Amateur Megalomania

Jason Von Steenwyck on logistics

The focus in New Orleans seems to be on the National Guard response. The meme seems to be churning – this is all Bush’s fault, or the Guard isn’t there because they are in Iraq, or the Feds are dropping the ball.

Before everyone goes off on the Conventional Wisdom, maybe you should read the above post. Jason is a national guardsman who knows a thing or two about moving troops around during relief efforts.

The truth of the matter is that in an unprecedented disaster such as New Orleans, we have no concept of an appropriate response time. We are accustomed to seeing this kind of thing overseas, where it takes weeks or months to ever reach the stricken region. ANY response is going to seem slow or disorganized.

And we aren’t even talking about the shameful breakdown in local authority. The New Orleans government, and the government of Lousiana, has completely and utterly failed in maintaining basic order or implementing a basic plan of action.

New Orleans has been facing this reality since 1718. Where are the local disaster plans? Have there been drills for this? You can’t tell me the local government has been caught flat-footed here. And now it is the responsibility of the Federal Government to save the bacon of those that failed to plan?

Yeah, the Feds need to get in there. But later, when this is over, we need to have a serious accounting of local government. What have these people been doing for the past few hundred years?

Filed under: Katrina