The federal response to Katrina was NOT as portrayed

Post-Gazette ^ | September 11, 2005 | Jack Kelly

[batmast]

Jack Kelly: No shame The federal response to Katrina was not as portrayed Sunday, September 11, 2005

It is settled wisdom among journalists that the federal response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina was unconscionably slow.

Jack Kelly is national security writer for the Post-Gazette and The Blade of Toledo, Ohio (jkelly@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1476).

"Mr. Bush's performance last week will rank as one of the worst ever during a dire national emergency," wrote New York Times columnist Bob Herbert in a somewhat more strident expression of the conventional wisdom.

But the conventional wisdom is the opposite of the truth.

Jason van Steenwyk is a Florida Army National Guardsman who has been mobilized six times for hurricane relief. He notes that:

"The federal government pretty much met its standard time lines, but the volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented. The federal response here was faster than Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne."

For instance, it took five days for National Guard troops to arrive in strength on the scene in Homestead, Fla. after Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992. But after Katrina, there was a significant National Guard presence in the afflicted region in three.

Journalists who are long on opinions and short on knowledge have no idea what is involved in moving hundreds of tons of relief supplies into an area the size of England in which power lines are down, telecommunications are out, no gasoline is available, bridges are damaged, roads and airports are covered with debris, and apparently have little interest in finding out.

So they libel as a "national disgrace" the most monumental and successful disaster relief operation in world history.

[eastsider]

A former Air Force logistics officer had some words of advice for us in the Fourth Estate on his blog, Moltenthought:

"We do not yet have teleporter or replicator technology like you saw on 'Star Trek' in college between hookah hits and waiting to pick up your worthless communications degree while the grown-ups actually engaged in the recovery effort were studying engineering."

Ooo-rah!!!

[Izzy Dunne]

A Search would have revealed four of the sixty-one times this was already posted.

[concerned about politics]

Louisiana knew the storm was coming, and did nothing. After the storm had passed, Louisiana did nothing. Bush came in, got the victims out, and started rebuilding the city. That's what people saw. That's what people will remember.
The MSM and the left can try to spin this with slogans and speeches, but actions always speak louder than words.

[TheDon]

But the conventional wisdom is the opposite of the truth.

Truth often conflicts with Rat propaganda memes distributed by the MSM.