Looting hindered NG response
- From: D. Wells <dwells38@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 05 Sep 2005 22:20:42 GMT
Because of reports of machine gun armed criminal gangs the National
Guard wouldn't go in until they had an appropriate level of force to
oppose resistance.
Otherwise, more innocent people might've been killed in firefights.
Guard Chief Describes Katrina Response Operations
By Rudi Williams
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2005 – The chief of the National Guard Bureau
declared the National Guard's role in Hurricane Katrina response
operations "a great success story," Sept. 3, after returning from the
Gulf Coast to see citizen-soldiers and -airmen at work, providing
almost three-quartered of the military's uniformed response.
Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, joined
President George Bush and Michael Chertoff, secretary of the
Department of Homeland Security, during a Sept. 2 tour of the recovery
mission in the New Orleans region ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
National Guard forces from across the country were pouring in to
support the mission. Photo by U.S. Army Master Sgt. Bob Haskell,
National Guard Bureau (Click photo for screen-resolution
image);high-resolution image available.
Blum said he witnessed "dramatic changes in the last 36 hours" and
said he was amazed to watch the wide range of National Guard support
taking place simultaneously - from Texas National Guard UH-60
helicopters dropping 7,500-pound sand bags to plug a
football-field-sized gap in the flood wall in New Orleans, to
Guardsmen rescuing hundreds of people from attics and roof tops and
taking them to safety.
"Saving lives," Blum said of their efforts.
The general made his assessment during what National Guard Bureau
officials are calling the largest and most comprehensive National
Guard response to a natural disaster in recent history. Previously,
the largest had been for 1989 California Lomo Prieta earthquake,
during which 32,000 California Guardsmen were mobilized, officials
said today.
Almost 27,000 National Guard members are providing security, assisting
with food and water distribution, and conducting search-and-rescue
missions in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, National
Guard officials said.
That number is expected to rise to nearly 40,000 over the coming days,
representing the Guard forces of 40 U.S. states. The Air National
Guard flew 721 sorties in the past few days, evacuating over 11,000
people to safety and delivering 3,600 tons of life-saving supplies and
equipment into the devastated area, National Guard Bureau officials
reported.
In addition, National Guard helicopters have evacuated more than 2,000
sick and injured people out of the New Orleans area as of today and
are flying 300 missions a day along the Mississippi coast delivering
critical supplies.
Guard troops also have delivered almost 1,600 truckloads of water and
more than 1,000 truckloads of ice and distributed it to citizens
throughout the afflicted four-state region, and Guard helped put in
place massive sand bags to secure a levee breech in Louisiana,
officials said.
Specialized engineering personnel were determining large generator
requirements and assessments for fuel pumping lines and New Orleans
dewatering pump system.
In New Orleans, National Guardsmen moved 20,000 people out Superdome
in a safe and orderly fashion and secured the convention center,
providing sufficient food and water for all individuals.
Speaking to Pentagon reporters Sept. 3, Blum graphically described the
operation in which more than 1,000 National Guard military police
"stormed" the convention center Sept. 2 to thwart a looming
potentially dangerous situation. Tourists and local residents as well
as street thugs and gang members were shared limited space in the
center.
Blum said the Guardsmen encountered "absolutely no opposition," and
"complete cooperation" as they executed their plan "with great
military precision." Not a shot was fired during the effort, and no
Guard soldiers were injured, he reported.
Had the Guardsmen gone in with less force, they may have been
challenged and innocent people may have been caught in a fight between
the Guard military police and those who didn't want to be processed or
apprehended, the general said.
"As soon as we could mass the appropriate force, which we flew in from
all over the states at the rate of 1,400 a day, they were immediately
moved off the tail gates of C-130 aircraft flown by the Air National
Guard, moved right to the scene, briefed, rehearsed and then they went
in and took this convention center down," he said. Blum said
"undesirables" were segregated from the people the Guard wanted to
provide water, shelter and food. "Those people were processed to make
sure they had no weapons, no illicit dugs, no alcohol, no contraband,
and then they were escorted back into the building," he said. "Now
there's a controlled safe and secure environment and a shelter and a
haven as they await movement out of that center for onward integration
to their normal lives."
While commending progress so far, Blum acknowledged that "a great task
lies ahead of us."
Army and Air National Guardsmen are conducting security work,
supporting civilian law enforcement, and providing food, water,
medicine, shelter, transportation, vital communications and other
emergency support functions in support of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, he said.
Biography:
Army Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Sep2005/20050904_2613.html
.
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