The Big disconnect on New Orleans

[ray of light]

The big disconnect on New Orleans
The official version; then there's the in-the-trenches version

Friday, September 2, 2005 Posted: 1934 GMT (0334 HKT)

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Diverging views of a crumbling New Orleans emerged Thursday. The sanitized view came from federal officials at news conferences and television appearances. But the official line was contradicted by grittier, more desperate views from the shelters and the streets.

These conflicting views came within hours, sometimes minutes of each of each other, as reflected in CNN's transcripts. The speakers include Michael Brown, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, evacuee Raymond Cooper, CNN correspondents and others. Here's what they had to say:

(My comment: QUICKLY READ IT AND SAVE TO YOUR FILES BEFORE IT DISAPPEARS)


http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/katrina.response/index.html

[fudge stripe cookays]

1. Done.

Thanks for posting it.

FSC

[Rosie1223]

2. Brown channels

Bagdad Bob.

Scary stuff.

Rosie

[rodeodance]

3. whow.

[rodeodance]

4. recommended

[rodeodance]

5. makes me dizzy

Violence and civil unrest
# Brown: I've had no reports of unrest, if the connotation of the word unrest means that people are beginning to riot, or you know, they're banging on walls and screaming and hollering or burning tires or whatever. I've had no reports of that.
# CNN's Chris Lawrence: From here and from talking to the police officers, they're losing control of the city. We're now standing on the roof of one of the police stations. The police officers came by and told us in very, very strong terms it wasn't safe to be out on the street. (

The federal response:
# Brown: Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well.
# Homeland Security Director Chertoff: Now, of course, a critical element of what we're doing is the process of evacuation and securing New Orleans and other areas that are afflicted. And here the Department of Defense has performed magnificently, as has the National Guard, in bringing enormous resources and capabilities to bear in the areas that are suffering.

[rodeodance]

6. kick

[UpInArms]

7. also from your link:

Hospital evacuations

Brown: I've just learned today that we ... are in the process of completing the evacuations of the hospitals, that those are going very well.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta: It's gruesome. I guess that is the best word for it. If you think about a hospital, for example, the morgue is in the basement, and the basement is completely flooded. So you can just imagine the scene down there. But when patients die in the hospital, there is no place to put them, so they're in the stairwells. It is one of the most unbelievable situations I've seen as a doctor, certainly as a journalist as well. There is no electricity. There is no water. There's over 200 patients still here remaining. ...We found our way in through a chopper and had to land at a landing strip and then take a boat. And it is exactly ... where the boat was traveling where the snipers opened fire yesterday, halting all the evacuations. ( Watch the video report of corpses stacked in stairwells -- 4:45 )

Dr. Matthew Bellew, Charity Hospital: We still have 200 patients in this hospital, many of them needing care that they just can't get. The conditions are such that it's very dangerous for the patients. Just about all the patients in our services had fevers. Our toilets are overflowing. They are filled with stool and urine. And the smell, if you can imagine, is so bad, you know, many of us had gagging and some people even threw up. It's pretty rough.(Mayor's video: Armed addicts fighting for a fix -- 1:03)

[LeahD]

8. A Must Read! Kick. n/t

[samsingh]

9. quick, hide the cameras, take away all the webcams and cell phones

[cally]

10. This is a must read...needs one more recommendation

I just gave one. Thanks for posting this.

[phantom power]

11. Props to CNN for this compilation.

[lancdem]

12. Yes, I saw a thread on DailyKos on this article

[natrat]

13. funy how cnn is honest one day and spews shit the next

[johannes1984]

14. here's a clip of european coverage

it's the 'wij willen hulp' next to the media player ...they edited the clip to play at the end of each news in remembrance of the big easy and the horror of the people caught in the wake of human fucking up ..freely translated it's we wish for help .

http://www.vrtnieuws.net/nieuwsnet_master/default/nieuws/overzicht/050902chaos/index.html?video_5

and next to the player , the fifth line reads' wij willen hulp 'press it for a touching video , the music is a new orleans band playing the star sprangled banner ...

posted friday night ...might be gone later on ...they only play it after every newsbroadcast for about one or two days .

Europe feels for you ...it does ...the mood of sad miserable disbelief in the tragedy humanity can suffer hangs across the pond too

[ray of light]

16. thank you!

I watched it.

[Karenina]

19. Indeed it does.

I had the funniest discussion with an Iranian cabbie tonight. HE felt so sorry for American soldiers. Ein Mensch doch gut informiert.

[lakeguy]

15. LIARS, are fed. gov. is comprised of a bunch of LIARS!

[katty]

17. Spoken to a few friends just left NewOr--conditions are horrid

the media is not reporting (no surprise there) MOST of the chaos and desperation.

[ray of light]

18. kick