1. It is against the law for any President to order troops into a city or across state lines without a request and permission from the Governor of that state. "Federal law prevents the President from sending in the National Guard until the Governor gives the order. It is little known, but the Commanding General of the National Guard in every state reports to the Governor, not the President, until the Governor says otherwise. US military units (regular Army, not the Guard) cannot be used because of the Posse Comitatus law, until the Guard has been authorized." According to some news sources, the Governor of Louisiana who knew the levees were weak, who knew that the city had been slowly sinking and who knew that a major # 5 hurricane was approaching her city did not call Washington for help.
2. The Mayor of New Orleans did call for evacuation over a loud-speaker, but did nothing to be sure that the police went door-to-door followed by transportation to pick up all those who did not have cars or any ability to leave. There was no other leadership practiced by the mayor as there had been in New York City during 9/11 by Mayor Giuliani.
3. The hurricane veered east and saved New Orleans, Brian Williams announced a week ago and all breathed a sigh of relief until, the levies broke a day or two later allowing the surrounding waters to pour into the city.
4. It was this predicted levee failure, which had been ignored for so long that doomed the local people to be held hostage in their attics or on rooftops, not the storm. It was also the failure of the local bureaucrats and local elected leaders to maintain law and order and to have pre-arranged for complete evacuations of the city. It was only after a request went out to the President that troops could be sent in. Can you imagine the anti-Bush media screaming that Bush had invaded Louisiana as he had done in Iraq if he had done this before being asked? I can just imagine The New York Times headlining, "A Repeat of Shock and Awe by Bush!"
Does FEMA have problems? Maybe so - but FEMA is also constrained by law from providing help that's not asked for by the local authorities. OTOH - there were troops inserted on Friday - meaning it took just 3 days from the time the levees broke - NOT the week that the media has sometimes bounced around. If there's confusion about who controls those troops, then the blame falls squarely on Blanco because while she "may" control the LA Guard, once she asks for National Guard troops from other states she has no authority whatever over those troops - only the Feds get that authority - by law. And if she hasn't given up control of the LA National Guard to the Feds, then she's causing a lot of confusion in the command structure. And in this situation, that leads to more deaths. It's a "control issue" that has nothing to do with Bush.
The American Thinker has thoughtful articles regarding the left's hypocrisy in blaming Bush for the New Olrans catastrophie.
Remember, that many of the same people who are now saying the National Guard is too important to waste on American security overseas, a year ago were insisting that George W. Bush was a bum for serving in the Texas Air National Guard while “war hero” John Kerry was in Vietnam.
Katrina: Why Didn't Nagin Follow His Own Plan?
daybydaycartoon.com
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