Pentagon: USS Bataan Waited Days For Orders to Help Out(BBC)

[CHIMO]

Criticism of the federal government's response is also coming from some unlikely sources including the Pentagon. Lt. Commander Sean Kelly, a Pentagon spokesman for Northern Command, revealed on the BBC that NorthCom was prepared to send in search and rescue helicopters from the USS Bataan almost immediately after the hurricane hit. He said, "We had things ready. The only caveat is: we have to wait until the president authorizes us to do so." That authorization didn't happen for days even though the ship was docked just outside New Orleans. On board the ship had doctors, hospital beds, food and the ability to make up to 100,000 gallons of water a day.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/06/149235

[skooooo]

1. doh! Homer Simpson is in charge!

[UpInArms]

2. so many have died because of the stupidity and meanness of these

heartless, incompetent and corrupt bastards.

:cry:

:argh:

[Gingersnap]

3. Oh. My. God.

This is one of the most damning things I've heard yet...

Nominated

[Trillo]

4. Makes sense.

The President of the U.S. is the Commander in Chief of the military.

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. I really hope someone is keeping a master list of all these

grievous errors at the expense of human life.

[DBoon]

8. and archiving the source documents

in case they vanish

[spinbaby]

6. Why are we hearing this from the BBC?

What's wrong with our home-grown media that they're not reporting this?

[kster]

7. Still trying to cover up

for * and their own asses.

[Tigress DEM]

12. Wait. OUR Media IS getting better - Keith Olberman was a pitt bull...

the other night. OUR media was down on the ground when the hurricane hit and was pitching in when B*** didn't send in the troops.

The thing is, this guy went to the BBC and reported it to make sure it didn't get buriedd. We still have work to do here with the media, but there are members that are waking up and showing their outrage too.

Better even than that is they are letting people like Celine Dione criticize the administration and the lack of response.

[CantGetFooledAgain]

9. Holy shit

Talk about a smoking gun! Military search and rescue delayed for days waiting for Presidential authorization???

If true, we're going to be hearing a lot more about this.

[CHIMO]

11. Well

Appears that there is a good basis.

HOMELAND SECURITY
Military's Northern Command steps up response efforts

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- The Joint Operations Center at U.S. Northern Command is an electronic window into America. And as Hurricane Katrina churned its way across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, gathering energy and pushing a storm surge before it, the view from that window darkened ominously.

Most of the eight large video screens that make up the operation center's "wall of knowledge" were tracking the approaching storm and the U.S. government's preparation for what would become one of the worst natural disasters to strike America in modern times.


Northern Command, the Pentagon's designated force for protecting the homeland and responding to "incidents of national consequence," began deploying forces well before Katrina made landfall. It dispatched military liaison and medical planning teams to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, where they were to coordinate with Federal Emergency Management Agency field offices. As part of the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA is responsible for coordinating the federal response to hurricanes.

"Because we have exercised our response to hurricanes, and actually assisted with several smaller hurricanes last year, we had a pretty good sense of the kinds of help that would be needed, and we essentially pre-positioned it in the region in advance so that we could react quicker when FEMA called," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Sean Kelly, a Northern Command spokesman. "So while the military has always brought a lot of capabilities to the table in terms of disaster relief, NorthCom acts as a single stop for those seeking help in a crisis."

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=32146&sid=28

[ecoflame]

10. THIS is delirection of duty

As president of the United States it's HIS job.

[yorkiemommie1]

13. kick

i'm speechless

[Shallah Kali]

14. Chicago Trib Sept 4 | Navy ship nearby underused

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509040369sep04,1,4144825.story

While federal and state emergency planners scramble to get more military relief to Gulf Coast communities stricken by Hurricane Katrina, a massive naval goodwill station has been cruising offshore, underused and waiting for a larger role in the effort.

The USS Bataan, a 844-foot ship designed to dispatch Marines in amphibious assaults, has helicopters, doctors, hospital beds, food and water. It also can make its own water, up to 100,000 gallons a day. And it just happened to be in the Gulf of Mexico when Katrina came roaring ashore.

The Bataan rode out the storm and then followed it toward shore, awaiting relief orders. Helicopter pilots flying from its deck were some of the first to begin plucking stranded New Orleans residents.

But now the Bataan's hospital facilities, including six operating rooms and beds for 600 patients, are empty. A good share of its 1,200 sailors could also go ashore to help with the relief effort, but they haven't been asked. The Bataan has been in the stricken region the longest of any military unit, but federal authorities have yet to fully utilize the ship.

[daleo]

15. The Bataan Death March

That was when the Japanese sent U.S. POW soldiers on a forced march that killed thousands. It's interesting that this ship would be called the Bataan too.