need to put the right commander there who 's going to be a battle captain and keep those aircraft flowing . You come in , you drop off what you have , you put the sick and wounded on and then move out . No one is standing any time on the airfield . You can be in and out in a half hour . '' Speaking at the House Democratic Caucus Retreat later Thursday , Obama acknowledged the scrutiny focused on U.S. response . `` This is a time when the world looks to us and they say -- given our capacity , given our unique capacity to project power around the world -- that we have to project that not just for our own interests but for the interests of the world as a whole , '' he said . `` And my national security team understands that I will not put up with any excuses for us not doing the very best in this time of tragedy . '' State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley defended the pace of the rescue . `` We are 40 hours into the crisis . In that time , we have reopened
Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The retired general who took charge of relief efforts in New Orleans , Louisiana , after Hurricane Katrina said Thursday that the U.S. military should have arrived in earthquake-devastated Haiti 24 hours earlier . `` The good Samaritans who moved early on the first day are to be applauded . They made a difference , '' said Lt. Gen. Russel Honore , a CNN contributor . `` What we 've got to do now is get the heavy equipment in . I thought the U.S. military could have been there a day earlier . They 're on the ground now , and they have a brigade en route , and that 's going to make a big difference , '' he said . Honore , best known for his management of the recovery efforts after the hurricane that killed about 2,000 people on the Gulf Coast , said `` time is of the essence '' in helping quake survivors . Repairing the seaport at Port-au-Prince and keeping the airport open are key to bringing in equipment , food , water and medicine , Honore said . Regarding the airport , he said , `` You