from Times-Picayune breaking news blog:
"Military beefing up presence in Gulf region"
BATON ROUGE -- The Defense Department aims to build a
military force of more than 30,000 across the South
and the Gulf of Mexico to help federal emergency
officials deal with the wrath of Hurricane Katrina.
The group, known as Joint Task Force Katrina, will bring 7,000 active duty soldiers, airmen, Marines and sailors from around the United
States to the Gulf region in the next few days to
provide equipment and distribute water and food,
officials said Thursday.
Here's the link and more below.
more from the Times-Picayune:
Their mission is "basically the gamut, whatever the
guardsmen need to do to support the local authorities
and local emergency management authorities," said
Jack Harrison, a spokesman for the National Guard
Bureau in Washington D.C.
By law, the task force is barred by federal law from
providing law enforcement assistance to National Guard
troops who are aiding civilian police agencies in New
Orleans who are wrangling with rampant looting and
lawlessness.
"That is totally being done on the National Guard side
of the house," Michael Kucharek, a spokesman for the Colorado-based
U.S. Northern Command, said Thursday.
As of midday Thursday, 13,000 National Guard soldiers
and airmen, including 5,700 from Louisiana, were on
active duty, and the number was expected to increase
to 20,000 overnight, Harrison said.
"We think it will get up to somewhere around 30,000
in the next few days," he said.
Some of those National Guard troops will join fellow
soldiers who already are assisting local police and
sheriff's offices in an attempt to quell looting in
the hurricane-affected areas and to restore order.
During states of emergency, National Guard troops can
be designated as
peace officers to support and augment local law
enforcement agencies,
Harrison said.
"It's not martial law," he said.
There's more at the link.
Given rumors out of Baton Rouge, of "hundreds of thousands" of refugees and unrest -- even rumors of riots, which are being denied by authorities -- I'm glad to see this task force oriented to "Gulf region."
But I ask, along with everybody else, why didn't this happen Monday? Tuesday at the latest?
Here's a report from Baton Rouge from a New Orleans Episcopal priest:
Dear All,
The situation here is unimaginable. We are totally unprepared for what is becoming worse by the minute. Hundreds of thousands of people are showing up in Baton Rouge -- no end in sight. New Orleans has been entirely looted and the violence is moving our way. Riot at the local Walmart here in BR last night.
The courthouse here in BR was just evacuated of all personnel for fear of violence. 30,000 military are on the way. New born babies, new moms and expecting moms showing up here at St. Luke's, being life-flighted here. No room at area hospitals.
There are 500 buses gearing up to leave the Super Dome in N.O., seventy five have left thus far. Not telling the people where they are going. Last night a caravan of these buses were abandoned by their drivers on the side of the road. The people were left to sit there. We have folks showing up around the clock with no clothes, no water, nothing. Many traumatized from seeing bodies floating in the water.