"The Buck Stops Here"

[Jonathan Randall]

This is my response to an article a co-worker sent me. I thought I would post it here:

This article is incorrect; once the President declared a state of emergency, that was ALL the authorization FEMA, per its charter, needed in order to act. Secondly, the Governor of Louisiana formally requested Federal assistance on 26 August, BEFORE the hurricane hit. From Monday on, Federal Armed Forces, particularly the Navy and Coast Guard were involved in the State of New Orleans rescuing people. The problem was that compared to the armed force's capabilities, the response was minimal. This is NOT the services' fault as they needed orders - orders that could ONLY come from the President and the Federal Government. Also, 4-6 C-130's could have safely dropped sufficient supplies upon the Superdome and Convention Center to have
prevented hundreds of deaths of dehydration. The only thing needed, legally, was a PRESIDENTIAL ORDER to do so. The posse commitatus act putting restrictions upon the Armed Forces in civilian administration applies to Law Enforcement - not rescue and relief efforts.
Finally, Mississippi and Alabama likewise experienced significant delays in receiving FEMA assistance. Local and state failures are a SEPARATE issue from Federal failures. We cannot do anything about the first but we can do something about the massive Federal failure and incompetence that has characterized this tragedy.

Regarding the "Blame Game"; it is about ACCOUNTABILITY and it is no game. The outrage of the public when "playing the blame game" probably saved hundreds, if not thousands of lives, as it embarrassed the Administration into vigorous action after nearly a week of neglect and inadequate response. The very idea of FEMA is that state and local governments will be unable to respond fully to major catastrophes. This Federal responsibility is THE PRIMARY reason for the existence of a Federal Government at all.

This is gut check time. We are now going to find out who puts their party before their country. This was the greatest failure of Presidential leadership in a century. He could have gotten on the phone to NORTHCOM and ordered Air Force C-130's to drop food and water at the Superdome and Convention center - and he did not." President Harry Truman kept a plaque at his desk that said, "The Buck Stops Here". Well, the ultimate responsibility for the Federal governments response lays with President Bush. The question
now is, does "THE BUCK STOP HERE"?

 

[Tgace]

U.S. Military Response to Katrina Both Timely and Proportionate
By Commander Mark Divine
Special to DefenseWatch

With all the finger pointing going on over the "disastrous" disaster relief efforts on the part of the federal government, I thought it would be informative to share an exchange between a well-intentioned sideliner who is critical of the response time of the military to relief efforts in New Orleans, and a U.S. Naval officer,

Not noted is that the federal government can not, legally, send in combat troops unless requested by a State under Posse Comitatus law. The failure in New Orleans did not start with FEMA, but with local, then State officials who showed extremely poor leadership in this unbelievable catastrophe. FEMA, without a doubt, could have initially demonstrated greater professional experience in dealing with a disaster of this magnitude as well, but they quite honestly did not have that experience, and are burdened with the mother of all bureaucracies, the Department of Homeland Security.

I have kept names out of this to protect the identity of our Navy's finest assets – its junior officers.

 

[michaeledward]

President Harry Truman kept a plaque at his desk that said, "The Buck Stops Here". Well, the ultimate responsibility for the Federal governments response lays with President Bush. The question
now is, does "THE BUCK STOP HERE"?

I believe it was NBC News' David Gregory who posed the very same question, worded slightly differently, to Scott McClellan last week. Mr. McClellan, the Presidents official spokesperson answered with out hesitation: "the President".

The actual reporter was named Terry ... I am not sure which news service.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050906-5.html

Go ahead, Terry.

Q I just want to follow up on David's questions on accountability. First, just to get you on the record, where does the buck stop in this administration?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President.

Q All right. So he will be held accountable as the head of the government for the federal response that he's already acknowledged was inadequate and unacceptable? MR. McCLELLAN: The President's most important responsibility is the safety and security of the American people. He talks about that often. That is his most important responsibility. Again, there's going to be plenty of time to look at the facts and determine what went wrong and what went right and how the coordination was between the state and federal and local authorities. Right now we've got to continue doing everything we can in support of the ongoing operational activities on the ground in the region to help people.

 

[Jonathan Randall]

U.S. Military Response to Katrina Both Timely and Proportionate
By Commander Mark Divine
Special to DefenseWatch

As I wrote, Posse Commitatus does NOT apply to air drops of emergency supplies AND there were NAVAL assets being utilized (underutilized) from the very beginning so elements of the Armed Forces were already operating in the State of Louisiana. The problem was that the full weight and might of the U.S. government was not applied in a timely matter. I have no complaints that non-state (National Guard) COMBAT forces were not sent in to restore order immediately - my quarrel was with the slow Federal response in rescue and RELIEF efforts. The administration had sufficient assets and authority to have acted a critical 72 hours previous. Now THIS DOES NOT EXCUSE state and city officials because, as I wrote, a failure at one level does not excuse a failure at another.

BTW, this is not attack on members of our Armed Forces, who as I write this are risking life and limb to save their fellow countrymen. They needed orders that they did not get. I think that, to the contrary, they are saving the day after it was messed up by civilian authorities.

 

[michaeledward]

To demonstrate his commitment to the philosophy of the 'Buck Stopping Here' the President journeyed to New Orleans today.

While there he met with .......



New York City Firefighters .....



Three Cheers for President Scardy-Cat. What a *****!