First, don’t forget to give to hurricane relief efforts. And if you don’t want to give through this site, here’s a link to the liberal blog relief fund.
Next, this article in that bastion of Bush boosterism the New York Times has a rational and reasonable review of federal planning efforts prior to the disaster. The money graph:
Large numbers of National Guard troops should have been deployed on flooded streets early in the disaster to keep order, the critics said. And some questioned whether the federal government’s intense focus on terrorism had distracted from planning practical steps to cope with a major natural disaster.(HT: Balloon Juice)Disaster experts acknowledged that the impact of Hurricane Katrina posed unprecedented difficulties. “There are amazing challenges and obstacles,†said Joe Becker, the top disaster response official at the American Red Cross.
Under the circumstances, Mr. Becker said, the government response “has been nothing short of heroic.â€
But he added that the first, life-saving phase of hurricane response, which usually lasts a matter of hours, in this case was stretching over days.
While some in New Orleans fault FEMA - Terry Ebbert, homeland security director for New Orleans, called it a “hamstrung†bureaucracy – others say any blame should be more widely spread. Local, state and federal officials, for example, have cooperated on disaster planning. In 2000, they studied the impact of a fictional “Hurricane Zebraâ€; last year they drilled with “Hurricane Pam.â€
Clearly, there was a great deal of planning prior to the event. The question we’ll be asking – after the relief effort is well underway and people are out of danger – is what, if anything, could have been done to avoid the calamity we’ve been witnessing in New Orleans.
You may recall that the deploying the National Guard is the responsibility of the Governor. The Guard was on standby and arrived on early Wednesday morning, less than 48 hours after the hurricane passed. In 1992 during the hurricane Andrew crisis, it also took less than 48 hours for the first Guard units to show up on the disaster site. You may even recall that Andrew’s destruction occurred over a much smaller area with only local flooding as opposed to the massive city-wide deluge faced by New Orleans.
The point is that the deployment of the Guard was probably done as quickly as in other disasters. The fact that there weren’t enough of them was due more to the fact that they had to pitch in and help in rescue operations than anything else.
We’ll fight this out at the end of the month when things have settled down a little. In the meantime, unless someone says something so outrageous that it requires some kind of comment, this will be my last post on “The Blame Game.”
UPDATE AND WARNING
I will no longer tolerate any attacks on my brother. They will be considered “off topic” and will be immediately deleted.
If you have a problem with the way he is doing his job, go tell ABC. Do not come here and tell me.
5:12 pm
Before you leave the Blame Game, maybe you want to give your brother at ABC a call and ask him to do the same. He is one of those rare species that can whine, bushbash, and project media-armchair-general-stratigery in one mouthfull.
6:23 pm
Well, Henry beat me to it re your bro…
He is one reason ABC is where it is.
He shows less respect for people than anyone in the media…he needs to go and maybe he will when ABC finally realizes he is not respected among other people with the way he treats the Commander in Chief of this country.. Could he do a better job with NO? All those so called media people think they know best…they try to MAKE the news insteading of reporting it.
9:14 pm
What does my brother Terry’s postion as a reporter/anchor have to do with my brother Rick’s excellent, if somewhat didactic and conservative current events commentary? You are speaking of apples and oranges.
11:28 pm
Disaster Relief is Not an Easy Task
Let me put it this way: Four days to get help on the scene in a disaster of this magnitude is pretty damn good. No, not perfect, but damn good. Before you flame me, I worked it with the Army for Hugo and Andrew – unlike Eleanor, I know what I’m talki…
8:55 am
Do the republican party a favor and begin the call to impeach Bush from office. Dick has to go too im afraid. Purge the religious zealots from the party. Your party has failed and you should all be ashamed of it. Why try do defend the indefenseable? Make the debacle in New Orleans,Mississippi,and Alabama the last straw. Impeach Bush now! lets get a government that will work for the working people.
9:09 am
Your brother is all right by me!
Cheers, AJStrata
BTW - you too of course
5:46 pm
The fact that I deleted your comment shouldn’t surprise you because, of course, that’s the only reason you left one.
Your total and complete lack of imagination in criticizing anyone marks you as the idiot you truly are.
7:34 am
[...] UZZADEM
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