moaning about how slow aid was arriving after Katrina and he was in charge of that so, it sounds to me like he sucks at being in charge of relief efforts. Maybe he should just STFU.
the delay was in figuring out how to use the 82d airborne in a domestic disaster, with their arms, in a security control role ... to go in and disarm civilians to allow rescue workers access to neighborhoods - remember those hoods shooting at the rescue teams, looting, and besieging the hospitals, with the phantom Ray Nagin NO police force that failed to show up?
posse comitatus and all that
and working out lines of authority between civilian and military, state and feds. Gov Blanco was less than no help, she resisted turning over her NG units to Pres Bush and the feds but then cried and moaned for them to come help her
Surely with all the command and control issues among FEMA, National Guards, US military and the NO police- You dont think Gen Honore was in control of the timing of his deployment?
You forget his book. “White mans greed cause a world in need”...”Passing cruise ships throw away enough food to feed Haiti for a week”..BHO quotes. He will adopt. The perfect way to redistribute white wealth to needy blacks.
CNN addressed this last night. It would become a mob scene within minutes.
Gates just signed orders TODAY to get ships with cranes there to clear port. 8 days after the quake.
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