One presidential order on Saturday would have alleviated 90% of....

[Walt Starr]

the current situation in New Orleans.

One presidential order commandeering all airline equipment for the evacuation of New Orleans on Saturday would have gotten 90% of the people currently in NO out.

But NO, the airlines stopped having high enough profits because nobody was flying into NO, so they stopped all flights, stranding 15,000 people in NO and offering no way out for the very poor, who are now armed, hungry, thirsty, and very pisseed off.

[3days]

1. Amen

[ixion]

2. that order would also have allowed them to repair the levee

prior to the pump failing, which would have negated much of the impact.

[Walt Starr]

4. And Bush IGNORED Governor Blanco when she became FURIOUS

over the decision of the airlines!

[Jacobin]

3. Louis Armstrong Airport is not operational. Neither is the Lakefront

Airport.

Clearly a lot could have been done if this country had a leader at the helm, specifically bringing in water and food and requisitioning helicopter rescue teams from around the country since the air national guard is spinning its wheels in IraqNam.

[Walt Starr]

5. I'm talking about last Saturday, before Katrina hit

The airlines stopped flying in, 24 hours before they would have had no choice, due to the fact that they had nobody flying into New Orleans.

If, instead, presidential decreee had ordered the airlines to fly into and out of NO continuously to assist in the evacuation, most of the current problem would have beenm alleviated before it ever happened.

And Bush plucked a guitar, instead...

[rsmith6621]

6. The Prez Does Not Have That Authority

"One presidential order commandeering all airline equipment for the evacuation of New Orleans on Saturday would have gotten 90% of the people currently in NO out."

The only authority the prez has over a mandated use of US airliners is for military(WAR) purpose and this is limited to the transport of troops.....it is given under the Cival Air Fleet Act and is volentary for each airlines.

It would have taken days to get enough equipment in to MSY and imagine the ATC nightmare.

[damntexdem]

7. A leader would have issued the order --

and then seen whether the airlines complied. What if only airline had complied? That still could have rescued thousands.

[SmokingJacket]

8. Then how about a very politely worded request?

"Your country needs you at this time." Etc.

[DURHAM D]

9. Truman took control of the railroads. eom

[rsmith6621]

15. The railroads

operated under a simular program to the Cival Air Fleet

[mikeytherat]

10. "Remember your bailout after 9/11 -- time for you guys to pay it back."

That's all Bush had to say to the airlines. After 9/11 they came in crying, cup in hand, to get money, money, money. And they got it.

mikey_the_rat

[expatriot]

12. It would not have taken days, my idea (11) doesn't even need commercial

airlines.

[expatriot]

11. No, that wouldn't have been enough but here is what would have been.....

Freight trains. If it was important enough to Bush, he could have had at least 20,000 Marines, soldiers, airmen and sailors into that city in under 3 hours. Within 6 hours, there could have been at least over 100,000 security personnell in the area (troops, cops, park rangers, deputized civil servants, etc.)

If Bush was a leader he could have had military engineers come up with a plan to quickly designate sections of non-evac route freeway into emergency airstrips. from there they wouild designate sections of the city around these airstrips and assign each of these sections to a certain agency (a section for the Illinois Air National Gaurd, another section for one Marine Air Transport Squadron, etc. Of course air traffic control would be an issue but that could be resolved. Meanwhile, the first wave of LA national gaurd's task would be commandeering as many school buses, city buses, tour buses, moving vans, delivery trucks, semi trucks as possible. The President tells the mayor and governor to go on the air and say "Begin at x hour, all private traffic leaving the city without the vehicle filled to capacity will be stopped, the vehicle pushed off the road and the passengers will be put on a bus/truck that will be taking up the entire one side of the freeway (both lanes of course only outbound).

Meanwhile, when troops enter the city they go immediately to house to house evacuation mode. Forced evacuations. obviously choppers circling the city with huge pa system giving neighborhoods 20-30 minute warnings, of course also there would be extreme attention to tell the poorer neighborhoods that no drug-related arrests will be made and no background checks made to check their records for outstanding warrants. it may not keep a few from resisting but it would help overall. the whole thing could be done in 12 hours. i saw where there are only 250,000 or so households in New Orleans proper. that is only 25 households per team of 10 security personnell and of course MOST people would follow the orders to be at this local street corner to be picked up.

Let say 200,000 out of the 450,000 people in New Orleans need assistancew in evacuating. at 50 people per bus = 4,000 buses
to be safe and gaurd against suffocation, 50 people per freight car, 50 people per semi trailer, and then the c-130's and chinooks could take thosuands of people. It would have been doable. but Bush didn't care

And if people say hindsight is 20-20 I advocated this on Sunday afternoon.

[cthrumatrix]

13. funny Walt...maybe now you believe LIHOP ....

[Perky]

14. Walt I rarely challenge you but.....

the city closed the airport down because oftactical concerns about being able to get planes back out again.
Because airline personel being citizens of NO had to get out of twon as well..


There was no one there to manage the passengers.