Systems are broken.
They didn’t drop the sandbags yesterday. Today, according to CNN, the military intends to attempt dropping 3,000-pound sandbags and 1,500 pound concrete road barriers from helicopters to fill the levee breeches. But as of 2:00 pm eastern it still hasn't happend
Barges, from the Army Corps of Engineers, full of gravel and other stuff to help keep the water in place, are finding it difficult to navigate the water-filled streets because of debris and other obstructions.
An amphibious Navy warship only recently left Norfolk, VA headed towrads New Orleans. Four other amphibious vehicles are expected to head that way as well.
The Navy hospital ship, USS Hope, is getting ready to leave Baltimore headed for New Orleans. According to an assistant secretary of defense, this ship will not arrive until September 8th.
It is day three of Armageddon and the government, according to HHS Secretary Leavitt, is poised to send in additional medical personnel. Leavitt also urged people to boil their drinking water, but seemed to neglect the fact that there is no power.
Notice the verb tenses. These essential events have not yet occurred.
Supplies have not yet made their way to the obliterated areas. There is no drinking water. Power isn’t expected back for at least 12 weeks.
“We really need the president of the United States to make this a priority,” pleaded Sidney Barthelemy, former mayor of New Orleans, on CNN’s morning news program. “The President can send the army to help resolve this,” he continued. “Three thousand new troops are coming in but that is not enough. We will lose New Orleans. The president is the only person who has the power and resources to do this. We need him now. Friday may be too late. The mayor and the governor want to evacuate but they don’t have the resources. We need the president to focus on what is happening in New Orleans right now.”
Today there are about 7,500 National Guard people in the affected areas – far fewer than are in Iraq.
One of our readers of yesterday’s post, Jim Hutchinson, suggested a way to start withdrawing troops from Iraq would allow those from Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi to return to their states for 90 days so they can do what they were meant to – help their states in times of disaster.
Hutchinson even wrote, "the military allows hardship discharges and I would think this would qualify under those rules. All they have to do is issue a blanket approval, make it temporary if they need to and expedite the paperwork."
While this move would not be the equivalent of an immediate troop withdrawal, it would remove some troops from harm’s way in Iraq and would give them an equally as important a job in the United States – securing the safety and democracy that all our citizens should be able to expect from their government.
---Written in collaboration with Jennifer Hicks