Message to the President: You need to do something.

The President needs to do something in Lousiana.

Anything.

There’s no reason not to.

And there’s plenty of things he can do. We have the power, the resources, and the ability to help our fellow citizens out, and we should do so. After all, if we can put 100,000 boots on the ground in Iraq, there’s no reason why we can’t put at least 10,000 boots on the ground in New Orleans.

And no, I’m not suggesting we invade New Orleans. Let’s not get crazy here; I’m not advocating that we conduct a military coup in order to overthrow the Mayor’s administration and take over the city.

But we have resources available that can be used on a moment’s notice in hot spots around the world. Is there any hotter spot, from a purely American standpoint, than New Orleans and the Gulf Coast?

The Marines have always been the President’s 911 force. In case of emergency, the President calls the Marines, and they go in and put out the fires. That call should have been made no later than Monday night. The Marines have ready response units that can deploy in 12 hours or less. Had that call been made, the first Marines could have been on the ground Tuesday morning.

Imagine Marines on the ground by sunrise Tuesday. They could have been building pontoon bridges to get people in and out. They could have started bringing supplies into and out of New Orleans -- things like water, food, and even something as mundane as porta-potties.

The Marines could have landed amphibious units within hours to help maintain order. (Again, I’m not advocating usurping civilian authority in favor of military control. But this was -- and remains -- a unique situation that continues to spiral out of control.) The Marines could have been patrolling the streets -- strictly in a “support-the-police” kind of way -- helping them round up the thugs and looters who are taking pot shots at the authorities and stealing those all-important televisions and digital cameras.

I know that many of the prisons and jails in the area have been emptied due to flooding. However, I hear there’s a prison down in Guantanamo Bay that’s been receiving some use lately. The Marines could have loaded up a C-130 transport plane with some prisoners to hold them at Gitmo -- just temporarily, of course. They could have made a drop of a plane-load at Gitmo and been back for another pick-up in less time than it takes to process a prisoner in the local precinct house.

People are still without homes and without shelters in the streets and on the overpasses around New Orleans. Even now, the Marines could erect a tent city or two and use jeeps, humvees, transport trucks, and whatever other vehicles they have, to bring people to safety. Of course no one wants to live in a tent city for any length of time. But I’m thinking that would beat living on a freeway overpass, at least for the short term.

The Army could be brought it with some MASH units to administer to the folks who need aid, and the Navy, which, last I heard, still has a boat or two, could pull a couple of ships out of service -- even if they pull them out of mothballs -- just to have some more temporary lodging. New Orleans is, after all, a port. I figure there’s a place to park a ship or two.

I’m not saying it would be easy. But we managed to get to Baghdad in 72 hours, through hostile territory, 10,000 miles away. I’m thinking we could have gotten to New Orleans in less time, and would have received a far warmer response.

I can hear the naysayers now. “Once we start bringing the military in, aren’t we blurring the lines between our democratic, civilian-controlled government and a dictatorship?” “Don’t we run a risk by letting one man have too much control over too much power, letting him just send the troops in whenever he wants?” “There’s no constitutional provision for this. How can we allow it?” Please.

I’m not suggesting that we shred the constitution. But there’s no disaster handbook that anyone can go to for instructions on how to handle this kind of thing. Katrina is a once-in-a-lifetime event. It created a unique situation that required an inspired and -- most importantly -- a rapid response. September 11th was horrendous and terrifying, but the breadth and the scope of the devastation on that day did not approach what happened -- and is ongoing -- in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. These people -- these Americans -- need help, protection, and assurances from their Government.

Once order is restored, and our people at least have some sort of protection and some semblance of a return to normalcy, we can have the troops stand down. But in the meantime, we should be helping our own people at least as much as we’re out there trying to help others.