NATO has just offered to come in and help

ROFL....

The only other comparable storm damage-wise in US history was Andrew. Weren't you on the ground there? Sounds like a repeat:

Washington Post article.

"Fundamentally, it's Dade County on its own," Halev said, visi-
bly upset and warning of impending deaths from dehydration. "We are
all about ready to drop, and the rein- forcements are not coming in fast enough."

Four days after Hurricane Andrew left one in eight families in
South Miami homeless and endless miles of devastated neighborhoods,
food and water has been slow in arriving. Roadblocks set up to stop looters continued to hamper delivery of emergency food supplies. Truckers
with emergency food were forced to wait for police escorts after reports
that some drivers had been shot and' beaten by thugs. State troopers
thwarted progress of some private help when they began stopping all
trucks entering the state, demanding that the drivers show that they and
their cargo had been officially requested and that they were from a
recognizable organization.

Throughout the day, the federal military, stung by criticism that its
troops were better equipped to help foreign countries than -fellow citi-
zens, said through spokesmen that it had been frustrated because troops
wanted to help but had not received for.Inal approval. .--

Pentagon spokesman Bob Hall said there was no fair comparison
between military and domestic relief operations. There are "legal restric-
tions on use of the U.S. military to perform functions within ... the
boundaries of the United States," he said.

"It's a federal disaster area, but it's not a martial-law area," Hall
said. "When the U.S. military comes in (overseas) and takes over comn-
pletely, you know, basically we take complete -take control."

Transportation Secretary Andrew H. Card Jr., designated by President Bush to coordinate relief efforts here, spoke to Bush after meeting with openly frustrated state and local officials here this morning.
After that session, Card pledged a "dramatic improvement" in federal
relief response within 24 hours. "We have a horrendous situation
here," Card said. "We're working together. The rebuilding has begun."
B'ut' many local residents demanded to know how the federal
government could act so decisively in Panama or Kuwait and yet leave
South Florida, where health officials say they fear an outbreak of salmo-
nella and hepatitis, largely on its Own.

"I don't believe this," said Anthony Gonzalez, a construction
worker from Perrine, who lost his home in the hurricane. "Does
President Bush only have a map that
has the rest of the world but not the
United States on it'?".:
Bush made a hurried visit to
Florida Monday afternoon and
toured South Miami neighborhoods
by motorcade.. . ..i
Thursday, after a campaign stop
in Findlay, Ohio, he told reporters
that the Pentagon response would be
stepped up immediately. "The mili-
tary is movintg, and there are meet-
ings right now to further enhance
this mobilization," Bush said.


President Bush responded
Thursday to criticism of sluggish
federal relief here by ordering feder-
al troops to aid the tens of thousands
left hungry and homeless by what
he said may be the "worst natural
disaster this country has ever seen."
Bush's announcement that he
was directing the Defense
Department to provide "comprehen-
sive" help - from bottled water to
mobile kitchens to evacuation heli-
copters - came toward the end of a
day of campaigning in Ohio.
Earlier, state and local officials here
denounced Washington for what
they called a life-threateningly slow
response to the devastation caused
by Hurricane Andrew, which left
250,000 homeless in South Florida.
"For God's sake, where are
they?" Kate Hale, director of emer-
gency operations in Dade Counlty,
asked about the federal relief agen-
cies at a news conference. "Get
those services down here... Sort
out your political feuds afterwards."
Gov. Lawton Chiles also pleaded
for more federal help and better
coordination of rescue efforts.
"We've got 120,000 C-ration meals
that are here somewhere, but we
don't know where the hell they are,"
he said.
Hale, who warned.that more
people may die from inept relief
efforts than from the storm, blamed
the American Reed Cross for not
establishing more shelters. She said
there had been "problems," which
she did not specify, with the
National Guard, and that there was ..

Offer him more troops for Iraq !!! He will say yes in a " jiffy " ....

Wish I could stay for the final act (I know Fletch is taking his afternoon nap). It's Labor Day weekend and need to go pick up some meat to grill. Laterz

Use "Almighty Content" live plug-ins. ;-)