The Last Blogger

Published 9/1/05

Holed up in New Orleans, a blogger is posting about what’s going on in New Orleans.

Not pleasant reading. And scary, scary stuff when you realize that this was a test of how the Department of Homeland Security should handle a major disaster.

New Orleans had days of warning, and look what happened. Now we know that if terrorists strike a major city, the government is likely to be utterly ineffective.

Makes you wonder where all that homeland security money went…

The Fray

3 responses (add yours)

Chuck Staples says:

Scary stuff indeed, but do you think terrorists are going to use hurricanes to attack us? Somehow, I don’t think a terrorist attack is going use something like torrential floods . Half of the problem is it’s darn near impossible to get troops in to restore order because of the water. That’s the big variable in this disaster.

September 1st, 2005 at 2:48 PM

james says:

I disagree Chuck,
These men are trained to carry out opperations in the most severe of condiditions. We are not talking about during the hurricane, we are talking about stagnat water, knee-deep in most cases. If restoration of order was indeed the REAL problem, I am sure the Military can swipe that out in no time, especially concidering that the “thugs” are not an organized force of any kind, dehydrated, hungry etc. That was not even the problem, they themselves are victims, just stupid enough to get into something that would put their lives in danger.
The vehicles that brought in assistance (finally) were amphibious. I think people really underestimate the capability with which the military is capable to operate in. The question is who is giving the orders, and why not sooner. Aslo why not other orders like AIR DROPS of food and water on LZs (landing zones) which clearly, even FEMA director Michael Brown said was possible, but not ordered. Why?

September 3rd, 2005 at 3:58 PM

Chuck Staples says:

Mike Brown isn’t looking too effective. But, he doesn’t run the operations without the states’ consent. It is the state and local governements who do the planning and organizing. Good questions about why not sooner. Many questions about back-up communications or lack thereof, too. Once poperly mobilized, the Feds are moving effectively. But my goodness, what national tragedy and embarassment!

September 6th, 2005 at 1:12 AM