John Hinderaker at Powerline has taken Paul Krugman to task for discussing how federal resources have been underutilized in the wake of Katrina. Unfortunately, Hinderaker's post is deceptive, misinformed, and ignores Krugman's main argument in favor of a straw man that he mercilessly attacks. This post is being praised by others, more for its anti-Krugman sentiment than any sort of insightful commentary.
In the post, Hinderaker takes Krugman to task for saying that there were federal resources that were "never mobilized", including the USS Bataan, a ship that was in the Gulf of Mexico when Katrina struck. Here is the "offending" passage:
Each day since Katrina brings more evidence of the lethal ineptitude of federal officials. I'm not letting state and local officials off the hook, but federal officials had access to resources that could have made all the difference, but were never mobilized.
Here's one of many examples: The Chicago Tribune reports that the U.S.S. Bataan, equipped with six operating rooms, hundreds of hospital beds and the ability to produce 100,000 gallons of fresh water a day, has been sitting off the Gulf Coast since last Monday - without patients.
Experts say that the first 72 hours after a natural disaster are the crucial window during which prompt action can save many lives. Yet action after Katrina was anything but prompt. Newsweek reports that a "strange paralysis" set in among Bush administration officials, who debated lines of authority while thousands died.
Hinderaker first mentions that Krugman source for this was "an urban legend that circulated on left-wing blogs: that the Bataan...was ready and able to aid the hurricane's victims, but was prevented from doing so because the Defense Department never gave the order authorizing it to act. This rumor became so persistent that one of the ship's officers, Lt. Commander Sean Kelly, wrote to one of the left-wing sites to debunk the myth:"
Wrong. The source wasn't an urban legend. It was Lt. Commander Sean Kelly, in an interview with the BBC:
"Northcom started planning before the storm even hit. We were ready when it hit Florida, because, as you remember, it hit the bottom part of Florida, and then we were planning once it was pointed towards the Gulf Coast.
"So, what we did, we activated what we call 'defense coordinating officers' to work with the states to say, 'OK, what do you think you will need?' And we set up staging bases that could be started.
"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.
"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."
Lt. Com. Kelly then e-mailed Kevin Drum to clarify his previous statement on the BBC regarding the authorization, not to "quash some rumor" as Hinderaker suggests. Hinderaker also takes Krugman to task for not reporting this, saying that Krugman, "always a day late and a dollar short, apparently didn't get the memo." True...he didn't "get the memo". Of course, this is because Kelly's clarification was sent AFTER Krugman's story was published. This timeline isn't mentioned in Hinderaker's post.
Next, Hinderaker incorrectly states that the men were in action on August 30th, the day the levees broke. Wrong, as the first reports of the levees breaking were on August 29th (link to my article). A minor error that many sources are reporting, but an error that should be pointed out.
Finally, Hinderaker uses information from the USS Bataan website to show that Krugman was wrong in saying that the boat was "never mobilized". True, the USS Bataan has been used in the support effort. And if Krugman's main point was that the Bataan was literally "never mobilized", then Hinderaker would be correct (I'd prefer if Krugman said "highly underutilized" myself). But notice the point that Krugman is actually making:
Experts say that the first 72 hours after a natural disaster are the crucial window during which prompt action can save many lives. Yet action after Katrina was anything but prompt. Newsweek reports that a "strange paralysis" set in among Bush administration officials, who debated lines of authority while thousands died.
Hinderaker went ballistic knocking down the "never mobilized" straw man. But his obvious concern is on the immediate response of the Bataan (and other federal resources) to the tragedy. So let's look at reports from the USS Bataan and see what was done in the first three days after Katrina's landfall (Tuesday August 30th to Thursday September 1st).
There's only one story on the USS Bataan website listing on or before September 1st regarding their involvement in the Katrina mission. And according to this story, dated September 1st, the Bataan was involved in survey and search and rescue. (Note that it is possible that more was done on and before September 1st....if so, it wasn't reported in this story). Now this isn't in anyway belittling the contribution of the USS Bataan to the search and rescue efforts, as they report rescuing about 170 civilians. But compare what was done on or before September 1st to reports from the weekend (1, 2) and the most recent report currently on the front page. These reports discuss a broader mission, including cargo and water delivery, medical support, and more search and rescue (with 1,613 civilians rescued to date).
This recent support is excellent, and news reports have noted major improvement in the Gulf since Friday. Neither Krugman nor nearly anyone else is questioning more recent contributions by the federal government. He and others are wondering why we didn't see this kind of response in the first 72 hours after Katrina struck.
And it's not just Krugman saying this. From the first article on the involvement of the USS Bataan in Katrina support, dated Thursday September 1st:
http://www.bataan.navy.mil/news/news25.htm
“At first it was frustrating because it took so long to get involved,” said pilot Lt. Eric Lowry of HSC-28. “Now that we have started, we don't want to stop.”
And even as recently as Sunday, the commanding officer of the USS Bataan is saying that they can contribute more to the effort.
"Could we do more?" said Capt. Nora Tyson, commanding officer of the Bataan. "Sure. I've got sailors who could be on the beach plucking through garbage or distributing water and food and stuff. But I can't force myself on people.
"We're doing everything we can to contribute right now, and we're ready. If someone says you need to take on people, we're ready. If they say hospitals on the beach can't handle it ... if they need to send the overflow out here, we're ready. We've got lots of room."
It's important to ask why the USS Bataan has been underutilized. Has it been simply a matter of logistics? Difficult weather? Or has it been due to mismanagement and/or poor planning by FEMA? These are important questions to address in the wake of one of the largest tragedies in American history. Instead of seriously writing about this, Hinderaker takes this as an opportunity to bash a columnist.
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