Craig Roberts: Something is NOT right!

Infowars | September 2, 2005

From A Reader:

Having worked in Emergency Management in the military, and on the civilian
side (I'm with Mayes County Emergency Management in Oklahoma as the Dive
Team Leader), I can't help but wonder by the old REX-84 plan is not being
used. This would open up Fort Chaffee, Eglin AFB and a dozen other empty
bases to refugees immediately. Fort Chaffee alone has warehouses full of
bedding for the barracks, blankets etc. The base infrastructure is intact
and ready to be used. It can be supplemented by warehouses that have GP
Medium and GP large tents. I was there when we took the Vietnames refugees
in mass, and the Mariel boat lift bunch.

Eglin and others are the same. So why are we not moving people there now?
Why the Astrodome?

If this were a city that had been nuked by terrorists, where is the plan
FEMA allegedly had for displaced persons?

Something here just ain't right. Hmmmm.

Methinks there's something else at play. But what?

CR

---

While no doubt DoD is responding in way not yet seen or understood the
anarchy we are witnessing in New Orleans should give all local, state and
national level planners pause given that we had 48hrs warning for this
hurricane... the terrorists will not give us a 48 hr warning in a nuke
strike.

Because we have a federal political system, the President and national
agencies are going to work in support of state and local officials-not usurp
them or "take over." However certain crises are so severe that local and
state officials are overwhelmed...in the case of New Orleans and Louisiana
we are seeing that. Our federal system ordinarily requires appropriate
state authorities to request specific support...but where states are
reluctant to admit failure for reason of pride or politics, I assume the
President has his own authorities and New Orleans appears to be a collapsing
environment.

Northcom has the lead for coordinating DoD activities and military support
to civil authorities for crisis management and consequence management; the
new Joint Pub 3-26 for Homeland Security just published this month makes
that clear. Northcom has liaison staffs now in each of the affected states.

I understand there is a command post set up at Camp Shelby, the Navy is
steaming from Norwalk with disaster relief supplies, so it does look like
there was some leaning forward since the weekend-given those ships were
unlikely loaded for that last Friday....I also know that AMC is running
crisis response activities now.

But New Orleans just showed us the following [even though the FEMA director
has said that New Orleans was their number catastrophic planning scenario
over the last several years...]

1. The US is incapable of evacuating more than 50% of even a medium
size city with 48 hours notice. Evacuation plans do not take into
consideration those who cannot evacuate because of no cars, no money, etc.
Also the evacuation was voluntary-if you're not forced to leave under a
'mandatory evacuation notice'-it's voluntary. Why weren't school buses and
other public transportation assets mobilized to evacuate the city? [Note:
It appears the City and State leadership was unprepared and not ready for
this emergency].

2. The "shelters" are nothing more than disasters waiting to happen, ie
SuperDome. 12 hours after power went out at the SuperDome, the people were
on the verge of rioting. Sanitation has collapsed there. The roof has open
holes in it. No A/C. People are being allowed to go out of the Dome for
fresh air. Now - imagine a disaster where fresh air is not an option.
There is no information being given to the people. No satellite system for
Public Information. No chemical toilets/porta-potties brought in, given
anticipated electrical failures. Bottom-line the Superdome was not well
planned for as a "shelter" [The City and State leadership was unprepared,
not ready].

3. You have to have plans in place and materials ready to be pushed
forward or be pre-positioned and New Orleans shows that a lot of that
preparation was not done with 48 hrs to get ready. Compare that to the
readiness of Houston to house refugees in the Astrodome, with the same 48
hrs warning-they will have upwards of 15k cots, medical care, nurseries and
heavy security along with back-up systems [granted they have electrical
power but any facility designated for shelter should have alternate power
sources.] [The City and State leadership was unprepared, not ready] .

4. I do not understand why the Corps of Engineers is now trying to
determine how to plug a breached levy in New Orleans under duress when "New
Orleans was the number 1 catastrophe for FEMA planning"? That would have to
have been an 'exercise' scenario. I also do not understand why the levies
were not continuously improved over time. Some fingers are being pointed at
the Administration on that already and that will be a major political issue.

5. Our transportation infrastructure has serious vulnerabilities -
i.e.bridges, tunnels, etc. Major arteries in and out of New Orleans are
down and the city is largely cut off by land from the rest of the country.
New Orleans isn't the only city with those problems - imagine tunnels and
bridges around NYC. Not a pretty thought. Cities that can be cut off by
water need to IMMEDIATELY make sure that any disaster plans include use of
boats etc for transport in and out of the city after a disaster.

6. If martial law is imposed you have to be ready to use lethal force
or you don't have martial law; they are not doing it and the anarchy has now
impacted rescue and recovery.

7. I am surprised that the state did not mobilize police resources from
other locations and have them ready to go into New Orleans as soon as the
hurricane lifted and flooding was seen; local law enforcement there is not
mission capable...and should not have been expected to be. However, doing
this non-standard law enforcement mission requires extraordinary planning
which given what we are witnessing was not done, consequently, ...

8. I am more shocked that state National Guard forces were not ready to
air assault ground troops along with early entry command posts and
sustainment items...given that one could assume that ground transportation
routes would be disrupted. I understand that 60% of LA guard is in
Iraq...given that fact Guard commanders have to report their 'other
missions' readiness status across a range of assigned missions and the
impacts of deployments and current operations to respond to those other
tasks-such as supporting state emergencies...Either the LA guard is not
ready for this mission, did not fully plan contingencies or they did not
push up their shortcomings to their governor and the DoD level. They are not
on the ground there yet.

9. Likewise, the active military components have immediate response
forces in the event of national emergencies across the various FEMA
departments around the United States. The use and release authority for
military support to civil law enforcement agencies [MSCLEA] have to come
from the President and SecDef through Northcom... at this point I am
surprised that decision has not been made to deploy those assets to support
local law enforcement given what we are seeing on TV. Either the state has
not requested it, or is refusing it, or the President has elected not to use
his own national emergency authorities.

10. I have seen Hollywood movies that show more organization than this
real world crisis.

Do not doubt that the global jihadists are watching this and making their
own notes on our response capabilities and planning shortcomings... We will
need to review this calamity of planning rapidly; four years after 9-11 we
STILL have SERIOUS communications, readiness and planning deficiencies.

Also the federal government through the Homeland Security Department is
going to have to take a more active oversight, inspection, compliance and
readiness role over the states for a full range of disasters.

LTC Joseph C. Myers

Senior Army Advisor

Air Command and Staff College

Maxwell AFB Montgomery, AL