Finding the Phantom Ship

Was a relief ship fully equipped with life-saving supplies delayed from assisting hurricane victims because orders from President Bush were slow in coming? Several blogs are saying just that after a BBC World News interview with NorthCom Lt. Commander Sean Kelly that aired Sunday.

NorthCom started planning before the storm even hit. We were ready for the storm when it hit Florida because, as you remember, it crossed the bottom part of Florida, and then we were planning, you know, once it was pointed towards the Gulf Coast. So what we did was we activated what we call defense coordinating officers to work with the state to say okay, what do you think you'll need, and we set up staging bases that could be started.

We had the USS Bataan sailing almost behind the hurricane so that after the hurricane made landfall its search and rescue helicopters would 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.

The various blogs have taken that last part as yet another criticism of the federal response to the disaster, implying or stating outright that the necessary permission got tangled up in the president's vacation. The military had announced its multi-pronged Joint Task Force Katrina, but the confusion, rumors and frequent obfuscation of what's actually happening have not reinforced anyone's belief in "official" press releases.

But while the blogosphere has done a good job in discovering and exposing official excuses and dodges -- this isn't one of them. The Times-Picayune noted the presence of the USS Bataan on Aug. 31 and on Sept. 1 reports that the naval effort was not MIA.

The Navy’s USS Bataan based at Ingleside, Texas, is
already in the region, supporting medical evacuations
and search and rescue missions with helicopters, an
official said.