Judgment
Another pathetic piece of spin.
Announcer: The relief operation is the largest ever conducted in
America. It's being coordinated by the US Northern Command in
Colorado. Leftenant Commander Sean Kelly explains how the relief
effort is being organized.
Kelly: US Northern Command is the command that coordinates the
military support for our federal and state agencies. They call up and
request a capability and we try and provide that capability, whether
it's medical resources, search and rescue helicopters, food, water,
transportation, communications; that's what we provide.
A: So it sounds like you're providing a bit of everything. I mean, do
you know how much you're actually providing?
K: Right now we've got 4,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marine and
coast guardsmen supporting this. They've delivered more than 9 million
meals, I can't remember how many millions of liters of water.
A: 9 million meals? Do you actually have 9 million meals?
K: It's those "meals ready to eat". The packaged meals that the Army
takes out with them out in the field. We have 9 million of 'em ready.
I know at least 100,000 went to the Superdome the other night to help
the people out there in New Orleans. So they're staged at various
places throughout Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.
A: Now I'm sure you're aware of the criticism that the authorities
have been slow to respond to this. When did you get the order to start
relief work?
K: NorthCom started planning before the storm even hit. We were ready
for the storm when it hit Florida because, as you remember, it crossed
the bottom part of Florida, and then we were plaining, you know, once
it was pointed towards the Gulf Coast. So what we did was we activated
what we call defense coordinating officers to work with the state to
say okay, what do you think you'll need, and we set up staging bases
that could be started. We had the USS Baton sailing almost behind the
hurricane so that after the hurricane made landfall it's search and
rescue helicopters would be available almost immediately. So we had
things ready. The only caveat is, we have to wait until the President
authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the
military can't just act in this fashion, we have to wait for the
President to give us permission.
A: Now I gather that your engineers are also involved in pumping some
of that flood water out of the areas.
K: Yes, our military personnel are helping to reconstruct the levees
which frees up the engineers to start pumping out the waters so that
hopefully New Orleans can be high and dry soon enough.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bernard-horn/judgment_b_6893.html
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