[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:
JustTheFacts wrote:
The only caveat is, we have to wait until the President authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the military can’t just act in this fashion, we have to wait for the President to give us permission.
This is why you can’t rely on conspiracy theorists to get you goo information:
UPDATE: Lt. Commander Sean Kelly emails with a clarification:
USNORTHCOM was prepositioned for response to the hurricane, but as per the National Response Plan, we support the lead federal agency in disaster relief ? in this case, FEMA. The simple description of the process is the state requests federal assistance from FEMA which in turn may request assistance from the military upon approval by the president or Secretary of Defense. Having worked the hurricanes from last year as well as Dennis this year, we knew that FEMA would make requests of the military ? primarily in the areas of transportation, communications, logistics, and medicine. Thus we began staging such assets and waited for the storm to hit.
The biggest hurdles to responding to the storm were the storm itself ? couldn’t begin really helping until it passed ? and damage assessment ? figuring out which roads were passable, where communications and power were out, etc. Military helos began damage assessment and SAR on Tuesday. Thus we had permission to operate as soon as it was possible. We even brought in night SAR helos to continue the mission on Tuesday night.
The President and Secretary of Defense did authorize us to act right away and are not to blame on this end. Yes, we have to wait for authorization, but it was given in a timely manner.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_09/007054.php
Your inference - that Bush never gave the authorization because (fill in the blank with ludicrous conspiracy excuse, be it PNAC, Bush hates blacks, an international Jewish banking cartel, or weather-controlling space weaponry testing) - is false.
Whether the feds got it right or wrong on the response is a different question, but let’s stay firmly rooted in reality.[/quote]
Your telling ME to stay firmly rooted in reality as you fall victim to the ‘Jedi mind trick’.
I posted an interview (let me guess, you didn’t even listen to it) where the words came right out of the Lt Cdr’s mouth – now when the heat is on Bush for his slow response, the Lt Cdr Kelly suddenly realizes, oh wait, ‘do over’ I remembered it wrong - I meant Bush DID give us orders right away.
In fact, I recall Bush’s exact orders to our crew –
“Do not dilly-dally for the local government of LA has failed and the nation needs my guiding hand and unwavering leadership in this moment of crisis. I pray for the safety of everyone, especially the blacks, in this hour of need.”
Then - and he’s probably gonna get upset that I mention this cause’ he’s a pretty modest guy - he parachuted into the eye of the hurricane and with the help of God, managed to slow it down from a ‘Cat 5’ to a ‘Cat 3’ with his BARE HANDS. The cheer of the crew was deafening.
Unfortunately his homing beacon malfunctioned and he ended up being adrift in the Gulf for a few days. At the time he was finally spotted by our search team, he was playing solitaire on a make-shift raft he had fashioned out of four tiger sharks he had killed with his lucky Tom Mix pocket knife.
Understandably he appeared a little ‘punchy’ when he finally addressed the nation just a few hours after being picked up.
I apologize Mr. President, in light of the criticism directed toward you I just felt like the nation needed to know the truth.
Signed,
Ensign Sean Kelly