Can anyone explain to me the 'paperwork from Washington' that they say kept 10,000 guardsmen from getting their until Thursday?
"New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state's National Guard last Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn't come from Washington until late Thursday."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050903/ap_on_re_us/katrina_national_guard
I'm trying to understand why paperwork would have to come from Washington on this. I thought that it was between the state governors and Washington had no jurisdiction over the Guard unless they were called up for foreign duty. I'm also wondering how they know when the paperwork got out of the state TO Washington in the first place. Just because he said that he would send them on Sunday and she accepted doesn't mean that both Louisiana and Arizona got the paperwork out that day and Washington knew about thier deal. Maybe Washington didn't recieve the 'paperwork' until Wednesday or Thursday from Louisiana. But, I'd still like to know what paperwork it was to begin with.
Well, I read that wrong at first. It wasn't 10,000 coming from Arizona I'm sure.