Posted on 09/04/2005 12:45:08 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
The National Guard was slow to move troops into New Orleans because it did not anticipate the collapse of the city's police force after Hurricane Katrina, the guard's commander said.
Lieutenant General Steven Blum said the New Orleans police force was left with only a third of its pre-storm 1,500-person strength.
Some police had families caught up in the disaster, others were unable to make it back to their precincts because of the flooding, and yet others left their posts after deciding the situation had grown too dangerous.
"The real issue, particularly in New Orleans, is that no one anticipated the disintegration or the erosion of the civilian police force in New Orleans," Blum told reporters here.
"Once that assessment was made ... then the requirement became obvious," he said. "And that's when we started flowing military police into the theater."
On Friday, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin angrily denounced the slow federal response as too little, too late, charging that promised troops had not arrived in time.
"Now get off your asses and let's do something and fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country," the mayor said in remarks aired on CNN.
Blum said that since Thursday some 7,000 National Guard and military police had moved into the city.
But he said any suggestion that the National Guard had not performed well or was late was a "low blow."
The initial priority of the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard forces was disaster relief, not law enforcement, because they expected the police to handle that, he said.
"We were pulsing forces in in very degraded infrastructure -- airports had reduced capabilities ... in some cases we only had one road in because of lack of bridges, flooding, loss of infrastructure," he said.
"So we couldn't rush to failure on this thing and we had to take a more measured approach on this thing than any of us wanted," he said.
When it became apparent that disorder in New Orleans should be the most immediate priority, the National Guard waited until they had enough forces in hand to make an overwhelming show of force, he said.
On Friday, while President George W. Bush was touring the stricken city, 1,000 military police and National Guard stormed the convention center where street gangs mixed in with thousands of others awaiting rescue had created a volatile situation, Blum said.
"Had we gone in with a lesser force we may have been challenged, innocents may have been caught in a fight between the guard and military police and those who did not want to be processed or apprehended," he said.
Bush, under intense criticism for the slow federal response, on Saturday ordered an additional 7,000 active duty and reserve ground troops to reinforce the National Guard.
That would raise the level of US military forces committed to the relief effort -- active duty as well as national guard and reserves -- to more than 50,000 by the end of next week.
Blum said that on Saturday there were 27,000 national guard troops in Louisiana and Mississippi. That number will grow to about 40,000 within the next week, he said.
There were varying estimates of the number of active duty troops already in the area as part of the relief of operations before Bush's order.
Major General Joseph Inge, deputy commander of the US Northern Command, put the number of active duty forces already on the ground at nearly 5,000 while Blum estimated the active force at 7,000, including sailors aboard navy ships.
The additional troops ordered in from the active force include 2,500 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division, 2,700 from the 1st Cavalry Division and 2,000 from the 1st and 2nd Marine Expeditionary Forces.
Unbeliveable. Just WHAT did we give N.O. all that Homeland Security Money for?
See my Post #194
Hi, STARWISE. Thanks so much for pinging me to this thread. Excellent information. The Dims and their media shills are working overtime now to try to tarnish the President and the administration with all the ills of New Orleans. I think that's because they know, as time progresses, the truth about the corruption there will come out.
RE:"BTW, you're about to get spanked by a pro"
( IW Laughing as he runs for popcorn and microwave)
From an article written sometime Sunday or Monday:
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/stormcenter/2005-08-28-katrina-gulf_x.htm
Terry Ebbert, New Orleans director of homeland security, said more than 4,000 National Guardsmen were mobilizing in Memphis and will help police New Orleans streets.
They had 4,000 troops on standby on SUNDAY to help police New Orleans. What happened to these troops???
Lord knows, I tried to warn the poor guy.
LA governer just posted on her web site letter requesting federal takeover,which looks like the one drafted by the Bush administration that she refused to sign, BACKDATED to Aug. 27th.
Can someone investigate when this appeared and why it was backdated?
Also working against the city's best interests was a "residency requirement" stipulating that police and firefighters must live within the city limits in order to be considered for promotions. When the requirement was codified into law during Marc Morial's administration, it forbade the hiring of non-residents to all "unclassified" (non-civil service) city jobs, in addition to police and firemen. Civil service position holders who were working for the city prior to the law were "grandfathered in" but they could not be promoted until they could prove they had established residence within the city limits. PANO and other organizations representing police and firefighters fought hard against the residency requirement, but they were outgunned by Marc Morial and numerous powerful community groups.
Thus was the stage set for the scenario that was to follow. In order to beef up the rapidly dwindling numbers of NOPD, the department was forced to lower its acceptance standards. Recruits with criminal records, DWIs, unfavorable employment records and dishonorable discharges from the Armed Forces were allowed to enter the Police Academy, whereas they had previously been excluded. A number of these new recruits had been charged with violent crimes as serious as armed robbery and rape. Some were openly recruited from the projects and off the street with no prior experience with the law, other than being on the receiving end of its consequences. Their records were expunged and, on completion of their training, they were issued badges, guns and patrol cars and turned loose on the street.
In so doing, many of these new officers were expected to suddenly straighten up and begin enforcing the laws they had not-so-long-ago been breaking. They were expected to arrest those suspected of crimes, even if those accused had once been their street buddies. But this was an unrealistic expectation. Old loyalties and old habits die hard. Some of these new officers remained loyal to those who had been their partners in crime and they continued their old ways and associations. And, given the level of corruption to which the department had already descended by this time, the ground was well-seeded to breed further corruption.
These a-holes had NO PLAN... and they KNEW it. The 'end-game' was to blame EVERYTHING on Bush!
The media, the Democrats, and some Republicans are assuming massive incompetence by the President. This comes before we have any concrete facts. I'm pretty sure that when the facts come out it will paint a more sympathetic picture of the job he did.
What the Administration needs to do now -- something they are always slow to do for some reason -- is defend themselves before the media has a chance to define this story.
Which of course is a perfect illustration of why we have a Second Amendment.
Any American who ultimately depends on Law Enforcement or the government to protect their life, liberty and property is a fool.
Could you provide a link to the letter?
Tread carefully FReepers. A newbie making an announcement and asking us to investigate. Too suspicious, imo.
Does she show it signed? If Bush sent it to her, the memo would show the date he sent it. Does her signature have its own date (as would be normal practice)?
Sounds like you have your act together. It's reassuring to learn about folks who have taken steps to ensure that they are a minimum drag on the nation in a crisis, instead of squalling and bawling to Nanny to bail them out.
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