A few days after Katrina hit New Orleans, George Dumbya said
"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees"

According to the tapes just released, he had been briefed on that very potentiality, the day before it hit.

"A top hurricane expert voiced "grave concerns" about the levees and then-Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown told the president and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he feared there weren't enough disaster teams to help evacuees at the Superdome."

And some people still believe him over Weapons of Mass Destruction!

quote:

And some people still believe him over Weapons of Mass Destruction!

Only one actual believer I know of. Unfortunately, on AnswerPool.

Links here on AnswerPool to stories about the tapes.
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Remember, Frank, that Saddam must have gotten rid of the WMDs before we invaded, because they weren't in Iraq when we looked for them, and the only way he could have gotten rid of them is to have them in the first place. So, the proof that he had them is that he no longer has them. It's the perfect circle!

quote:

Only one actual believer I know of. Unfortunately, on AnswerPool.

That's what you want to believe Frank.

What was Bush, short of being Superman, to have done to fix the levee situation a day or two before the storm hit?

quote:

What was Bush, short of being Superman, to have done to fix the levee situation a day or two before the storm hit?

Hell Fuse! He made the hurricane,he certainly could control it.

LOL Frank. There are actually 3 believers on Answerpool.

That's the funniest thing I've heard today.

Obviously, he counldn't have fixed the levees, Fuse. The blame for that, as has been pointed out by several in AP, including me, goes to Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton more that Bush II. (Although he could have done much more in his first term.) What Bush is blamed for is putting incompetent and unqualified people in charge of various governmental agencies, placing FEMA under the Dept. of Homeland Security, thus adding to the time that decisions could be made in a very time-sensitive area, and not being "fully prepared" as he said he was. There is simply no excuse for the US not being able to respond to such an emergency as quickly as the various news teams did. There is simply no reason why a US Army unit can deploy to anywhere on the globe within 18 hours, but the US cannot get food, medicine, or water to a US city quicker than 3 or 4 days, especially since everyone except the administration seemed to realize that New Orleans and the Gulf Coast was about to be hit with quite possibly the mother of all hurricanes. What possible excuse can be offered for that failure? The administration was saying that they would get supplies to New Orleans as soon as thsy could drive there, and Nightline and the Today Show were doing interviews in New Orleans. Why did the trucks drive ice all over half the US? Does no one in the administration know how to get to New Orleans? If so, why didn't they follow the news trucks? People died because the administration failed to protect the people from the aftermath of Katrina. There is no getting around that fact. People died because Bush lied.

Fuse, I don't think anyone thought Bush could be Superman. The point was that after he was briefed, he said that "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees".

That's the real nitty gritty here.

quote:

Originally posted by Fourbrick2:

And some people still believe him over Weapons of Mass Destruction!

No, no! What's scary is that people still let him play with WMD's!

quote:

LOL Frank. There are actually 3 believers on Answerpool.

That's the funniest thing I've heard today.

You must be starving for the lack of humor.

Some of the blame for the fiasco in New Orleans must land firmly on the shoulders of our illustrous Governor Blanco. She refused to relinquish authority so that the National Guard could come in sooner. I will dig up the letter on this.

I honestly do not believe anyone felt that Katrina was going to wipe New Orleans off the face of the map as it nearly did. So many had been through hurricanes there before and had the attitude of "this is what we've been through before and we made it through." True, not all had that mindset. But, many refused to leave New Orleans and their homes when they had the chance.

A lot of mistakes were made. Here in Louisiana, we are all still feeling the ramifications of those mistakes. Just this month FEMA stopped paying for hotels and housing for evacuees. Many ended up on the streets. There just are no jobs here (in my area.) One of our largest employers just closed their doors last year leaving over 1500 without jobs and now, we have many evacuees here that cannot find jobs either. Katrina not only nearly destroyed New Orleans, it did destroy many lives and it has interrupted nearly the whole state.

I just wish the attitude everyone had during the hurricane and shortly thereafter still prevailed. Understandably, it doesn't.

"She refused to relinquish authority so that the National Guard could come in sooner."

This has been discussed on AP just after Katrina. I posted a letter from Blanco to Bush in which she requested that the area be declared a national disaster area, which would have allowed Bush, had he wanted, to use the Louisiana National Guard. The letter went out on the Saturday before Katrina hit.

"I honestly do not believe anyone felt that Katrina was going to wipe New Orleans off the face of the map as it nearly did. So many had been through hurricanes there before and had the attitude of "this is what we've been through before and we made it through." True, not all had that mindset. But, many refused to leave New Orleans and their homes when they had the chance."

Reading what hurricane experts said before Katrina hit shows that many knew of teh possibility that this would happen. Remember that Katrina was a Category 5 before she made landfall. WHat that means in this sense is that preparations and measures should have been taken for a Cat 5 hit. New Orleans ws lucky in that Katrina was a strong Cat3 when it hit. But teh expectation was for a Cat 5 and the preparation should have been for a Cat 5.

Yes, many voluntarily stayed, but more had no way to leave. This, too, has been discussed in AP.

No one has suggested that anyone could have lessened the damage that occurred whan Katrina hit, other than the failure of some levees, and that should have ben done years before. It is the preparation, or lack thereof, and the human suffering in the aftermath that was at fault. When New York-based network people are on TV live from New Orleans at the same time the federal government is saying that they can't get to New Orleans yet, something is seriously wrong. When people are screaming on live TV that they need food and water, and the federal government is saying that they are coming, and the same things happen the next day, even someone who has no knowledge of disaster preparedness knows that, if newsmen can get in, so can food and water, IF someone cares enough. The federal government didn't care enough.

There were a great many untruths spread about Katrina and its aftermath, some of it intentionally spread. Let us not minimize the truth by ignoring the realities of what happened.

Dorian,

I am not trying to minimize the truth and do apologize if that is what it sounded like. I am a person that looks more at the whole picture than I do at one particular side. I can see faults/goods on both sides of this issue and others.

I do have to agree that if the press could get there, then so could anyone else! This is something that will plague us all for a long time to come I fear. Whether the entire truth of the situation comes out or not remains to be seen.

I will find that letter about Governor Blanco not being ready to relinquish authority. It was a pretty big bone of contention here. I'm sure it cost her the office of governor.

As I said in another post, the statement by Bush that "we are fully prepared" is the most damning of all, because it shows how little he actually cares about such things. To have said it when it was so beyond untrue, to have gone ahead with frivolous plans at various silly venues during the storm and aftermath (it was, after all, the worst natural disaster ever in the US) indicates the extent to which Bush and his administration are all about posing and politics, and not about doing what's necessary. Res ipsa, as they say, loquitur.

And loquitur load and clear. If the silly, posturing idiot would restrict himself to things that concern him -- the well-being of people in his own nation -- instead of his little foreign adventures to bring death and misery to tens of thousands of people in the middle east, he might have been able to move resources in to help his citizens.

Clearly his self-image is that of a mighty general or conquering hero. Not that of a caring, responsible agent entrusted by his people with their best interests.

He didn't succeed in creating either image.

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Here's part of what DGE posted.

"The 100,000 pages of documents that Blanco sent to Congress on Friday include a series of letters starting with one Blanco sent President Bush a day before the hurricane hit.

"I have determined that this incident will be of such severity and magnitude that effective response will be beyond the capabilities of the state and the affected local governments and that supplementary federal assistance will be necessary," Blanco wrote.

Three days after the storm, Blanco wrote Bush asking that the 256th Louisiana National Guard Brigade be sent home from
Iraq to help. The governor also asked for more generators, medicine, health care workers and mortuaries.

Five days later, Bush assistant Maggie Grant e-mailed Blanco aide Paine Gowen to say that the White House did not receive the letter.


"We found it on the governor's Web site but we need 'an original,' for our staff secretary to formally process the requests she is making," Grant wrote. "We are on the job but appreciate your help with a technical request. Tnx!"

DGE's post.

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So bush is trying to hide behind Blanco's skirts. But the above excuse for not taking action is beaurocratese at its very finest.

I found one of my (many) posts covering this subject.
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Posted 09-05-05 05:20 PM
Below from BayouBuzz.com (Bold mine- DG)

The Governor of Louisiana Kathleen Blanco has requested that President Bush declare a state of emergency due to Hurricane Katrina. Here is the letter sent by the governor to the president.

Governor Blanco asks President to Declare an Emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina


BATON ROUGE-Today Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco forwarded a letter to President Bush requesting that he declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina. The full text of the letter follows:

August 27, 2005


The President
The White House
Washington, D. C.

Through:
Regional Director
FEMA Region VI
800 North Loop 288
Denton, Texas 76209

Dear Mr. President:

Under the provisions of Section 501 (a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5121-5206 (Stafford Act), and implemented by 44 CFR § 206.35, I request that you declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina for the time period beginning August 26, 2005, and continuing. The affected areas are all the southeastern parishes including the New Orleans Metropolitan area and the mid state Interstate I-49 corridor and northern parishes along the I-20 corridor that are accepting the thousands of citizens evacuating from the areas expecting to be flooded as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

In response to the situation I have taken appropriate action under State law and directed the execution of the State Emergency Plan on August 26, 2005 in accordance with Section 501 (a) of the Stafford Act. A State of Emergency has been issued for the State in order to support the evacuations of the coastal areas in accordance with our State Evacuation Plan and the remainder of the state to support the State Special Needs and Sheltering Plan.

Pursuant to 44 CFR § 206.35, I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster. I am specifically requesting emergency protective measures, direct Federal Assistance, Individual and Household Program (IHP) assistance, Special Needs Program assistance, and debris removal.

Preliminary estimates of the types and amount of emergency assistance needed under the Stafford Act, and emergency assistance from certain Federal agencies under other statutory authorities are tabulated in Enclosure A.

The following information is furnished on the nature and amount of State and local resources that have been or will be used to alleviate the conditions of this emergency:
. Department of Social Services (DSS): Opening (3) Special Need Shelters (SNS) and establishing (3) on Standby.
. Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH): Opening (3) Shelters and establishing (3) on Standby.
. Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (OHSEP): Providing generators and support staff for SNS and Public Shelters.
. Louisiana State Police (LSP): Providing support for the phased evacuation of the coastal areas.
. Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (WLF): Supporting the evacuation of the affected population and preparing for Search and Rescue Missions.


Mr. President
Page Two
August 27, 2005


. Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD): Coordinating traffic flow and management of the evacuations routes with local officials and the State of Mississippi.



The following information is furnished on efforts and resources of other Federal agencies, which have been or will be used in responding to this incident:
. FEMA ERT-A Team en-route.

I certify that for this emergency, the State and local governments will assume all applicable non-Federal share of costs required by the Stafford Act.

I request Direct Federal assistance for work and services to save lives and protect property.

(a) List any reasons State and local government cannot perform or contract for performance, (if applicable).

(b) Specify the type of assistance requested.

In accordance with 44 CFR § 206.208, the State of Louisiana agrees that it will, with respect to Direct Federal assistance:

1. Provide without cost to the United States all lands, easement, and rights-of-ways necessary to accomplish the approved work.

2. Hold and save the United States free from damages due to the requested work, and shall indemnify the Federal Government against any claims arising from such work;

3. Provide reimbursement to FEMA for the non-Federal share of the cost of such work in accordance with the provisions of the FEMA-State Agreement; and

4. Assist the performing Federal agency in all support and local jurisdictional matters.

In addition, I anticipate the need for debris removal, which poses an immediate threat to lives, public health, and safety.

Pursuant to Sections 502 and 407 of the Stafford Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5192 & 5173, the State agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the United States of America for any claims arising from the removal of debris or wreckage for this disaster. The State agrees that debris removal from public and private property will not occur until the landowner signs an unconditional authorization for the removal of debris.


I have designated Mr. Art Jones as the State Coordinating Officer for this request. He will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency in damage assessments and may provide further information or justification on my behalf.

Sincerely,



Kathleen Babineaux Blanco
Governor
Enclosure
-----------------------

August 27th was the Saturday before the hurricane hit. If I remember correctly, Scotty stated in this, or another, thread that Bush had sent FEMA to Baton Rouge with supplies, etc. So Bush HAD the authority before the Hurricane hit. Yet he waited. FEMA sat in Baton Rouge, waiting for the victims to come to them. Meanwhile, people died. FEMA waited, and prevented some rescuers and people with water from going in because FEMA said it wasn't safe. NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and probably several other news organizations had people in New Orleans before, during , and after the hurricane. Yet FEMA waited. Bush waited. And people died. At least one died after FEMA showed up, not of injuries, not from a previous medical condition, not from a lack of medicine. She drowned waiting for help in a nursing home. This was the day after Chertoff told his lies on TV. People died waiting for their country to come and help them. They died while help was sitting 60 miles away, waiting for ...what?
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Note the date on the letter. Like I said, Bush had the authority before Katrina hit.

Dorian,

Not doubting you. I just need to find this letter and check the dates on it. Am going strictly from memory and that's probably not the thing to do here. I'll post it as soon as I find it.

The link in my original post is still working. It leads to BayouBuzz.com. The date on the article is 8/27/2005, which is the date of the letter. In other words, it was published before there was any controversy about the federal response.