Update: The Coalition of the Swilling is on fire today. I have linked to several THS posts and now Mr. Bingley scores a direct hit! Go see his post here.

Update: Gee, I wonder what CNN means by this headline?

Look people, the levees broke late Monday. By Tuesday morning State and Local officials figured out they were screwed. By the end of the day Tuesday, it was apparent how much of a FUBAR New Orleans had turned into. It is now Friday afternoon. It has been ONLY 72 hours since everyone knew things had gotten out of hand. 72 hours. Do you realize that even in a time of outright war the entire mobilized army, air force and navy require at least that much time to deploy. They also usually have the luxury of deploying to intact bases. What do you think New Orleans is? It is a swamp full of water from 5 to 20 feet deep! Where exactly are you going to put the troops.

Also, I read on CNN that there were over 10,000 evacuated Thursday. I am not a rocket scientist or logistics guru, but that sounds pretty damn impressive given the condition of the people being evacuated, the condition of the roads and the shear number of helicopters involved. So, do you want to evacuate or rescue? In a situation as large and as dire as this, you can not do both. Anyone who says otherwise is an idiot. Like I said, to move a 6,000 man army division, it requires at least 72 hours, lots of planes and a good airbase. Does New Orleans have anything like that going for it right now? I did not think so.

Now that the local and state people are overwhelmed and that they made the call sometime on Tuesday, for the Federal government to have troops and supplies not only on the way but already in place in 72 hours is about as good as it gets.

I am tired of self righteous cable news talking heads shaking their fingers at the people who are trying to get things done. After a disaster as big as this, there will be many, many deaths that under normal conditions could have been avoided. I can only imagine the hell that these people are going through, but on such a large scale, it is unavoidable. It sounds callus and harsh, but that is how it is. No matter how hard you thump your chest, it is going to take time to get to a city that is surrounded by water and is itself underwater. During that time, people will die. People will suffer. People will beg and plead for their lives.

And.There.Is.Nothing.More.Anyone.Can.Do.

So to you talking head ass-hats our there:

Update: This guy gets it and gets it good! Via The Coalition of the Swilling.

Original Post Begins Here:

The Federal Government can only intervene in a state when that state asks for assistance. There were only a few days notice that Katrina was A) going to be up to a Cat. 4 storm and B) that is was going to hit New Orleans.

There was not much time to prepare more than they did. That being said, it is the job of the states to prepare for such emergencies. Not the Federal government.

I have heard commentators complain that it is Friday already. A full 4 days after the disaster! OMG! What are we to do?

Look, a city with 500,000 permanent residents has been inundated with 5 to 20 feet of flood waters. Granted a large chunk of the people left, but still, there have to be at least 100,000 people left to get out of a flooded city. The entire Gulf coast surrounding New Orleans has been wiped out as well. Also, most of the roads and bridges leading into and out of the area have been damaged or destroyed. The fact that it has taken only 4 days for the Federal government to muster support is an amazing feat. There will be billions and billions of aid pouring in from the Feds as well as search and rescue teams from across the U.S. The Army and Navy will be in full force within a few days. What more do people want?

Another gripe I have heard is about law and order. Some are saying that more National Guard troops should have been deployed immediately. Remember that after the rain stopped Monday morning, it looked like the city was going to be largely ok. But then late that day the levees started to break. By Tuesday the magnitude of the flooding was finally known. Now it is only Friday, the 3rd day after the extent of the flooding was known and we are getting National Guard troops into the city. How could we have done better? You are trying to evacuate up to 100,000 people from the city. Those people need food, water and shelter. But so do the troops. There is very little dry land. So where do you house the troops? The people still stuck in the city do not even have a dry patch of land, where would the troops stay? You have to remember the logistics of the thing. You can not just plop down 10,000 troops into the middle of a flooded city and tell them to keep law and order. You have to supply those troops or they will be in the same boat as the residents trying to flee. If you are having a hard time providing for the 100,000 people fleeing, how will you provide for the troops keeping law and order? It is not as easy and airlifting and trucking in the troops.

You ass-hats in the media need to pull your head out of your ass and think through what you are saying. Doesn’t anyone know and understand the relationship between the Federal and State government?

If I read one more report faulting the Feds……..grrrrrrr!

And one more little civics lesson for those who checked their brains at the coat check. The National Guard is a STATE militia. Unless it is tapped by the Federal government for work with Federal troops, it is a STATE militia. That being said, the governor of Louisiana and Mississippi could have activated their respective guard units in advance of the storm. They even could have prepositioned them along with their equipment 20 miles from the coast. But they did not do that. Explain how the Federal government is responsible for piss poor planning on the part of Louisiana and Mississippi?