From "I will continue to pretend" board:
Message 21666243
To: wstera_02 who wrote (13717) 9/2/2005 3:10:36 PM
From: wstera_02 of 13803
Krugman: Taking his pot-shots early
Posted by: McQ
The QandO Blog
Friday, September 02, 2005
Let's deal with a little factual reality first. Hurricane Katrina has left us with a 90,000 square mile disaster area.
According to estimates, 50% of New Orleans is underwater. This is a unique disaster effort.
Evacuation plans and enforcement are first the responsibility of the city, then the state, then the Fed.
Local law enforcement is the key to maintaining initial order, and should be supplemented as quickly as possible with state assets, and then if necessary, federal assets.
Flooding of the magnatude of that in New Orleans presents special problems. It limits the ability of rescue and relief organizations to respond to the tragedy. Trucks and busses don't float. What that means is limited air assets have to be committed to either SAR (Search and Rescue) or moving supplies to those stranded but safe, but not both. That obviously means that the limited air assets must be prioritized according to the criticality of the mission. Those in charge chose rescue first. Heard of any more people waving signs from rooftops? Now, having done the more critical mission, their new priority is providing food and water to those not in danger of drowning or being lost in the flood. And as the flooding receeds, land based relief can begin to help the process.
First let's dispense with one pernicious rumor/claim. That being that the National Guard strength in the effected states wasn't sufficient to respond to the disaster. States are mandated to have 50% of their Guard units available at all times for homeland missions such as disaster relief:
As Hurricane Katrina surged past New Orleans, Louisiana
mobilized its soldiers to help, as did Mississippi,
Alabama and other southern states. Despite prominent
roles in the War on Terror, the states report more than
the 50 percent strength mandated for homeland missions.
Louisiana has 65 percent of its troops available for
state missions; Mississippi, 60 percent; Alabama, 77
percent; and Florida, 74 percent, Guard officials said.
That being said, let's deal with the second guessers such as Paul Krugman:
Go here for the rest:
Message 21666243 |
