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Originally posted by BigCityStripper
C-5 Galaxies huh? That's a cute theory. Just to ask, how many of those do the Army, AF, Navy or USMC have just sitting around on runways, perfectly adapted to such needs? Oh, I'm sure there's hundreds and hundreds of these aircraft just sittin around, perfectly configured for just such an extraction and evacuation situation as this. Oh well, yes, and besides how MANY of these planes there are, I'm sure the LA Gov. and NO mayor have the authority to press these into service. The plain fact is, that if the NO mayor was serious about evac, him and the Gov. wouldn't have blown off Pres. Bush when he CALLED for evac, would have comandeered NO city buses and school buses, and rolled them through the poor neighborhoods and evacuated all they could. Instead they let their political differences blind them to the fact that, holy crap, W might actually have a clue what's good for them, and sentenced a large part of their constitunecy to death by their inaction.
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The C-5 galaxy is actually specifically designed to fulfill the usage that lifesaver outlined - transport - thats what they do
troops in, civilians out -or- suppies in, civilians out it's all part of the concept of the "strategic airlift"; actually there is a command structure dedicated solely to this purpose: AMC (Air Mobility Command). As for how many there are - well there are 109 in the inventory (Airforce, National Guard, and Reserve)... I'm assuming that anyone one of the 28 in reserve could have played a significant part in any operation in the hurricane zone - and given that many of C-5s are station in Oklahoma they aren't really that far away so fuel wouldn't have been an issue.
As for the ASSumption that golly gee if Bush called for an evacuation - wait when the hell did Bush do this? See every article/report I've come across talks about Nagin issueing the evac order, not Bush. But okay lets hypothetically stick with your ASSumption that Bush was the one that ordered/suggested and evacuation - if this was the case then Bush would be even more liable for the disaster that resulted because a) he knew it was coming; and b) he failed to preposition troops/supplies for the relief effort; and c) he failed to mobilize the military until well after the hurricane had hit. Word of advice if you were trying to defend Bush you really should think your arguements through because well...
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People can smoke screen the blame all they want. They can try to shift the blame to Bush, or Republicans, or Whitey, or white devils all they want, but the true fumble here was by the elected mayor of NO and the Gov. of LA. I would venture to say that the enviornmental movement, who places a value on saving 'endangered' plants and animals in front of flood control and development measures is also partly to blame.
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Yes damn those enviromentalists for trying to protect the outlying islands and coastal region that nominally act as a "cushion" to lessen the impact of weather systems rolling in off the coast; and damn those enviromentalists who wanted to protect the flood-lands and wet-lands around NO that would have acted as natural drainage zones in the event of flooding; and damn those enviromentalists for cutting back on the funds for the levee and its upkeep/expansion/maintainance... oh wait that'd have been Bush - my bad