Monday, September 05, 2005
Katrina, The Truth
The stories coming out of Gulf Coast region of Louisina, Mississippi and Alabama are horrible and heartbreaking. Quite a few reporters have done a great job of getting to the hardest hit and/or most dangerous areas and bringing home the scale and scope of the tragedy to the rest of the world.
That said, while the coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath have been riveting a good deal of the commentary from reports and anchors has been predictably dumb. During and immediately after the Hurricane I listened to hours of completely uninformed speculation passing as "news judgement", especially from anchors sitting in cosy studios in New York, DC and Atlanta. Since then things have become worse. It would seem some of the folks would realize that a moment of crisis is not the time for blabbering on when you don't know what the hell you are talking about.
During the Hurricane, reporter after reporter made the observation that things did not seem so bad where they were and that New Orelans had been "lucky" and "dodged a bullet". Reporters in the French Quarter, one of the higher points within the basin that makes up New Orleans, repeatedly commented that things were OK because Bourbon street was not flooded (at the time). This despite statements from public officials about the levee issues, observations by meteorologists that because the storm passed to New Orleans east and hurricane's rotate counterclockwise, that high winds would be pushing the water in Lake Ponchtrain directly at the levees. Reporters in Baton Rouge, far west of the eye wall made similar comments. Of course, as is always the case, there was no reporting from the hardest hit areas beacuse...duh....there were no reporters standing on Dauphin Island or the low-lying parishes south of New Orleans or along the coast in Biloxi.
Perhaps the best example of stupidity was the repeated observation, made by various anchors, that since 80% of New Orleans was underwater on Tuesday it must be closer to 90% underwater "now". It was up to the weather guy on CNN to explain, using satellite imagery and arial photographs, that the levy running south of Lake Ponchatrain had broken on the east side, pouring water in one direction, and that everything to the west of the levy was dry - and that the downtown area of New Orleans around the Superdome was more elevated - and so that 80% figure would remain constant unless there was a breach of the levee facing west.
It is not, however, all good news from CNN. In the past 12 hours or so a new thread has emerged on CNN - anchors and reporters prompting interview subjects to criticize the federal government. In just a few hours I have seen Sen. Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans Marc something-or-ruther, Governor Barbour of Mississippi, people on the street, FEMA officials, National Guard officials all being prompted by CNN reporters and anchors to slam the Federal response to Hurricane Katrina, especially the "failure" of the federal government (i.e., President Bush) to PRE-DEPLOY the U.S. military.
Apparently the folks at CNN are not familiar with Posse Comitatus (literally, "the power of the county") and the various restrictions on the domestic deployment of the military.
For those not familiar with Posse Comitatus, Major Craig T. Trebilcock of the U.S. Army Reserve wrote that the underlying principle of Posse Comitatus is that the military is not a domestic police force auxiliary. By way of history, the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act was passed to remove the Army from civilian law enforcement and to return it to its role of defending the borders of the United States. This law was passed in the wake of the Civil War and the Reconstruction period that followed when the U.S. military was used to enforce traditional police roles and controversial federal policies primarily related to emancipation of slaves and the aftermath.
It is important to note that Posse Comitatus does not apply to the National Guard and Coast Guard. Bush did sign orders to pre-deploy the Coast Guard to the region (as well as Homeland Security via FEMA and other agencies). The Coast Guard has been actively involved in search and rescue missions since the moment Katrina passed through the region. The state governors did deploy their National Guard units but that is not a federal issue. The National Guard is specifically charged with preserving law and order when regular law enforcement assets prove inadequate. Bush could have federalized the National Guard in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana but that would have only complicated matters initially because the National Guard becomes subject to Posse Comitatus once control of the National Guard is federalized. It allows the local officials more flexibility to respond quickly if they control the Guard directly.
Trebilock goes on to note that as Posse Comitatus is a law, not a constitutional requirement,, it can be circumvented with suppport from Congress. Over the past 25 years, Posse Comitatus has been undermined in several ways. Initially under the Reagan administration which deployed the Navy and Air Force domestically in the "War on Drugs". Congress later passed the Civil Disturbance Statutes which permits the President to use military forces to restore order but only after a "state has requested assistance or is unable to protect civil rights and property. In case of civil disturbance, the president must first give an order for the offenders to disperse. If the order is not obeyed, the president may then authorize military forces to make arrests and restore order." The Stafford Act also permits the use of the military upon the request of a state governor. "The Stafford Act permits the president to declare a major disaster and send in military forces on an emergency basis for up to ten days to preserve life and property". Posse Comitatus was further undermined by Congressional response to the terrorism threat, most especially in the wake of 9/11. Prior to 9/11, for example, the U.S. military was deployed at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. After 9/11, The Homeland Security Act gave new powers to the President to pre-designature scheduled events of "National Interest" such as the Super Bowl and to post-designate in the wake of a terrorist attack or other "National Emergency".
In other words, the President is required under various laws to work with the state governors except in the most extreme cases like a terrorist attack. Until Katrina actually made landfall there was no way to know the scope of the problem and where precisely to deploy resources and what exactly would be needed. From all I have heard reported, President Bush did everything he could do without invoking special emergency powers. Given 20/20 hindsight, it is easy to say that the U.S. military should have been deployed to here, here and here but that is nothing but a cheap shot. To say President Bush should have "known" the levee would break in New Orelans, or how few people would evacuate the coast, or how deep the storm surge would be, or the level of destruction is just plain dumb. The fact is that the people closer to the storm - the governors in the effected states did not know either.
Given this, the behavior of CNN anchors, especially Miles O'Brien's interview this morning of Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, are particulary uninformed. O'Brien kept pounding on Barbour to "admit" that the "federal government" (again, read "President Bush") had not responded appropriately to Hurricane Katrina by not deploying the U.S. military in the days BEFORE the Hurricane had hit. When Barbour noted that when Katrina went through Florida it made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane O'Brien kept interupting that it was a Category 5 storm "days" before it made landfall in the gulf. When Barbour attempted to correct O'Brien, the CNN anchor kept pounding away on the idea that the federal government had plenty of advance warning.
This is complete bull. I was in South Florida last week on vacation and was in Miami just hours before what became Hurricane Katrina arrived there. I left Miami at 1 am the day Katrina hit and headed west to Naples on the gulf coast to stay with relatives. The fact is that the Monday before Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, the local CBS weatherman remarked on some "winds" off the east coast of Cuba that meteorologists were "keeping an eye on". By Tuesday, those winds became a tropical depression and then a tropical storm. Katrina made landfall between Fort Lauderdale and Miami on Thursday. It reached Category 1 (75 mph winds) just hours before it hit and was quickly downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved across South Florida towards Key West. When I left Tampa on Saturday morning, Katrina was in the Gulf of Mexico and been upgraded back to Hurricane status, reaching Category 2 overnight. When I left Florida, two days before Katrina hit the Gulf coast, the National Weather Service was saying that Katrina would be "at least" a Category 3 storm when it made landfall. Initial predictions were that would hit near Pensacola, Florida. The first I heard that storm was heading towards New Orleans was Sunday when it had reached Category 4. The story was a Category 5 storm for a period of some hours but weakened to a Category 4 as it approached the coast.
Now, I like Miles O'Brien generally. He can be funny, he blogs and knows a heck of a lot about the NASA space programs but he either not getting enough sleep (a distinct possibility) or otherwise not thinking straight or just plain dumb. His recollection of the days leading up to Katrina hitting the coast are just plain wrong. What is worrisome is that this same thread of questioning is being used repeatedly on CNN which also ran a "package" of people complaining that the federal government was (a) responsible for what happened; (b) had not prepared adequately; (c) was not doing enough now. There will certainly be a time and a place for a "post-mortem" on what could have been done differently before, during and after Hurricane Katrina but how exactly is it helpful for CNN to actively seek to foment confrontation, name-calling and finger-pointing among government officials at a time when rescue workers, civilians, the military and National Guard are risking their lives to help others who are trapped and dying.
CNN ought to be ashamed.
Someone at CNN ought to send the word to the producers to tell Miles O'Brien, Soledad O'Brien and the rest to shut up and quit trying to "manufacture" news and keep the focus where it belongs.
The National Debate
The Myth of Posse Comitatus
That said, while the coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath have been riveting a good deal of the commentary from reports and anchors has been predictably dumb. During and immediately after the Hurricane I listened to hours of completely uninformed speculation passing as "news judgement", especially from anchors sitting in cosy studios in New York, DC and Atlanta. Since then things have become worse. It would seem some of the folks would realize that a moment of crisis is not the time for blabbering on when you don't know what the hell you are talking about.
During the Hurricane, reporter after reporter made the observation that things did not seem so bad where they were and that New Orelans had been "lucky" and "dodged a bullet". Reporters in the French Quarter, one of the higher points within the basin that makes up New Orleans, repeatedly commented that things were OK because Bourbon street was not flooded (at the time). This despite statements from public officials about the levee issues, observations by meteorologists that because the storm passed to New Orleans east and hurricane's rotate counterclockwise, that high winds would be pushing the water in Lake Ponchtrain directly at the levees. Reporters in Baton Rouge, far west of the eye wall made similar comments. Of course, as is always the case, there was no reporting from the hardest hit areas beacuse...duh....there were no reporters standing on Dauphin Island or the low-lying parishes south of New Orleans or along the coast in Biloxi.
Perhaps the best example of stupidity was the repeated observation, made by various anchors, that since 80% of New Orleans was underwater on Tuesday it must be closer to 90% underwater "now". It was up to the weather guy on CNN to explain, using satellite imagery and arial photographs, that the levy running south of Lake Ponchatrain had broken on the east side, pouring water in one direction, and that everything to the west of the levy was dry - and that the downtown area of New Orleans around the Superdome was more elevated - and so that 80% figure would remain constant unless there was a breach of the levee facing west.
It is not, however, all good news from CNN. In the past 12 hours or so a new thread has emerged on CNN - anchors and reporters prompting interview subjects to criticize the federal government. In just a few hours I have seen Sen. Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans Marc something-or-ruther, Governor Barbour of Mississippi, people on the street, FEMA officials, National Guard officials all being prompted by CNN reporters and anchors to slam the Federal response to Hurricane Katrina, especially the "failure" of the federal government (i.e., President Bush) to PRE-DEPLOY the U.S. military.
Apparently the folks at CNN are not familiar with Posse Comitatus (literally, "the power of the county") and the various restrictions on the domestic deployment of the military.
For those not familiar with Posse Comitatus, Major Craig T. Trebilcock of the U.S. Army Reserve wrote that the underlying principle of Posse Comitatus is that the military is not a domestic police force auxiliary. By way of history, the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act was passed to remove the Army from civilian law enforcement and to return it to its role of defending the borders of the United States. This law was passed in the wake of the Civil War and the Reconstruction period that followed when the U.S. military was used to enforce traditional police roles and controversial federal policies primarily related to emancipation of slaves and the aftermath.
It is important to note that Posse Comitatus does not apply to the National Guard and Coast Guard. Bush did sign orders to pre-deploy the Coast Guard to the region (as well as Homeland Security via FEMA and other agencies). The Coast Guard has been actively involved in search and rescue missions since the moment Katrina passed through the region. The state governors did deploy their National Guard units but that is not a federal issue. The National Guard is specifically charged with preserving law and order when regular law enforcement assets prove inadequate. Bush could have federalized the National Guard in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana but that would have only complicated matters initially because the National Guard becomes subject to Posse Comitatus once control of the National Guard is federalized. It allows the local officials more flexibility to respond quickly if they control the Guard directly.
Trebilock goes on to note that as Posse Comitatus is a law, not a constitutional requirement,, it can be circumvented with suppport from Congress. Over the past 25 years, Posse Comitatus has been undermined in several ways. Initially under the Reagan administration which deployed the Navy and Air Force domestically in the "War on Drugs". Congress later passed the Civil Disturbance Statutes which permits the President to use military forces to restore order but only after a "state has requested assistance or is unable to protect civil rights and property. In case of civil disturbance, the president must first give an order for the offenders to disperse. If the order is not obeyed, the president may then authorize military forces to make arrests and restore order." The Stafford Act also permits the use of the military upon the request of a state governor. "The Stafford Act permits the president to declare a major disaster and send in military forces on an emergency basis for up to ten days to preserve life and property". Posse Comitatus was further undermined by Congressional response to the terrorism threat, most especially in the wake of 9/11. Prior to 9/11, for example, the U.S. military was deployed at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. After 9/11, The Homeland Security Act gave new powers to the President to pre-designature scheduled events of "National Interest" such as the Super Bowl and to post-designate in the wake of a terrorist attack or other "National Emergency".
In other words, the President is required under various laws to work with the state governors except in the most extreme cases like a terrorist attack. Until Katrina actually made landfall there was no way to know the scope of the problem and where precisely to deploy resources and what exactly would be needed. From all I have heard reported, President Bush did everything he could do without invoking special emergency powers. Given 20/20 hindsight, it is easy to say that the U.S. military should have been deployed to here, here and here but that is nothing but a cheap shot. To say President Bush should have "known" the levee would break in New Orelans, or how few people would evacuate the coast, or how deep the storm surge would be, or the level of destruction is just plain dumb. The fact is that the people closer to the storm - the governors in the effected states did not know either.
Given this, the behavior of CNN anchors, especially Miles O'Brien's interview this morning of Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, are particulary uninformed. O'Brien kept pounding on Barbour to "admit" that the "federal government" (again, read "President Bush") had not responded appropriately to Hurricane Katrina by not deploying the U.S. military in the days BEFORE the Hurricane had hit. When Barbour noted that when Katrina went through Florida it made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane O'Brien kept interupting that it was a Category 5 storm "days" before it made landfall in the gulf. When Barbour attempted to correct O'Brien, the CNN anchor kept pounding away on the idea that the federal government had plenty of advance warning.
This is complete bull. I was in South Florida last week on vacation and was in Miami just hours before what became Hurricane Katrina arrived there. I left Miami at 1 am the day Katrina hit and headed west to Naples on the gulf coast to stay with relatives. The fact is that the Monday before Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, the local CBS weatherman remarked on some "winds" off the east coast of Cuba that meteorologists were "keeping an eye on". By Tuesday, those winds became a tropical depression and then a tropical storm. Katrina made landfall between Fort Lauderdale and Miami on Thursday. It reached Category 1 (75 mph winds) just hours before it hit and was quickly downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved across South Florida towards Key West. When I left Tampa on Saturday morning, Katrina was in the Gulf of Mexico and been upgraded back to Hurricane status, reaching Category 2 overnight. When I left Florida, two days before Katrina hit the Gulf coast, the National Weather Service was saying that Katrina would be "at least" a Category 3 storm when it made landfall. Initial predictions were that would hit near Pensacola, Florida. The first I heard that storm was heading towards New Orleans was Sunday when it had reached Category 4. The story was a Category 5 storm for a period of some hours but weakened to a Category 4 as it approached the coast.
Now, I like Miles O'Brien generally. He can be funny, he blogs and knows a heck of a lot about the NASA space programs but he either not getting enough sleep (a distinct possibility) or otherwise not thinking straight or just plain dumb. His recollection of the days leading up to Katrina hitting the coast are just plain wrong. What is worrisome is that this same thread of questioning is being used repeatedly on CNN which also ran a "package" of people complaining that the federal government was (a) responsible for what happened; (b) had not prepared adequately; (c) was not doing enough now. There will certainly be a time and a place for a "post-mortem" on what could have been done differently before, during and after Hurricane Katrina but how exactly is it helpful for CNN to actively seek to foment confrontation, name-calling and finger-pointing among government officials at a time when rescue workers, civilians, the military and National Guard are risking their lives to help others who are trapped and dying.
CNN ought to be ashamed.
Someone at CNN ought to send the word to the producers to tell Miles O'Brien, Soledad O'Brien and the rest to shut up and quit trying to "manufacture" news and keep the focus where it belongs.
The National Debate
The Myth of Posse Comitatus
