30 years ago, we were flying 500+ people at a time in L-1011 freighters

[Redstone]

out of Saigon. Under mortar and rocket fire, at that. For weeks.

Can someone tell me why nobody has mobilized any CRAF airplanes to fly people out of New Orleans? The airport in functional, and the road to it from the city is open. Why isn't there a parade of 6 by 6s hauling people out of the city, and airplanes to take them...somewhere?

I'm sure each of the 50 largest cities in the country could handle a thousand people (two 747s worth) each.

While I'm at it...The news crews are getting trucks in and out of the city. Why the fuck are they not loading those trucks with water and food on the way in, and with people on the way out?

Redstone

[murray hill farm]

1. Absolutely!

This could have been done..this should be done...and this is not being done. This crisis is one that can be handled quickly and efficiently...and it is not! Why?

[Redstone]

2. I don't know either. Give me the authority, a staff of ten and ten phones,

and I'd make it happen in eighteen hours.

And I'm not joking.

There are a hundred thousand other people in the country who could do it as well as I could, too.

Redstone

[jaysunb]

3. And why aren't the airlines

volunteering to fly people out ?

[Redstone]

9. They CAN't volunteer! They don't have clearance to fly into

the airport, or anyone to bring the people out of the city to the airplanes.

They ALL have airplanes under obligation to the Government as the CRAF fleet; all the Government has to do is to tell the airlines that they want them!

Redstone

[Bouncy Ball]

4. Houston is taking in people,

Austin is taking in people, San Antonio is taking in overflow from Austin, and Dallas announced yesterday they are opening up Reunion Arena (unused sports arena) for evacuees.

But yeah, my husband was wondering the same thing you are last night. He was just shaking his head, said we have the capability, why isn't this being done??

[Redstone]

13. EVERY city would take in people, if someone would just get off their ass

and fly some of them out of New Orleans!

Redstone

[Hobarticus]

5. On 9/11, we grounded the entire commercial fleet...

in a matter of hours. Why can't we do the EXACT OPPOSITE?

[SiouxJ]

6. That's what I've been saying

instead of busing them to Houston, bus them to a base or some other airfield and fly them elsewhere using one of those big military transport planes. After what they've been through, they do not need to be crammed on busses for an 8-10 hour drive. Why are they not doing this?

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. I asked the same thing

[gauguin57]

7. Because the man who is now "leading us," 30 years ago, was hiding

behind his daddy ... drinking, coking and just being an a-hole in general. He doesn't know squat about what was possible in Vietnam, because the whole thing was just a minor inconvenience on his self-centered radar.

[MisterP]

10. because it's more fun to let people die and blame "looters"

and imaginary potshots

[TahitiNut]

11. If the media trucks were loaded up with food and water ...

... they'd run the risk of being mobbed whenever and wherever they appeared. People are desperate. They've gone days without hearing or seeing any help coming. (They don't have TV or radio or power.) The sense of abandonment must be enormous. I'm certain they've all seen bodies of the dead - just left to rot. How much breakdown does it take for the bodies of the dead to be left there? (Even the Plague Years had "bring out your dead" carts.)

[Redstone]

12. Well, that's a good point. But they could at least SNEAK a little

bit in for the kids, yes?

Redstone

[TahitiNut]

14. I'd be willing to bet they do that -- very secretly.

The crew would be more likely than the 'talent' - but the last thing they'd want to do is attract the desperate. As it is, people see them as a way of yelling "Help!" ... not as the 'help' itself. That's the way the media wants it.

[Redstone]

15. I'm sure you're right, and they're sneaking in what they can.

They're human beings, after all. A lot of them, I'll bet, a bit more human after seeing what they've seen.

Rwanda in America....

Redstone

[Javaman]

16. Because our whole admin* was AWOL in Vietnam...

And don't know how to do what you are saying. They were off with "better things to do".

The problem we have here is we have a commander in chimp* that leads by his example. His example is: Lying, cheating and stealing. We now live in a CAN'T do nation.

So here we are: We are now a nation afloat without ruddler. The stearing house is emptly, all the lifejackets have been cut and all the life boats are gone.

colossal failure*.

[DELUSIONAL]

17. Thing is back then we had a SOMEONE was in control

Apparently the bush crime family has fired anyone who has the ability to organize and COMMAND -- someone who knows how to get things done.

With all the talk of terror -- my concern was the danger from within.

The danger from within is what is happening right now -- when someone should have been put in charge -- like a General or an Admiral or someone in the private sector who knows how to organize rescue efforts.

What we are watching is no one in charge -- no one person who can see the WHOLE picture -- knows what each organization can do/deliver.

This is the biggest FUCKED up mess I have ever witnessed in my whole life.

Remember the Berlin airlift? From the stories from my father -- the whole military was involved. He has a small piece of coal from the airlift of EVERYTHING that the city and people of Berlin needed to survive. I'd bet that most here at DU know someone who was involved in this.

SUDDENLY the US has lost the ability to rescue her own people?

Randi Rhodes just told us that a hospital has given up on getting help from anyone in New Orleans and has put out an SOS to the world via the UP -- the MEDIA.

It almost seems like they are just waiting for the people to die so that they can pile bodies up and burn them -- so that we won't know how many people died due to complete incompetence of the bushie idiots.

Leadership comes from the top -- and BUSH IS NOT A LEADER. Bush has never been a leader and he never will be -- this is not something that can be learned.