If Cuba had attacked Puerto Rico with 1000 soldiers

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. I've seen additional reporting and no, it isn't just ports that need reopening etc.

There are already large amounts of essential resources stacked up in containers that are not being redistributed because the national logistical infrastructure is inadequate to the task. It is not just temporarily closed ports and airports that are in the process of being restored. That is something the military can impact in a positive manner. There are also urgent calls for the need for additional security resources - a severe lack of personnel. That is something the military can impact in a positive manner. It is isolated regions away from the capital that are not even being surveyed on the ground to assess the extent of urgent needs.

I am not being critical of the military. I am highly appreciative of their expertise and the efforts those already in Puerto Rico are making. It is civilian leadership in Washington that I fault. When a U.S. hospital ship was not even being readied for deployment until over a week into this disaster - when it was apparent that a High Category 4 hurricane was about to devastate Puerto Rico before Maria even made landfall, that is a failure to respond in a manner commiserate with this crisis. A mobilization on the scale needed has not been initiated. That's not the military's failure, it is Trump's.