New York Times Bombshell: Governor Blanco Still Incompetent.
I caught this story this morning (Hat-tip: Instapundit) and I am left scratching my head how this woman could believe she is qualified to be the governor of the State of Louisiana. (Quoted below are excerpts from the story. The link below will take our readers to this story.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/national/nationalspecial/09military.html?ei=5090&en=aa642b8c89c27c01&ex=1283918400&adxnnl=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1126238795-dGCl9WlaN8lbkCHBy9hw2w&pagewanted=print
As criticism of the response to Hurricane Katrina has mounted, one of the most pointed questions has been why more troops were not available more quickly to restore order and offer aid. Interviews with officials in Washington and Louisiana show that as the situation grew worse, they were wrangling with questions of federal/state authority, weighing the realities of military logistics and perhaps talking past each other in the crisis.
To seize control of the mission, Mr. Bush would have had to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows the president in times of unrest to command active-duty forces into the states to perform law enforcement duties. But decision makers in Washington felt certain that Ms. Blanco would have resisted surrendering control, as Bush administration officials believe would have been required to deploy active-duty combat forces before law and order had been re-established.
While combat troops can conduct relief missions without the legal authority of the Insurrection Act, Pentagon and military officials say that no active-duty forces could have been sent into the chaos of New Orleans on Wednesday or Thursday without confronting law-and-order challenges.
But just as important to the administration were worries about the message that would have been sent by a president ousting a Southern governor of another party from command of her National Guard, according to administration, Pentagon and Justice Department officials.
To hell with the message. The president legally could not do this without invoking the act. As a state of insurrection did not exist in Louisiana, to cite and execute the sending of troops under the act would have been illegal, and would have been grounds for impeachment. This is something that Thomas and I have been reminding people over the last week or so. The president did not have the power to arbitrarily send troops into Louisiana.
Officials in Louisiana agree that the governor would not have given up control over National Guard troops in her state as would have been required to send large numbers of active-duty soldiers into the area. But they also say they were desperate and would have welcomed assistance by active-duty soldiers.
"I need everything you have got," Ms. Blanco said she told Mr. Bush last Monday, after the storm hit.
In an interview, she acknowledged that she did not specify what sorts of soldiers. "Nobody told me that I had to request that," Ms. Blanco said. "I thought that I had requested everything they had. We were living in a war zone by then."
I am sorry, but is Gov. Blanco really that stupid? Or is it that she has never read the Constitution, and does not understand that she has to ask for that assistance. The president cannot simply walk into town, and declare all he sees under his control. The governor must cede that authority to the federal government, which it did last Friday. And on the heels of the reports this morning, Michael Brown—of FEMA—has been recalled to Washington, and FEMA control has been handed over to Vice Admiral Thad Allen, of the US Coast Guard. Ironically, it was Allen, not Brown, who briefed Vice President Cheney when he was down surveying the damage yesterday.
By last Wednesday, Pentagon officials said even the 82nd Airborne, which has a brigade on standby to move out within 18 hours, could not arrive any faster than 7,000 National Guard troops, which are specially trained and equipped for civilian law enforcement duties.
In the end, the flow of thousands of National Guard soldiers, especially military police, was accelerated from other states.
"I was there. I saw what needed to be done," Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said in an interview. "They were the fastest, best-capable, most appropriate force to get there in the time allowed. And that's what it's all about."
But one senior Army officer expressed puzzlement that active-duty troops were not summoned sooner, saying 82nd Airborne troops were ready to move out from Fort Bragg, N.C., on Sunday, the day before the hurricane hit.
Technically, active duty troops cannot handle "law enforcement" duties. It is against the law. Posse Comitatus trumps the ability for active duty soldiers to participate int his respect. Now, if the active duty troops were assigned to relief efforts alone, that would be one thing. But the military was desperately needed to help bring and end to the lawlessness rampant in the streets. The Guard can do this. They are trained for this sort of thing. They can handle law enforcement duties and relief efforts, which is why Guard units were arriving in Louisiana from around the country most of last week. The active duty troops sent by the president did undertake only relief and recovery efforts while the Guard units in Louisiana and from around the country quelled the animals prowling the streets.
Louisiana officials were furious that there was not more of a show of force, in terms of relief supplies and troops, from the federal government in the middle of last week. As the water was rising in New Orleans, the governor repeatedly questioned whether Washington had started its promised surge of federal resources.
"We needed equipment," Ms. Blanco said in an interview. "Helicopters. We got isolated."
Aides to Ms. Blanco said she was prepared to accept the deployment of active-duty military officials in her state. But she and other state officials balked at giving up control of the Guard as Justice Department officials said would have been required by the Insurrection Act if those combat troops were to be sent in before order was restored.
She and other officials balked at a lot of things. She needs helicopters? Guess what, Madam Governor, your citizens needed the buses that are under water. Your citizens needed to be evacuated in a timely, prompt manner. Pointing fingers, and caterwauling about this or that doesnot help when you did not do your job when you were supposed to. The disaster plan they should have followed was not implemented. Had they followed the plan, and begun evacuations, the problems that followed Katrina would have been greatly reduced. The strain on relief efforts would have been alleviated to a point, and 60,000 people would not have been waiting for evacuation from the Superdome, which was NEVER designated as an evacuation site under the disaster plan.
On the issue of whether the military could be deployed without the invitation of state officials, the Office of Legal Counsel, the unit within the Justice Department that provides legal advice to federal agencies, concluded that the federal government had authority to move in even over the objection of local officials.
This act was last invoked in 1992 for the Los Angeles riots, but at the request of Gov. Pete Wilson of California, and has not been invoked over a governor's objections since the civil rights era - and before that, to the time of the Civil War, administration officials said. Bush administration, Pentagon and senior military officials warned that such an extreme measure would have serious legal and political implications.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has said deployment of National Guard soldiers to Iraq, including a brigade from Louisiana, did not affect the relief mission, but Ms. Blanco disagreed.
"Over the last year, we have had about 5,000 out, at one time," she said. "They are on active duty, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. That certainly is a factor."
I would like to point out that when those troops were sent to California for the aftermath of the riots that Gov. Wilson still had to ask for it. That is the law. The president cannot act on his own. He must sit and wait for the call. He was in touch with Gov. Blanco in the hours leading up to the hurricane, and at any time, she could have requested the extra troops.
And I love how she is grabbing onto the Left’s talking point about the Guard troops in the Middle East. The Louisiana Guard has a little over 11,000 in their ranks. The most deployed, to date, for service in Iraq and Afghanistan numbers around 4000. Right now, approximately 3200 Louisiana Guard troops are there. That leaves just under 8000 available for relief efforts. Those troops were supplemented by other Guard units.
The simple fact of the matter is that the governor and other state officials dropped the ball. They have been noticeably incompetent since the beginning, and it just continues to show. When this is all said and done, and the investigations commence, I do hope both sides of the aisle locate their spines so they may assign the blame where it belongs. And, in doing so, they can also alleviate any problems that might occur at a future date from a natural disaster. Both the federal government and the state government had problems in this disaster, but none were more prevalent that the response by Gov. Blanco and her team of idiots working ‘round the clock to fester the matters that were going from bad to worse.
The Bunny ;)
I caught this story this morning (Hat-tip: Instapundit) and I am left scratching my head how this woman could believe she is qualified to be the governor of the State of Louisiana. (Quoted below are excerpts from the story. The link below will take our readers to this story.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/national/nationalspecial/09military.html?ei=5090&en=aa642b8c89c27c01&ex=1283918400&adxnnl=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1126238795-dGCl9WlaN8lbkCHBy9hw2w&pagewanted=print
As criticism of the response to Hurricane Katrina has mounted, one of the most pointed questions has been why more troops were not available more quickly to restore order and offer aid. Interviews with officials in Washington and Louisiana show that as the situation grew worse, they were wrangling with questions of federal/state authority, weighing the realities of military logistics and perhaps talking past each other in the crisis.
To seize control of the mission, Mr. Bush would have had to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows the president in times of unrest to command active-duty forces into the states to perform law enforcement duties. But decision makers in Washington felt certain that Ms. Blanco would have resisted surrendering control, as Bush administration officials believe would have been required to deploy active-duty combat forces before law and order had been re-established.
While combat troops can conduct relief missions without the legal authority of the Insurrection Act, Pentagon and military officials say that no active-duty forces could have been sent into the chaos of New Orleans on Wednesday or Thursday without confronting law-and-order challenges.
But just as important to the administration were worries about the message that would have been sent by a president ousting a Southern governor of another party from command of her National Guard, according to administration, Pentagon and Justice Department officials.
To hell with the message. The president legally could not do this without invoking the act. As a state of insurrection did not exist in Louisiana, to cite and execute the sending of troops under the act would have been illegal, and would have been grounds for impeachment. This is something that Thomas and I have been reminding people over the last week or so. The president did not have the power to arbitrarily send troops into Louisiana.
Officials in Louisiana agree that the governor would not have given up control over National Guard troops in her state as would have been required to send large numbers of active-duty soldiers into the area. But they also say they were desperate and would have welcomed assistance by active-duty soldiers.
"I need everything you have got," Ms. Blanco said she told Mr. Bush last Monday, after the storm hit.
In an interview, she acknowledged that she did not specify what sorts of soldiers. "Nobody told me that I had to request that," Ms. Blanco said. "I thought that I had requested everything they had. We were living in a war zone by then."
I am sorry, but is Gov. Blanco really that stupid? Or is it that she has never read the Constitution, and does not understand that she has to ask for that assistance. The president cannot simply walk into town, and declare all he sees under his control. The governor must cede that authority to the federal government, which it did last Friday. And on the heels of the reports this morning, Michael Brown—of FEMA—has been recalled to Washington, and FEMA control has been handed over to Vice Admiral Thad Allen, of the US Coast Guard. Ironically, it was Allen, not Brown, who briefed Vice President Cheney when he was down surveying the damage yesterday.
By last Wednesday, Pentagon officials said even the 82nd Airborne, which has a brigade on standby to move out within 18 hours, could not arrive any faster than 7,000 National Guard troops, which are specially trained and equipped for civilian law enforcement duties.
In the end, the flow of thousands of National Guard soldiers, especially military police, was accelerated from other states.
"I was there. I saw what needed to be done," Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said in an interview. "They were the fastest, best-capable, most appropriate force to get there in the time allowed. And that's what it's all about."
But one senior Army officer expressed puzzlement that active-duty troops were not summoned sooner, saying 82nd Airborne troops were ready to move out from Fort Bragg, N.C., on Sunday, the day before the hurricane hit.
Technically, active duty troops cannot handle "law enforcement" duties. It is against the law. Posse Comitatus trumps the ability for active duty soldiers to participate int his respect. Now, if the active duty troops were assigned to relief efforts alone, that would be one thing. But the military was desperately needed to help bring and end to the lawlessness rampant in the streets. The Guard can do this. They are trained for this sort of thing. They can handle law enforcement duties and relief efforts, which is why Guard units were arriving in Louisiana from around the country most of last week. The active duty troops sent by the president did undertake only relief and recovery efforts while the Guard units in Louisiana and from around the country quelled the animals prowling the streets.
Louisiana officials were furious that there was not more of a show of force, in terms of relief supplies and troops, from the federal government in the middle of last week. As the water was rising in New Orleans, the governor repeatedly questioned whether Washington had started its promised surge of federal resources.
"We needed equipment," Ms. Blanco said in an interview. "Helicopters. We got isolated."
Aides to Ms. Blanco said she was prepared to accept the deployment of active-duty military officials in her state. But she and other state officials balked at giving up control of the Guard as Justice Department officials said would have been required by the Insurrection Act if those combat troops were to be sent in before order was restored.
She and other officials balked at a lot of things. She needs helicopters? Guess what, Madam Governor, your citizens needed the buses that are under water. Your citizens needed to be evacuated in a timely, prompt manner. Pointing fingers, and caterwauling about this or that doesnot help when you did not do your job when you were supposed to. The disaster plan they should have followed was not implemented. Had they followed the plan, and begun evacuations, the problems that followed Katrina would have been greatly reduced. The strain on relief efforts would have been alleviated to a point, and 60,000 people would not have been waiting for evacuation from the Superdome, which was NEVER designated as an evacuation site under the disaster plan.
On the issue of whether the military could be deployed without the invitation of state officials, the Office of Legal Counsel, the unit within the Justice Department that provides legal advice to federal agencies, concluded that the federal government had authority to move in even over the objection of local officials.
This act was last invoked in 1992 for the Los Angeles riots, but at the request of Gov. Pete Wilson of California, and has not been invoked over a governor's objections since the civil rights era - and before that, to the time of the Civil War, administration officials said. Bush administration, Pentagon and senior military officials warned that such an extreme measure would have serious legal and political implications.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has said deployment of National Guard soldiers to Iraq, including a brigade from Louisiana, did not affect the relief mission, but Ms. Blanco disagreed.
"Over the last year, we have had about 5,000 out, at one time," she said. "They are on active duty, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. That certainly is a factor."
I would like to point out that when those troops were sent to California for the aftermath of the riots that Gov. Wilson still had to ask for it. That is the law. The president cannot act on his own. He must sit and wait for the call. He was in touch with Gov. Blanco in the hours leading up to the hurricane, and at any time, she could have requested the extra troops.
And I love how she is grabbing onto the Left’s talking point about the Guard troops in the Middle East. The Louisiana Guard has a little over 11,000 in their ranks. The most deployed, to date, for service in Iraq and Afghanistan numbers around 4000. Right now, approximately 3200 Louisiana Guard troops are there. That leaves just under 8000 available for relief efforts. Those troops were supplemented by other Guard units.
The simple fact of the matter is that the governor and other state officials dropped the ball. They have been noticeably incompetent since the beginning, and it just continues to show. When this is all said and done, and the investigations commence, I do hope both sides of the aisle locate their spines so they may assign the blame where it belongs. And, in doing so, they can also alleviate any problems that might occur at a future date from a natural disaster. Both the federal government and the state government had problems in this disaster, but none were more prevalent that the response by Gov. Blanco and her team of idiots working ‘round the clock to fester the matters that were going from bad to worse.
The Bunny ;)
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 1:30 PM
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