"DSK" wrote in message
...
So how was Bush supposed to handle the Katrina crisis?


By sending people other than the National Guard


NOYB wrote:
LOL. So who are these imaginary people that you would send?

Are you seriously suggesting that the National Guard is the only resource
for disaster relief? What about FEMA?



.... The military is off-limits thanks to Posse Comitatus

For use as police forces, yes. For disaster relief, no.
Let me remind you that the U.S. Navy was quite prominent in sending ships,
including a hospital ship, to the relief of disaster victims. But they
didn't get orders until the Friday after Katrina had hit... a full working
week.

You can't mobilize the military on an "if-come".

Rescue operations are performed in the following order:

1) local and state law enforcement (and local completely collapsed, with
most walking off the job, and some participating in the looting)

2) the state-controlled National Guard

3) DoD-controlled Reserves

4) DoD-controlled Active Duty

If the DoD gets involved, guess who heads the chain of command? Someone has
to have ultimate authority over all operations...which means that the DoD
has authority over civilian operations. And only the Governor can request
that. (That's where Lt Maj. Honore eventually came in. He's the guy who
coined the phrase "stuck on stupid")

Are you suggesting that the Federal government should have sent
DoD-controlled troops prior to, or in the immediate aftermath of the storm?
The problem with that is logistics. The National Guard and Reserves already
have troops and equipment in place. The troops who were sent in later had
to come from all over the country. That doesn't happen overnight. And it
can't happen until the Governor requests it.


"Lieutenant General Joseph Inge, the deputy commander of the US Northern
Command, which provided the forces for the military part of the relief
effort, said active-duty soldiers will not get involved in any forced
evacuations. "We are told there are some 900 policemen in New Orleans," he
said. "We would certainly see forcing evacuation as a first priority for
them to work. If the authorities in the state of Louisiana chose to use
their National Guard, in a state status, that would certainly be permissible
and their call. When this turns into a law enforcement issue, which we
perceive forced evacuation is, regular troops would not be used."

Active-duty troops can only have authority over civilians in the United
States if the state governor asks for such help, or if the president orders
it. There has only been one such presidential order since the U.S. civil war
in the 1860s, when troops were used to force racial integration at the
University of Mississippi."



http://www.globalsecurity.org/securi...tf-katrina.htm