Enough Already: Whining About The Katrina Response Isn’t Constructive
I just spent the last hour or so watching developments in New Orleans. There was the usual torrent of castigation of the Federal Government, read: George Bush, for delays in responding.
Am I the only one who thinks the response was about as quick as it could be?
A review of the facts:
1. Katrina crossed Florida last Saturday as a category 1 hurricane;
2. It ambled out into the Gulf of Mexico where it amazingly rapidly gained strength to where it was a category 5 by laste Sunday;
3. The same day the Feds declared an emergency for the Gulf Coast which began the mobilization process for Federal resources, never mind the inept Louisana response under the crying governor (where is Rudy when we need him?);
4. The storm struck Monday doing incredible damage to the Mississippi coast while apparently SPARING New Orleans;
5. The levys failed Tuesday flooding New Orleans over the next two days;
6. The Coast Guard began rescue operations the same day;
7. Federal resources, other than the CG, began ariving Friday and were fully functional on Saturday. That means it took less than 72 hours to become operational.
Can someone, anyone, tell me how they could have moved 20,000 troops, transported millions of meals and millions of gallons of water, assembled transport to evacuate 500,000 people and moved all this into a city isolated by flood over damaged roads in less than 72 hours?
Saying there was a delay does not make it so. It is preposterous. A huge vote of thanks should be given to the heroes responding as they have… and to the American public for their amazing, but not unexpected, generosity.
Now, please, you whining logistical geniuses, please shut up so the rest of us can get on with doing what we can to help these people out.
– by contributing blogger, MontereyJohn
September 4th, 2005 at 5:55 pm
RE: Am I the only one who thinks the response was about as quick as it could be?
You may be; even GW said it was unacceptable; do you disagree with him? I found an article today that both explains and predicts your reaction to these types of events … highly recommended read: “holding political power accountable is not some liberal plot” http://www.cjr.org/issues/2005/1/editorial.asp
September 5th, 2005 at 7:15 am
Your 72 hr time frame starts 4 days too late. Mis Gov called out the Guard Sat *before* the storm hit. When the La. gov had not called out the Gurad by Sun the Sec Defense shoud have. That gets troops into N.O. Wed morinig. Saves many thousands of lives. Rumsfeld was asleep at the switch. As it seems was the whole Federal Government. N.O. has a 100 year history of riots and looting. This should not have been a shock to anyone with an IQ over 70. Sec Defense need to be shown the door.
September 5th, 2005 at 11:46 am
Rodney, apparently it will come as news to you that the federal government can not call out The Guard, that’s the governor’s perogative as you noted happened in Mississippi. Had the governor done so, perhaps things could have gone better, ut she chose not to do so. so, if anyone needs to be shown the door, some name other than the Secretary of defense would come to mind for me.
Having said that, enough with the finger pointing… let’s get on with the job at hand.