http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Northe...rina_0906.html
A fracas erupted this weekend after military spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Sean Kelly of U.S. Northern Command noted that his forces were not authorized to aid Katrina survivors until given direction by the President, RAW STORY has found.
After describing in detail how the military had prepared to deal with hurricane relief, he remarked, "The only caveat is we have to wait until the President authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the military can't just act in this fashion; we have to wait for the President to give us permission."
This statement was made Saturday to the BBC. He said that NorthCom had been preparing well in advance (Video).
"Northcom started planning before the storm even hit," Kelly said. "We had the USS Bataan sailing almost behind the hurricane so once the hurricane made landfall, its search and rescue helicopters could be available almost immediately. So, we had things ready."
In the same interview, he also asserted that the ships carried nine million packaged meals that could be made available to survivors, and that at least 100,000 had been provided for those staying in the Superdome.
After progressive blogger Kevin Drum raised questions about these comments, Kelly added that the authorization had made Tuesday, just after the storm passed.
"The biggest hurdles to responding to the storm were the storm itself ? couldn't begin really helping until it passed ? and damage assessment ? figuring out which roads were passable, where communications and power were out, etc.," he added. "Military helos began damage assessment and SAR on Tuesday. Thus we had permission to operate as soon as it was possible. We even brought in night SAR helos to continue the mission on Tuesday night."
The storm had passed by Tuesday evening.
Kelly tried to defuse any sense that he had been criticizing the President.
"The President and Secretary of Defense did authorize us to act right away and are not to blame on this end," he remarked. "Yes, we have to wait for authorization, but it was given in a timely manner."
On Tuesday Aug. 30, the Pentagon also announced it would send five ships to the disaster zone, though some were several days away. This appears to be somewhat different from Kelly's initial assessment that search and rescue could begin "almost immediately."
On Wednesday, military transport planes began to carry some wounded to Houston. Full relief supplies did not arrive in New Orleans until Friday -- some three days after Kelly says they were authorized by President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld.
As many as 10,000 may be dead in the wake of the storm.
DEVELOPING...