Lt. Commander Sean Kelly Responds to the BBC interview flap.

[drm604]

I want to be fair so I'm posting this response from Lt. Commander Kelly. I'm not sure what to believe at this point. The "caveat" he added near the end of the interview certainly could be interpreted as implying that they were waiting overly long for authorization. In fact , to me it seems like an odd thing to say if that wasn't the case. However, it is entirely possible that myself and others misinterpreted his statements. He was obviously overworked and under stress, you can hear it in his voice, so it is entirely possible that he said something that seemed to imply something that he didn't intend. I'm sure that there is other evidence out there as to when orders were or weren't given. Hopefully some of that evidence will come to light and clarify what exactly happened. All I'm interested in is the truth.

From here: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_09/007054.php

USNORTHCOM was prepositioned for response to the hurricane, but as per the National Response Plan, we support the lead federal agency in disaster relief — in this case, FEMA. The simple description of the process is the state requests federal assistance from FEMA which in turn may request assistance from the military upon approval by the president or Secretary of Defense. Having worked the hurricanes from last year as well as Dennis this year, we knew that FEMA would make requests of the military — primarily in the areas of transportation, communications, logistics, and medicine. Thus we began staging such assets and waited for the storm to hit.

The biggest hurdles to responding to the storm were the storm itself — couldn't begin really helping until it passed — and damage assessment — figuring out which roads were passable, where communications and power were out, etc. Military helos began damage assessment and SAR on Tuesday. Thus we had permission to operate as soon as it was possible. We even brought in night SAR helos to continue the mission on Tuesday night.

The President and Secretary of Defense did authorize us to act right away and are not to blame on this end. Yes, we have to wait for authorization, but it was given in a timely manner.

[MSgt213]

1. If this storm itself was one of the biggest hurdles then what would have

happen during an attack by terrorist? Would you have to wait until that is over before you could respond? If that's the case what the fuck has our government been doing for 4 years and billions of dollars later? It took you 3 fucking days to get to a city within the Continental United States!!! For god sakes stop the bull shitting of the American public.

[jmatthan]

2. Which "Colur" was this Hurricane Disaster Alert?

Red, Orange, Purple, Blue, Green, White?

The entire spin is BS!!

[shireen]

3. sigh! I'm so desperate I would not mind a military coup right now ....

ok, I don't really mean it. But damn! What has democracy given us in this country in recent history?!!!

[drm604]

4. Kick

:kick: