Let's look at another big natural disaster. How about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. In those days, the airplane and automobile were in their infancy. All aid had to be shipped in by steamship or by railroad. Yet federal aid began to arrive within TWO DAYS. In 1906. And that's for a disaster that came with no warning whatsoever.
Are the apologists for the administration seriously going to sit there and tell me that there's not a contingency plan, in the anticipation of an easily foreseeable disaster like Katrina, to have things staged and ready to move WHEREVER they're needed or asked for? If there's not such a contingency plan, such a way to put needed resources on 12-hour readiness alert, with a plan ready to go into place, then shouldn't we be asking WHY NOT?
Big Easy lackadaisical lifestyle be damned. Louisiana corruption be damned. Blanco never told anyone at FEMA to stand down completely; she didn't have the authority. Even IF she didn't ask for aid until after the fact, the people responsible for providing that aid should have been already prepared in advance to be wherever they were needed, quickly, with plans on how best to distribute aid and provide for rescue and medical needs from each probable staging location, making best use of the available resources, and with a plan in place on the ground to accept all offers of aid as they arrived and direct them to where they were most needed. |
