Regarding your comment: "Interview on BBC TV where head of U.S. Northern Command says they started planning before the hurricane hit and were totally ready to assist BUT COULD NOT ACT UNTIL PRESIDENTIAL APPROVAL AND HAD TO WAIT UNTIL THEY GOT IT. Why the delay from Washington ?"
State Rights in the United States are very, very strong. For as much power as what the Federal Government has, it is really quite limited in the way in which it can intervene domestically in matters of State-based relevance.
Look at how the interaction occurs - before Federal disaster relief can occur, a State of Emergency must be declared, and proclaimed at a State (not local community level), and the State (Governor) must make the request for Federal assistance.
In New Orleans' case, the State of Emergency was declared by the Mayor of New Orleans, and not by the Governor of Louisanna. That did not occur until some time later.
Irrespective of what President Bush may have wanted to do, he would have been in breach of Federal Law until such time as the right co-ordinated requests had been made. That represents requirements previously imposed by Congress (etc), and ensures that the presevation of State Rights (as enshrined in the US Constitution, and upheald repeatedly by the US Supreme Court) are not disturbed.
Once the requests for assistance were made, the Federal Government had to then declare the situation a Federal Disaster before commencing with the relief effort.
Once that occurred, the ability for the Federal Government to commit funding and resources, provide a co-ordinated approach, and to commit troops to the area, became possible.
Sure enough, the Federal Government was slow in responding to the action /events unfolding in New Orleans, but no-one has sought to question why the State Government took its time in acting. Up to 2 precious days were lost in that process.
Another way of looking at it - Canberra cannot commit troops to the streets of Melbourne or Sydney without first being requested by the States to do so. Only then does the (even remotest) prospect of Federal Laws come into play, including the ability of the Federal Government to declare the areas affected under its effective control.
The last time this occurred in Australia was with CHOGM in 1977 when the Sydney Hilton was bombed, and troops were deployed along the route to Bowral.
Prior to that, it was in 1974 when Major General Stretton flew into Darwin in the wake of Cyclone Tracey. Aat that time, the Northern Territory was still Federally administered, but even then, it took some 8+ days before properly co-ordinated relief efforts commenced in earnest. And that was for a city of <60,000, not a city of between 1.1 and 1.5M, not counting surrounding areas.
What I smell is not another neo-con conspiracy, but rather another "stuff-up" involving the rather clumsy interaction that typifies the conduct of Federal-State relations, whether in Australia or in the United States.
No wonder, in the wake of the July bombings in London, that Blair was so quickly able to take action (including troop movements, and increased State control of vital functions) - they do not have a Federal system, and the State controls the only other tier of Government that exists, namely Local Government.
