Contributed by: filbert Wednesday, September 07 2005 @ 03:50 PM CST
WTF?
Right now, confusion reigns. Are they clearing out the city, or aren’t they? The Washington Post wasn’t sure this morning, either[*2] :
Ed Jones, chief of disaster recovery and mitigation for the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security, said the decision to use the military and state rescue personnel to forcibly evacuate citizens from New Orleans lies with the governor, not with the mayor.
National Guard and state rescue workers have not received any communication from Mayor Nagin about forcing people out of their homes and an order to take such action would need to come from the governor, said Jones at disaster headquarters in Baton Rouge.
More, from Reuters[*3] :
Art Jones, a senior official with the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said state authorities, who are in command of the Louisiana State Police and National Guard, have no plans at the moment to participate in a forced evacuation.
“We personally will not force anyone out of their homes,” he told reporters at a briefing, adding that “for their own common sense they should get out as quick as they can.”
Jones said Nagin was the ultimate authority in New Orleans at the moment.
Clarifying the state’s position later, Mark Smith, a spokesman for Louisiana Homeland Security, said Nagin would have to formally request that state authorities help him to force people out, but as yet no such request has been made.
“If it is made, it is still up to our discretion whether we would support the request,” he said. “We are not required by law to provide military troops to force people from their homes.”
U.S. active-duty troops will not take part in a forced evacuation. Under the Posse Comitatus Act, active troops are not allowed to take part in law enforcement unless ordered to do so by the president in an extreme emergency.
“If the authorities in the state of Louisiana chose to use their National Guard in a state status that would certainly be permissible and their call,” said Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Inge, deputy commander of the U.S. Northern Command, which is coordinating military relief efforts.
The question which has dogged the entire Katrina disaster in Louisiana is: who’s taking charge? Thousands of dead and evacuated victims later, we still don’t know for sure. Mayor Nagin thinks he is. Governor Blanco thinks she is. General Honore probably should be, given the relative performances of these three major actors in this real-life drama.
Update: The collective jaws of our Free Republic friends are on the floor[*4] over the Blanco-Nagin Keystone Cops act.
Napolitano on Fox News says that neither the governor nor the mayor have the authority to force people out of their homes. He’s probably right. But is there any point in staying in a city which will be essentially dead for at least three months?