Posted on 09/02/2005 6:45:16 AM PDT by Chickenhawk Warmonger
Does it take five days to give an order? Why so slow - this the point and you should be asking it and not blaming me.
Your fellow countrymen are needlessly dying - face up to it and make sure it never happens again.
They are, as Shakespeare put it, "Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Go git 'em, OpusatFR!
Show me where I said American troops are cowards?
As for the WW2 typical cliche stuff, I don't remember American troops liberating Britain from Germany, do you?
"Does it take five days to give an order? Why so slow - this the point and you should be asking it and not blaming me. "
I'm not blaming you, that's rather silly. It is slow because Governor Blanco is so completely over her head and incompetent. She should have ordered shoot to kill immediately. That would have stopped it and stopped the police force from walking.
The Mayor of NO went through this in 2004, piling everyone into the stadium with the same result. No preparations had been made. Fortunately for them, there was no flooding and no direct hit, just disgruntled New Orleans and....nothing more was done to prepare for the inevitable catagory 4 or 5.
I'm as frustrated as the next person but until you have a grasp of the Federal system, you won't understand. It works exceedingly well when we have competent governors, and we do. Unfortunately, Louisiana is the most corrupt state in the union with a political machine to match.
Their mentality (or lack of) will do more to destroy this great nation than any threat we face foreign or domestic.
Those are her voters, she can't have them killed!
This explains the answer to your statement. It's called the Posse Comitatus Act....
http://www.dojgov.net/posse_comitatus_act.htm
I think you are being a rough on the folks on the ground.....just imagine, a white NG opening fire on a group on non-white looters...CNN would be there with cameras...shooting people at this stage of events, is just not on...
I will repeat what I said in another thread, it is this IGNORANCE of our system of government that allows people of your ilk to make these statements. Please be better informed in the future.
Oh wait. We don't have one, because our elected leaders and the political operatives who our donations to political organizations support are too busy making anonymous leaks to the WaPo so they can get invited to better cocktail parties.
And here you put a bucket of their #hit on my stoop and ring the doorbell.
Thanks a lot. ~ ; )
I have never in my life seen at a mayoral level such deafening silence. In ANY local disaster, accident or event, the mayor is at the forefront of the incidence. This guy seems only to give a one sentence statement now every few days. "Desperate SOS" yesterday. What is that suppose to mean? JMO. I havent seen this guy in days.
Ask that question of Governor Blanco.
Ask it again of Mayor Nagin.
Those two people, who are apparently completely incompetent to hold their respective offices, are the people who hold the authority to give orders regarding policing and riot control in Louisiana generally and New Orleans particularly. That authority in now way resides in Washington, DC.
You are posting from Great Britain, so perhaps you can be forgiven for not knowing how governmental authority is distributed in these United States. Now you know, so quit carping.
FWIW, I think they should have given orders on Tuesday that looters be shot on sight. Refusal to give such orders is, however, one of the least of their failures. Their greatest failures are in the realm of planning, which should have been ongoing efforts since Hurricane Camille (at least).
And another thing:
The woman is so out of control, she actually cried on television, lost her composure and had to be prompted by her aides. They have been hiding her.
And before you say I'm sexist, I'm a woman and way tougher than most men I know. I've never abandoned a podium or felt threatened because a man walked up to me in a debate.
She's a disgrace. She should have been projecting strength and competence and this utterly feckless, useless person is collapsing.
I can otell you the people of the UK are shocked and horrified at what is happening.
As usual we will do everything we can to help.
But questions have to be asked at why the rescue effort is so bad. People are astonished that the USA can send troops to far flung countries in days, and yet in New Orleans it is almost non-existent after five.
I repeat, Britons are devastated for Americans right now and want to help badly - but at the same time are open-mouthed in amazement at how America could be so slow in it's recovery. That's all I'm saying.
WADR, Houston (and Dallas, et al) is alot closer to NO than those NE cities. Transport alone to them would probably be as costly as transport+housing to closer cities. And the logistics of the people getting back would be worse for them.
Maybe instead call out St Louis, or Louisville, or OK City or Atlanta.
You seem to be saying that the National Guard REFUSED to do certain things, while ignoring that they must be given orders to do those things.
So, please, spare all of us the divisiveness of saying the British Army would do it better. If they weren't given orders to do X,Y, or Z, they wouldn't do X,Y, or Z either.
The Governor of Louisiana dropped the ball, not the National Guard so assigning blame to the men and women of the National Guard is offensive.
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