THE TRUTH ABOUT HURRICANE RELIEF

I have listened for the last several days to the blame and criticism that the media and the left have tried to place on the President concerning Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath. Today when New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin went on television and with great vulgarity ripped the President for the, "slow" response to this terrible disaster, I felt it was time to put things in perspective and see where some of the blame falls. I can look at this situation from the voice of experience having lived through eight hurricanes and served disaster relief with The Salvation Army in more than a dozen more storms. I have seen first hand the emergency response and the route that ALL response takes according to contingency plans that are in place long before any storm is even formed. There has been much criticism for the federal response with the necessities of life, food, water and clothing. The wheels of the federal government are slow because of the many levels that any response has to travel through. That response NEVER arrives until the fourth or fifth day after the storm has passed. The amount of the response and the evaluation of the numbers of personnel take at least 48 hours then mobilization and finally travel to the stricken area. First response in emergencies such as Katrina is dependent on The Salvation Army, the Red Cross and other private relief organization who bare the responsibility throughout the recovery of feeding and housing all survivors. This includes all of the basic necessities as well as feeding relief workers. None of the private participation is allowed into the stricken area until all the disaster event is through. In New Orleans the disaster actually began AFTER Katrina had passed and continued for several days therefore first responders were not allowed into the area! For the government to take over this responsibility required a reworking of the existing plans and then getting the flow of necessities into National Guard hands for delivery. The chain of response needs to be considered also for it is not automatic. After a Presidential emergency proclamation, ( which Bush proclaimed two days before landfall ), the local community takes first responsibility then requests state assistance who then in turn requests federal. The National Guard is ordered by the Governor of the state who then has to request mobilization from neighboring states if needed. The President would have to federalize the Guard to order them in which is usually done ONLY in case of war! Why then the anarchy that took place in New Orleans. Well much of that blame rests in the Mayors hand for releasing ALL city and county inmates when the waters began to rise, who then looted weapons and then anything else they could find. More than 20% of the New Orleans police force, first line of order in a disaster, turned in their badges at that time. Imagine what your community would be like if all of the jails were emptied at once! Then the second fault lies with the Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco. She waited until Tuesday to mobilize the Louisiana National Guard. This in itself takes several days because the Guard has to arrive at the mobilization point then load up and deploy. None of this problem is caused by the President or any portion of the federal government. This is the largest and an unprecedented disaster and instead of playing the blame game it's time to unite, stop politicizing this and help those in need and begin the slow process of rebuilding lives, rebuilding New Orleans and the coastal areas of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Blame accomplishes nothing. Action accomplishes everything and action is taking place in the largest and most comprehensive response in our nations history. The survivors and all local state and federal officials undertaking this massive recovery deserve our help and support!

Ken Taylor