Katrina - Why Didn't Bush Do More?

This is an update to my, Why Didn't Bush Stop The Disaster, post.

In that post I tried to explain to my non-American readers why Bush did not have the authority to do some of the things some people think he should have done.

This Washington Post article illustrates exactly some of the points I made.

Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) [Democrat]. Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday.

The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals," said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.

A senior administration official said that Bush has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and the New Orleans mayor.

Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.

While it might not be the best analogy, think of the Pesident of the EU trying to take control of Britain during a national emergency. And think of Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco declaring a state emergency to Blair declaring martial law. Clearly the first one is undesirable to say the least. The second course of action is obviously a better choice but a choice to be taken with great care and forethought.

As I said, maybe not a great analogy but you get some sense of what is involved.

As time goes on, I think it will become clear that most of the problems in handling the disaster, center on the local and State officials.

For example Drudge currently has this on his front page.

Louisiana disaster plan, pg 13, para 5 , dated 01/00

'The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating'...

Above that is this photograph of school buses trapped in New Orleans:

Please help the victims of the Katrina disaster by donating to the Red Cross Katrina relief fund. Their donation page is here.

NZ Bear is keeping track of which blog people contributed through, and if you have the time please stop by there and register your donation.

Thanks.

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