[Vision2020] Don't Get Stuck on "Stupid"

[Tom Hansen]

When it comes to disasters such as Huricanes Katrina or Gustav, we don't 
need politicians involving themselves for the sake of a political photo-op.

We need the likes of retired Lieutenant General Russel Honore'.

Read this article and you will agree with me.

>From the January 14, 2008 edition of the Christian Science Monitor at:

http://tinyurl.com/6877mc

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General Honoré, Katrina and the Army behind him, retains civic aims
Retired Friday from the Army, he wants to help the public attain 
a 'culture of preparedness' like that of the cold-war era.

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http://tinyurl.com/6okd2t
After the storm: Honoré is known as the 'John Wayne dude' who shook New 
Orleans out of its daze after hurricane Katrina. 

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NEW ORLEANS and ATLANTA - As commander of the First Army, Lt. Gen. Russel 
Honoré spent years preparing for a worst-case disaster that could befall 
his territory east of the Mississippi. When it came ashore on Aug. 29, 
2005, hurricane Katrina exceeded his grimmest expectations. 

Known as the gruff, cigar-munching "John Wayne dude" who shook New Orleans 
out of its daze after the flood, General Honoré retired Friday from a 37-
year Army career in a ceremony at Ft. Gillem, just outside Atlanta. 

In a Monitor interview, Honoré said he doesn't want his turning-point 
performance after the storm to be his only legacy. He hopes to make a 
mark, too, with what's next: an effort to guide civilian America, 
especially young people, back to the kind of "culture of preparedness" 
that was part of his own cold-war upbringing. 

The greatest and largely unlearned lesson of Katrina, Honoré says, is that 
despite investments and improvements in federal and state disaster 
response, civic response remains weak. 

"I'm sure you and your wife have a plan to meet at Uncle Joe's house, but 
does your plan include asking Mrs. Smith next door if she needs a ride?" 
he says. "We saw a lot of Mrs. Smiths in New Orleans." 

Honoré will move to Atlanta's Emory University, where his immediate task 
will be to build a disaster-relief curriculum for use at colleges. He's 
also writing a book that he hopes to publish before next hurricane season. 
He hasn't ruled out entering politics, either, possibly in Louisiana. 

Earlier this month, Honoré met with Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) to 
discuss a gambit that would include adding lifesaving and disaster 
preparedness to Peach State school curricula. 

"To be able to save someone's life, to keep [the injured] alive until they 
can be rescued, that needs to be put back into our culture," Honoré says. 

The general is right, says Patrick Green, a French Quarter street sweeper 
who spent four days in the Super Dome before being evacuated. "No one was 
prepared," says Mr. Green. "It was shameful." 

Honoré is also urging that drugstores and grocery stores be required to 
keep generators on hand so they can keep operating after a disaster. 

Honore's plans to buck up the civilian corps are commendable, says former 
Sen. Gary Hart, author of "The Shield and the Cloak: The Security of the 
Commons." But Mr. Hart disagrees that the focus of disaster relief needs 
to shift away from the responsibility of government. 

"We still haven't done enough on ports, emergency response, and not just 
border security south, but north," says Hart. "The caliber and quality are 
still lacking." 

Meantime, Honoré's growl and visage are stamped on the consciousness of 
New Orleans. His "can-do" attitude and one-liners like "Don't get stuck on 
stupid" earned him local plaudits, says Chad Rogers, who runs The Dead 
Pelican political website in Baton Rouge. La. "He was the commanding 
presence we all needed." 

New Orleans artist Greg Giegucz and his roommates named a beagle 
puppy "Honoré." "He's a national treasure," says Mr. Giegucz of the 
retired general. "I wish he'd come back and run for mayor." 

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
“You just have to wonder how some men could be so evil that they would 
seek the destruction of thousands of lives in order to win at politics.”

- Dale Courtney (August 30, 2008)


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