Please recommend. This is a serious question, one that isn't being asked enough.
Hurricane Katrina struck land early on the morning of Monday, August
9th.
Multiple levees failed later that morning, and the bulk of New Orleans began to
flood.
Unevacuated residents sought shelter in the
Superdome
and the
Convention Center.
Throughout Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the chain of command remained
unclear.
A recurring theme is emerging:
"posse comitatus"
stories of troops, supplies and transportation
available and standing by, but unable to be deployed without orders.
[Continued in extended...]
The National Guard was never
federalized.
The
USS Bataan
sailed into the Gulf immediately behind the hurricane, but was unable to proceed with rescue efforts
without orders.
Idle Air Force troops in Biloxi played
basketball
while awaiting orders. While the starving and dying thousands at the Superdome and Convention Center were growing increasingly
desperate,
FEMA repeatedly refused offers of help coming in from every direction while
awaiting clear orders.
Incoming firefighters were redirected to give out
pamphlets
and rescue troops were kept grounded to act as backdrops for presidential
photo-ops.
New Orleans Mayor Nagin repeatedly
pleaded
for supplies and rescue vehicles, to no avail.
But emerging eyewitness accounts indicate that at least some of the troops
present seemed to be operating under orders. Orders to shoot suspected
looters.
Orders to prevent photography of the growing
morgue
inside the Superdome. Orders to
blockade
the one working highway into and out of the city. Orders for armed soldiers to patroll roadblocks and
prevent
survivors from walking to the next town for help. Orders to redirect incoming supplies and buses
away
from the Superdome and Convention Center.
Who was giving these orders?