Dim Bulb

Via Kool Aid Report - one of the essential area blogs - who notes this rather dim-sounding fella in today's Strib:

Imagine if the doctrine of preemption had been used for Hurricane Katrina. Imagine if all the resources of the armed forces and the government were brought to bear in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama before the disaster instead of after it. Imagine all the lives that would have been saved.

Riiiight.

Because nothing would help the 82nd Airborne more than having to ride out 145 mile per hour winds.

Nothing would be better for the National Guard's water purification gear - big, fairly delicate, and essential - than having it piled into mounds of rotting metal by the winds and the storm surge.

Nothing would help the rescue effort like putting our troops where they'd need to be rescued first.

Nothing would help the effectiveness of the relief effort like a thousand more stories like this one:

Josh E. Russell had spent a tour in Iraq, then switched to the National Guard from the Marine Corps so he could spend more time at home. The 27-year-old was killed when the Humvee he was riding in hit debris on a highway in Pearl River County, Miss.

Russell was nervous about being called into action, sent into the teeth of the hurricane, said his widow, Jamie Russell.

"He didn't want to go, because he knew it was going to be a bad storm. But he went, because that was his duty," she said.

Yes, Mike. Great idea.

Posted by Mitch at September 6, 2005 02:16 PM | TrackBack