Bush wants to know if the DEFENSE DEPARTMENT can take over in disasters.

[tjdee]

In that clip they showed a while ago on CNN, he was saying one of the reasons he was there was to discover if there is ever a case when the DOD becomes the primary department...and that it would be good for Congress to know that. He said that's probably the case with a terrorist attack (I'm paraphrasing, and is he right?) but he wanted to know if a natural disaster situation ever needed that.

That made me shiver.

Why the fuck would DOD be in charge of anything? Isn't the President the commander in chief first of all, and second of all, why would the governors be demoted in favor of the Pentagon for a natural disaster?

Why would he even ask a thing like that?

Things are very scary with these people in charge. I would like non-psychos running my government, thanks.

[stepnw1f]

1. I Bet That Nazi Does

PS - Bush... you are out of time and have not succeeded in transforming our Democracy into a military state. Here come the indictments.

[Spazito]

2. It is astounding! They HAVE a National Response Plan...

the problem is NOBODY seems to have read it or even knows it exists! I know bush can't read or comprehend much but, geez, I didn't realize that NONE of them have those basic abilities.

[OregonBlue]

3. Warner wants to take this question up in the coming weeks.

We need to let our Democratic leaders know that we will not sit still for DoD taking over disaster relief. If the GOP tries this, they will have to fillibuster or they are out of there!!!!

[kedrys]

4. It's so the military can enforce the theft of property from

disaster victims. Didn't * offer the mayor of New Orleans a "deal" whereby the feds would clean up the mess if the mayor signed over the property to be cleaned up?

That's past psycho into some f*cking realm of heretofore unknown parallel universe. Methinks it's straight out of H.P. Lovecraft.

[haele]

5. Historically, DOD has been there with *offers* of help -

But never in the position first responder or in "command" over local emergency management resources (city or state) in any sort of disaster. The only time the DOD is in charge is if the disaster area is on base (like the attack on Pearl Harbor), where there's security issues (or lots of munitions - like the Port Chicago explosion in the 30's)or if the disaster is actually in a war zone.

The position of first responder or command structure is always supposed to be a local state or federal entity that has expertise, experience and training to handle regional situations and probabilities that could increase danger in an emergency. It's a lot of long term, full time positions that can only be handled on a regional level. Not something that you can just plug and play at with people.

Geez, even Nazi Germany and Stalinist "Soviet Republic" knew not to put the military in charge of local disasters or disaster preparedness if the object was actually to recover from a disaster rather than to cow and restrict the local population caught up in it.
The military is too caught up in a hierarchal structure designed for training to go to war - or even "policing" - where frankly, the mindset totally different than the mindset needed for Search and Rescue. The training is totally different. The military SAR folks are few and a specialty; not the average groundpounder, who will usually just follow orders in a type of herd mentality if faced with something s/he's not trained for.
The ability to assess and switch mental and attitude gears to fit the job of rescue management is too much for most people, especially in the middle of a survival mindset.
The military will never have the structure be able to spend the time and money to also train large groups of average soldiers for rescue and recovery management during and after a devastating earthquake or tornado in the local civilian community.

Georgie - think a bit - your national Guard is primarily trained for disaster management with some conflict response training.
Your federal Military is primarily trained for conflict management - with some disaster response training. Two different things.
Just ask your average National Guardsman - this Iraq conflict is killing them on a mental level. Learning to wage war - to be able to kill without conscience if necessary for the good of the unit - was not the primary training for most of them.

What an selfish, isolated, privileged idiot. Tsar George I. Abusing his people and his military just to prop up his imperial image and the wallets of his wealthy friends - err - advisers. Like this is some sort of big, fun evening game of Risk for him.
Unfortunate for us in the military, most of our good commanders were purged - err - "retired" - early on during his reign by Rumsfeld. Most of what is left now are pretty much political hacks with no spine.

(We just watched a documentary series on WWI - it's amazing how much the Bush administration and actions resembles those of the courts of Tsar Nicholi during the War. Someone should crack open a history book now and then, shouldn't they - Condi? Ms. NSA adviser and History Major specializing in Soviet Russia Rice?)

Haele