New Orleans Descent Into Anarchy Exposes Major Crisis Of Leadership
As I watched in stunned silence the horrific images of the collapse of a major American city, I knew that somewhere our enemies abroad were smiling. Five days after a major disaster the Federal Government couldn’t get troops into New Orleans to restore order.
I listened to the bureaucrats make excuses. I listened to the politicians make speeches. I watched the reporters on the ground shake their heads. They had finally had it with the lies, the spin doctors and the partisan apologists. Too many people were suffering.
I saw the first crack on Fox News, the bastion for conservative reporting. Three days into the rescue operation, a commentator was reading copy that said authorities were gaining control. He stopped and added in his own words, “Though the feed we’re broadcasting doesn’t seem to show that.” I wonder if they fired him?
Then last night, five days into the disaster, reporters at the New Orleans Convention Center taking matters into their own hands. Shaun Hannity was trying desperately back in the studio to put a positive spin on relief efforts. Reporter Shep Smith staring back from the darkness in disbelief, telling Shaun Hannity he was there on the ground and could smell it. Or Geraldo Gueverrra, holding up an overheated baby from the crowd to the camera and trying to shout over the banter from the studio, “Shaun, this is a baby, Shaun.”
They shamed a government into action. FEMA workers too “scared” to drive into an inner city. Did they think disasters in this country were only going to happen in nice neighborhoods? You could have lost an eye with all the finger pointing as the Mayor blamed the Feds, the Feds tried to blame the State and the State tried to blame the Mayor.
I’m not making this up. The Mayor of New Orleans was using choice expletives blaming the Federal Government for not getting in troops sooner to restore order. Federal officials intimated the Governor of Louisiana needed to ask for help sooner. Like they couldn’t see a Category 5 hurricane headed for a major U.S. city on their own! Then I seemed to hear some State officials saying the Mayor of New Orleans should have ordered the evacuation sooner. Like having an extra few hours would have helped a hundred thousand poor people secure cars, gas and a place to go on their own.
I’m not normally so negative, but the sheer volume of ignorance and incompetence displayed at all levels of government handling this disaster exceeds my recommended annual allowance. Normal levels of bureaucratic bungling I can take, but this time people died. People died from the natural disaster. There will always be natural disasters. But many people died after this natural disaster from the man made disaster of disaster relief.
There were heroes and moments to make us proud. The Coast Guard knew their job. They had helicopters pulling people from rooftops right away and kept it up for days. Doctors, nurses, EMS workers and other medical personnel were heroes and once more showed us all why those who follow the healing arts are the most saintly among us. They stayed at their posts giving what succor they could without light, without power, without food, without water, being threatened and shot at...till they had to hook themselves up to IVs to replenish body fluids.
Or the beleaguered and out manned handful of police officers who stood their ground. There was the dramatic images of one officer aiming his riot shotgun first at one, then another, and another looter to get them to drop what they had stolen in the chaos. Or the thousands of people who rushed to Mississippi, Alabama and New Orleans from all over the country with the Red Cross. For some reason I was touched by a short interviewed they did with an Asian-American from Hawaii who flew in on the second day of the disaster with the Red Cross. She said she was there to repay the debt for those who had come to the aide of her State in the past. People like her, tens of thousands of people, who came to help, or opened their doors, their hearts, their wallets...these people give us hope and make us proud to be part of such a caring nation.
There were also villains in this protracted morality play. Like the two-thirds of the New Orleans Police Department that seemed to fade away. When the going got tough, the tough got going. Or how about the two uniformed officers captured on film looting a Wal-Mart along with the criminals they are sworn to protect us from.
A famous Roman author once wrote, “It is a bad plan that can’t be changed.” We have got to change how we respond to disasters like occurred in New Orleans. Otherwise, what happens when the big earthquake hits southern California? Or if our terrorist enemies ever penetrate our broken southern boarders with a dirty bomb and set it off in downtown Houston, Chicago or Miami? New Orleans was only the 35th largest city in the nation and we weren’t prepared...not like we should have been...not like the politicians had promised.
So here is my free advice for the President.
First, you spent billions of dollars on homeland security and our community never saw a dime of it. Give local communities the resources they need and consider shooting the people who stole that money for worthless programs. (Just kidding about the shooting part).
Second, what was lacking in New Orleans was leadership (command and control) on the ground. We need rapid response teams within the military and FEMA to get real leaders with authority to act on the ground. That top commander on the ground needs to report directly to the President and have the authority to determine if local and State resources are inadequate, even if those leaders are too slow to request it.
Could you imagine going to war and the troops not know who their commander is? What was painfully obvious in New Orleans is that no one was in charge or could speak with any authority.
Third, these rapid disaster response teams should include a large contingent of MPs who could be sent into any situation to restore order and set up temporary detention facilities for lawbreakers. They should arrive with the command post within twenty-four hours of being called into action.
Fourth, regrettably, we need legislation that sworn police officers can not leave their post when an emergency is declared. This should be a felony punishable with prison time. It is not that I don’t have sympathy for those officers who wanted to be with their families, but they give up that right for the greater good when they put on that badge.
Fifth, all disaster plans should include immediately securing the local hospitals and providing protection to health care workers. As centers for relief, we should spend homeland security funds on “hardening” hospitals with greater on site emergency resources.
Sixth, when orders are given to evacuate a city, lets have a specific escape plan for the most impoverished among us and not count on football stadiums to double as Noah’s Ark.
Finally, we must all resolve to be better prepared for disasters as individuals. CPR and first aid should be taught in every school and workplace. The Red Cross encourages families to have emergency supplies in a bag someplace where they can be easily gotten to. We need to remind everyone to heed their advice.
Government may not always be there to catch us when we fall. The vast majority of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the personal resolve, fortitude and spiritual strength it takes to survive in the face of terrible depravation. Hopefully we will never have to experience the days and nights of hell they went through. But if we must, I hope the better angels of our nature will see us through.
ttt
