Aaach....
NYT: In an interview, [the governor of the State of Louisiana] acknowledged that she did not specify what sorts of soldiers. “Nobody told me that I had to request that,” Ms. Blanco said. “I thought that I had requested everything they had. We were living in a war zone by then.”
...the plan failed to recognize that local police, fire and medical personnel might be incapacitated.
....Aides to Ms. Blanco said she was prepared to accept the deployment of active-duty military officials in her state. But she and other state officials balked at giving up control of the Guard as Justice Department officials said would have been required by the Insurrection Act if those combat troops were to be sent in before order was restored. ...if federal troops were forced to shoot looters.
...In a separate discussion last weekend, the governor also rejected a more modest proposal for a hybrid command structure in which both the Guard and active-duty troops would be under the command of an active-duty, three-star general - but only after he had been sworn into the Louisiana National Guard
So several points have emerged which need to be outlined clearly in new emergency / disaster plans:
-- Who may step in, when, on what authority and with what authority if local first responders AND/OR local authorities are deemed to be incompetent due to the size/type/severity of the emergency or to being indecisive moe-rons or spineless looting moe-rons.
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BACKGROUND
Title 10 USC, Sections 331-335
TITLE 10--ARMED FORCES
Subtitle A--General Military Law
PART I--ORGANIZATION AND GENERAL MILITARY POWERS
CHAPTER 15--INSURRECTION
Sec. 331. Federal aid for State governmentsWhenever there is an insurrections in any State against its government, the President may, upon the request of its legislature or of its governor if the legislature cannot be convened, call into Federal service such of the militia of the other States, in the number requested by that State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to suppress the insurrection.
Section 1385. Use of Army and Air Force as posse comitatus
Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
[The Insurrection Act] was last invoked in 1992 for the Los Angeles riots, but at the request of Gov. Pete Wilson of CA and has not been invoked over a governor’s objections since the civil rights era - and before that, to the time of the Civil War, administration officials said. Bush administration, Pentagon and senior military officials warned that such an extreme measure would have serious legal and political implications.
ThanQ! TvG
So, what do you think this woman knows? Anything at all about leading a state, interacting with the federal government, wiping her ass?
Posted by on 09/09/05 at 05:27 PMObservation on the Mayor: A man. A plan. A canal. New Orleans!
Posted by on 09/11/05 at 11:13 AMTerry—*applause*
10!!
Posted by Claire on 09/12/05 at 08:22 PM
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