The point of the article was to show what's going on in NO -- kinds of things that should not be happening in a country with the resources we have. It is inexcusable that, by Thursday, they still haven't even secured the Super Dome, which is the main refugee site. Nor have they gotten medical care there, and people are just being left to die. Bad planning.
A separate issue is the dearth of National Guards to help out. You are certainly right that a fully-staffed national guard is probably not enough (that is why I am separately saying that we should have been fastracking some help). But, regardless, the governors have been complaining about being short-staffed for a while, and the administration has done nothing to resolve the problem because it needs to run its war with its backdoor draft.
It will be interesting to see how Bush looks in the polls in a few weeks with a rising death toll in Iraq, with gas going through the roof, and with the crisis in the Gulf region probably going from bad to worse.
http://www.lovelandfyi.com/opinion-story.asp?ID=1930
Strained Guard crucial to relief
This summer, the nation’s governors expressed concerns that prolonged deployment of National Guard soldiers to Iraq has eaten away at their states’ ability to respond to emergencies.
At the National Governors Association meeting in July participants said the huge federal demand for National Guard troops puts them at a disadvantage in cases of domestic civil unrest or natural disasters, such as hurricanes, tornadoes or floods.
Some 7,500 National Guard troops are aiding in disaster relief efforts along the U.S. Gulf Coast in the wake of the devastating Hurricane Katrina.
In Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida, according to Reuters, airmen and soldiers are policing, helping out at shelters and trying to restore power to areas where electricity was knocked out by the storm.
But another 6,000 National Guardsmen from Louisiana and Mississippi who might have been part of that effort are serving in Iraq.
About 40 percent of Mississippi’s National Guard force, 35 percent of Louisiana’s and 23 percent of Alabama’s are deployed abroad.
But even with thousands of National Guard troops from the four states most affected by the hurricane stationed overseas, National Guard officials say there are adequate numbers of troops mobilized to handle the aftermath of Katrina.
Hurricane Katrina has ravaged the U.S. Gulf Coast — thousands homeless and hundreds dead, and the mayor of New Orleans has said people might not be allowed back to the city for months. Looters have taken to ransacking stores, stealing goods, clothing and guns.
National Guardsmen who are trained to help both those displaced by the devastation and provide law and order are crucial in a situation like this.
The Gulf Coast is lucky there are enough National Guard forces on hand to help.
Let’s hope that when a wildfire or tornado hits a Western state with a much smaller National Guard force that we will be as lucky.