Memo -Chertoff delayed federal response

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

Chertoff delayed federal response, memo shows

BY JONATHAN S. LANDAY, ALISON YOUNG AND SHANNON MCCAFFREY

Knight Ridder Newspapers


"WASHINGTON - (KRT) - The federal official with the power to mobilize a massive federal response to Hurricane Katrina was Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, not the former FEMA chief who was relieved of his duties and resigned earlier this week, federal documents reviewed by Knight Ridder show

Even before the storm struck the Gulf Coast, Chertoff could have ordered federal agencies into action without any request from state or local officials. Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown had only limited authority to do so until about 36 hours after the storm hit, when Chertoff designated him as the "principal federal official" in charge of the storm....

But Chertoff - not Brown - was in charge of managing the national response to a catastrophic disaster, according to the National Response Plan, the federal government's blueprint for how agencies will handle major natural disasters or terrorist incidents. An order issued by President Bush in 2003 also assigned that responsibility to the homeland security director."

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/politics/12637130.htm

[texpatriot2004]

1. You know he looks the type. n/t

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

2. why didn't Chertoff follow plan?

White House and homeland security officials wouldn't explain why Chertoff waited some 36 hours to declare Katrina an incident of national significance and why he didn't immediately begin to direct the federal response from the moment on Aug. 27 when the National Hurricane Center predicted that Katrina would strike the Gulf Coast with catastrophic force in 48 hours. Nor would they explain why Bush felt the need to appoint a separate task force.

Chertoff's hesitation and Bush's creation of a task force both appear to contradict the National Response Plan and previous presidential directives that specify what the secretary of homeland security is assigned to do without further presidential orders. The goal of the National Response Plan is to provide a streamlined framework for swiftly delivering federal assistance when a disaster - caused by terrorists or Mother Nature - is too big for local officials to handle.

[WCGreen]

19. They can't even follow their own fucking rules.....

Jesus........

[NYC]

28. No one makes them follow rules.

They get away with everything.

[orleans]

32. well...hopefully not this time

impeach impeach impeach
all of those freaks!!!

[louis-t]

89. Because they don't know what they're doing

Wanted to use all caps in that statement, but I'm too tired to shout.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. Well, of course... and it goes higher than that, too

I wonder if there were any SAP troops in NO? :tinfoilhat:

[Imagevision]

56. Chertoff will be next in line for resignation the worse this gets.

then there's the two other polital flunkies with Fema with politcal backgrounds but no disaster relieh experience whatsoever, while Bush say; " I want to know what went wrong?"

http://downingstreetmemo.com/

[Erika]

4. Exactly

Under the circumstances, FEMA has the right and control of the situation without needing the approval of the state and local officials. That is why you don't see the Feds blaming the locals.

[mcctatas]

5. I am sure, now that his culpability has come to light, our fearless leader

will do the right thing and remove him from his post....Shit, I can't even type that with a straight face:rofl:

[dweller]

6. He's a goner,

come Friday.

dp

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. Wow, Chertoff deliberately delayed the response

When are charges being filed?

[Carla in Ca]

20. Oh, it gets worse...

I posted this thread earlier. Chertoff is so busy with press conferences and phone calls for updates, he is completely disrupting everything.
How ironic, more people died than should have because asshat, Brown, Chertoff, etc just sat on their hands before Katrina. To look like they are finally doing something, they are disrupting to the point where the person in this story is contemplating retirement!

When. Will. This. Nightmare. End.
<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4761438>

[Tuesday_Morning]

44. Did you hear Chertoff on NPR...

...Thursday afternoon, Sept. 1? His bullshit was so incredible I bought the transcript. Mind you, this is the day after NBC and MSNBC was reporting on the catastrophe at the Convention Center.

<snip>

SIEGEL: We are hearing from our reporter--and he's on another line right now--thousands of people at the convention center in New Orleans with no food, zero.

Sec. CHERTOFF: As I say, I'm telling you that we are getting food and water to areas where people are staging. And, you know, the one thing about an episode like this is if you talk to someone and you get a rumor or you get someone's anecdotal version of something, I think it's dangerous to extrapolate it all over the place. The limitation here on getting food and water to people is the condition on the ground. And as soon as we can physically move through the ground with these assets, we're going to do that. So...

SIEGEL: But, Mr. Secretary, when you say that there is--we shouldn't listen to rumors, these are things coming from reporters who have not only covered many, many other hurricanes; they've covered wars and refugee camps. These aren't rumors. They're seeing thousands of people there.

Sec. CHERTOFF: Well, I would be--actually I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don't have food and water. I can tell you that I know specifically the Superdome, which was the designated staging area for a large number of evacuees, does have food and water.

<snip>

So there's another example of the public knowing more than the assholes in charge of the emergency response.

[Carla in Ca]

90. Know what I notice about that interview?

There was a FOLLOW-UP question, and that is how the interviewer made Chertoff say something new. That's when and why he got the admission that Chertoff didn't know people were in the convention center.
Wouldn't it be nice if Russert, among others, could learn how to do that.

[rateyes]

37. You're right. They filed charges, as they should have, against

nursing home owners for negligent homicide...should have followed the law and taken the opporunity given them to evacuate residents...didn't do it.

How is this any different? Sat on their hands when they should have been moving to save lives. Didn't do it. Negligent Homicide sounds like to me.

[DoYouEverWonder]

72. It went beyond that

Not only did they withhold assistance, they prevented other people from delivering assistance.

They blocked off access to New Orleans on purpose and left the people trapped inside to die. They knew that by deliberately blocking assistance that chaos would enuse. This is what they wanted and almost achieved. I wonder what they will do for their next trick?

[seemslikeadream]

8. That was my first impression

Maybe Keirk will make a come back? :shrug:

[0007]

58. At least Kerik would have sprung Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano

and together they could have shut everyone up, one way or the other.

[Catrina]

96. Please don't even think that

Don't forget that aside from his personal criminal activities, he was Giuliani's police chief. Don't ever forget their record of shooting minorities first (41 times, in one case, an innocent person) and asking questions later.

Bad as things were in NO under this collection of criminals, I feel certain there would be more dead bodies in NO had Kerik been there. Also, that man couldn't even do the job he signed on for in Iraq, just deserted it, ran away.

[ladylibertee]

25. This is the Dawning of the Age of the STEP DOWNS !!!!!!

[blondeatlast]

45. Sad, but probably true. 3PM Eastern, I'm betting.

All bets are off if this gets to the MSM, though.

[rooboy]

9. Kick n/t

[CountAllVotes]

10. time to dump this ghoul named Chertoff

:puke:

Be rid of this EVIL monster named Chertoff!!

How many American citizens have died since Jan. 2001? HOW MANY GOD DAMN IT! HOW MANY MORE MUST DIE!

IMPEACH/IMPRISON THE WHOLE GRUESOME EVIL lot of these thugs NOW!

:kick:

[elehhhhna]

39. Chert means Devil in Russian

[Nothing Without Hope]

65. Wow - this is like one of those horror cartoons with characters named

to fit their roles.

He really does look like a nosferatu.

[liberal_patriot_md]

94. I always thought he looked more like Skeletor from He-Man

[Dora]

78. Spooky. Good catch, there. n/t

[jono]

11. Nominated (nt)

[goodboy]

12. So he's going over the side next. (nt)

[skooooo]

14. Skeletor!!

[dmkinsey]

41. I thought Rummy

is Skeletor:shrug:

[apnu]

51. Skeletor?

Skeletor!!!!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

13. At least George Haddow gets it.

The Chertoff memo indicates that the response to Katrina wasn't left to disaster professionals, but was run out of the White House, said George Haddow, a former deputy chief of staff at FEMA during the Clinton administration and the co-author of an emergency management textbook.

"It shows that the president is running the disaster, the White House is running it as opposed to Brown or Chertoff," Haddow said. Brown "is a convenient fall guy. He's not the problem really. The problem is a system that was marginalized."

It appears we will be offered the head of Chertoff next. They're getting warmer, but they're not hot yet.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

15. interesting...

...eom

[DemInDistress]

16. I don't believe Chertoff can make a move without the

approval from the Bush Crime Family.Surely the Family was issuing
orders.What if chertoff had a conscience and decided on Sunday Aug 28
to mobilize and ready the effort to help NO immeadiately after the storm passed,food and water drops coild have been there Tuesday morning.I believe the Crime Family wanted chaos and suffering and BTW
who's doling out the cash and who is monitoring this money?

[Roy]

22. You are so right Chertoff can't make a move without Bush

But, Bush can't make a move without Rove, who can't make a move without Cheney, who can't make a move without Haliburton, who can't make a move without first doing a profit projection first.

The BFEE Chain of command.

[DemInDistress]

26. Roy you have great insight..

Who is the main cheese in the Bush Crime Family? Poppy,Rumsey,Rove
Cheney I know its definitely not young idiot son. They remind me of
a James Bond movie with wicked nefarious orginizations like SPECTRE
and CHAOS..Only its Carlyle Group and Halliburton..

[Lone_Star_Dem]

82. Cheney's office was hard at work saving the gas flow

White House call

Dan Jordan, manager of Southern Pines Electric Power Association, said Vice President Dick Cheney's office called and left voice mails twice shortly after the storm struck, saying the Collins substations needed power restored immediately.

Jordan dated the first call the night of Aug. 30 and the second call the morning of Aug. 31. Southern Pines supplies electricity to the substation that powers the Colonial pipeline.

Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Mike Callahan said the U.S. Department of Energy called him on Aug. 31. Callahan said department officials said opening the fuel line was a national priority.

Cheney's office referred calls about the pipeline to the Department of Homeland Security. Calls there were referred to Kirk Whitworth, who would not take a telephone message and required questions in the form of an e-mail.
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050911/NEWS05/509110304

They kept the fuel running while people were dying from lack of action elsewhere. If they showen this much initiative with regard to human lives just think how much suffering could have been avoided.

edited to add link

[genius]

17. Chertoff needs to go. Does anyone here know his history?

The guy supports water-board torture and is connected to the 9/11 financeers.

[BlueManDude]

87. Chertoff was lead GOP council during D'Amato's Whitewater hearings

He was Roy Cohn to D'Amato's McCarthy.

[Bozita]

18. Knight-Ridder's coverage of the lead-up to war was the best ...

... of America's MSM.

Looks like they're leading the way again.

[blm]

35. I'm sure BushInc would love Landay disappeared.

.

[Whoa_Nelly]

21. Indict Chertoff!

He's just as much a party to homicide as anyone else!
(BTW--am not completely convinced that the St. Rita owners should have been indicted on homicide. Watched an interview last night with one of the nurses from there. She said they asked for help, but no one came to help them in moving those patients in fragile condition.)

[NYC]

27. Then they should be acquitted.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

69. I agree on the nursing home thing

I would be the first to raise Hel] about mistreating old people.
I take care of my 82 year old mother. I also know how frail these folks are, and the nursing home folks had weathered storms for 20 + years. They stayed with them, and they were afraid that moving the old folks (with feeding tubes etc) would definitely kill them.

They based that on experience.

If anyone should be charged with homicide, it is Bush, the killer of many.

I will believe abuse when it is proven.

I am willing to bet this is a political move to pretend that the govt is actually looking a guilty parties.

A diversion for the sheople.

[Spangle]

23. Chertoff, like the rest of the Bush staff

Knows not to bother Bush. It was being run by the WH.. so Chertoff had to wait for orders from Bush.. which never came.

Brown or Chertoff, it makes no difference. They still had to get orders from Bush.

[Erika]

29. Bush is know to be a little snarly

and not in too nice of a way. Bother him at your peril.

[Dr Fate]

24. Another one?

???

[barbaraann]

30. Rate the story on Yahoo!

It is currently #1 on Most Recommended!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/krwashbureau/_wea_katrina_response_exclusive

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

70. thanks, voted on it

thanks, maybe it will get a higher profile.

I wish Anderson Cooper would cover this.

[expatriot]

31. Keep going, media... my thread about the NRP and Bush from a week ago:

Major Disasters & the National Response Plan: The buck stops at Bush.

It is obvious that the buck stops at Bush.

[Roland99]

43. I've been pointing that to people for a week now, myself

The RW punks keep saying it doesn't prove anything and point out other sections showing a Gov. must request aid but they keep ignoring the part of major catastrophes and immediate response that OVERRIDE those other sections.

[dbt]

33. We are up to our SCALPS in Reptiles!

They are reputed to get their jollies from Human fear and/or misery. With each passing day, David Icke looks more like a prophet.

Remember New Orleans.

[enough]

34. kick

[DemsUnited]

36. Absolutely. Chertoff has a huge amount of blame. Bush more still.

No doubt Heckuvajob Brownie needed to go, he never should have been appointed to begin with. But his job was to defer to Chertoff and Chertoff's job seems to be to defer to the White House.

Would like to see more MSM on top of this one. Because I actually think the President's reluctant "to the extent the government failed I take responsibility" moment was meant to blunt media investigation into Chertoff, cause that hits very close to home.

[Catfight]

38. Only in bushworld do they fire from the bottom up...nt

[54anickel]

40. Corporate mentality - "It looked good on paper".

I don't mean to bash any corporate types here, and they aren't all bad. But this was typical of a couple of big corporations that I worked at and with. The CEO's were nice enough guys, but not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Upper management could always feed the CEO BS with grand plans that looked great on paper. Us "bottom feeders" would try to point out some of the flaws and critcal path elements that were going to cause major issues that would extend the time-line or, worse yet, doom the project. We were pooh-poohed, full-steam ahead.

Sooner or later, the project would come to a crisis point, we'd work our asses off finding half-assed work-arounds and fixes. The grand plan would get tossed out the window by upper management, and we'd be told to do whatever it takes to get it done on time. Most of the time, we'd get the project out the door on time. But the quality was poor, and we'd lose the contract in the end anyway. Upper management would then pull the plan back outta their asses and use our not following it as an excuse for losing the business when explaining the situation to the CEO.

Middle management usually got the blame. We'd cycle through a LOT of middle management. The upper management would bring in people from their past employment that had the latest "technique" (Six Sigma, TQM, I can't even remember them all). We went thru sooooo many re-structurings.

The mid-management that kept their jobs were the ones who learned how to play the games. Tell em what they wnat to hear, promise them the moon, blame the other guy. :eyes:

[Roland99]

42. And * just claimed responsibility yesterday! Hmmm....interesting

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1776702&mesg_id=1776702

[emald]

46. doesn't anyone read in this administration?

surely, surely someone in this miss administration read the document they all signed called the National Response Plan? Can there be any greater incompetance then signing and not following your own plan?
IMPEACH NOW!!!

[Athame]

52. And they had DAYS to read the plan

I am sitting here along the San Andreas wondering what would happen if there were no warnings from the National Weather Service...

Well, not wondering, weeping in advance.

[ktowntennesseedem]

47. Brown is still an idiot, but I actually feel sorry for him.

In their traditional fashion they have made Brownie the scapegoat, and they will try to hang everything that went wrong on him. That's simply what they do. Hopefully they won't get away with it this time, but I'll believe it when I see it. Brown is guilty of plenty, but even he doesn't deserve the lion's share of fault; there's more than enough to go around.

(Ironic isn't it, that the ones who say they want to avoid the "blame game" are themselves the masters of it.)

[blondeatlast]

48. Just when I think the corruption can't get any more blatant, they top

themselves.

I weep for the promise of America, raped to unconsciouness by the George W. administraion.

[goforit]

49. I sure he was instructed not to!!

[Roland99]

50. Chertoff MUST be FIRED!!

How can we put up with inept people at the highest levels of our government? Chertoff is a freakin' LAWYER and former prosecutor!! He helped craft the infamous Torture Memo and he's in charge of our nation's safety?!?!


FIRE THE BASTARD....N O W ! ! !

[Supersedeas]

53. Accountability is just a vagary these people use in political attack ads

[riverwalker]

54. where was he?

I am trying to determine where all the players were during and after the hurricane.
None of them were actually working.

[lateo]

55. Look...here is the moneyshot...

The Chertoff memo indicates that the response to Katrina wasn't left to disaster professionals, but was run out of the White House, said George Haddow, a former deputy chief of staff at FEMA during the Clinton administration and the co-author of an emergency management textbook.

"It shows that the president is running the disaster, the White House is running it as opposed to Brown or Chertoff," Haddow said. Brown "is a convenient fall guy. He's not the problem really. The problem is a system that was marginalized."

So the response to Katrina was being run FROM THE WHITE HOUSE.

[Nothing Without Hope]

63. Let's media-blast all of this. Bush looks set to wiggle out from this

with his whole criminally negligent (or deliberately genocidal?) crew of monsters.

[madmark]

57. If this is true the way they reordered actual authority and divested

it from Brown for FEMA and give it to Nosferatu, then I actually could feel a little sorry for Brown if Nosferatu didn't delegate any actual authority to him and held things up while Brown takes the heat. It looks like Homeland Security (a name by the way I hate, it reminds of a stupid Nazi slogan every time I hear it) is an unworkable bureaucratic mess. FEMA would be better off with its own independent authority to act decisively. And it would seem Nosferatu, whose claim to fame is as I recall a prosecutor investigating the non-crime Whitewater, has no expertise or ability to execute in his current job.

[glitch]

59. Federal stand-down in the face of catastrophe - makes sense that they link

Katrina to 9/11.
Chertoff's orders come from bushcorp.

[Reverend_Smitty]

60. So just how many Medals of Freedom will...

this get Chertoff? What a bunch of heartless criminals they are...how many deaths are directly due to their (in)actions?

[riverwalker]

61. negligent homicide

The parents of the six dead babies at Convention Center need to get lawyers on this. As well as the hospital patients who survived the hurricane, but died during the five days of waiting, would have a case against CHERTOFF.

[Roland99]

62. On other boards, freeper-types are avoiding this article like the plague!

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

67. what is interesting is how I found this article

I actually found out about this article from the www.GovExec.com website, where they have a blog on the response to Katrina.

You can find out stuff that generally gets overlooked by subscribing to www.govexec.com

Amazing stuff there.

[Roland99]

84. Thanks for the link

[Nothing Without Hope]

64. Whatever he may have said about "claiming responsibility," just a day or

two earlier on CNN Bush was preening and congratulating himself on his "extraordinary" fast response to the storm in signing the emergency orders and belligerently ranting about how it was "just preposterous" for anyone to suggest that it made any difference that the National Guard was assigned to Iraq instead of being home to deal with the disaster.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4752689
thread title: VIDEO - Bush on CNN: self-congratulatory about his handling of Katrina

They are spinning at top speed, most of the Democrats are supine and hapless as usual (after a while, you have to wonder how many of them are playing along with the GOP game), and some of the media are spinning right along with the White House. They are trying to scapegoat Brown and "move on." That would be a diaster and MUST be stopped - Brown must go, indeed he should never have been there, but the WHOLE FRIGGING SYSTEM has to be replaced with competence and accountability.

By the way, does anyone else wonder whether the lies in Brown's employment dossier were KNOWN by the Bushies and kept under cover in case they ever needed to cut him loose as a scapegoat? Doesn't anyone else think it odd that a government background check for such an important office didn't turn them up? Interviews with any of the people from his past who have now come forward would have turned it up.

[NoAmericanTaliban]

66. Jerkoff?

Did you say Chertoff or Jerkoff :)

[u4ic]

75. Welcome to DU, NoAmericanTaliban!

:hi:

[NoAmericanTaliban]

68. Where the players were

during Katrina

Bush - on his month long vacation - eating cake in San Diego & playing guitar.

Cheney - closing on purchasing a mansion - has other priotities just like in Vietnam.

Rice - in NY going to plays & buying $1000 shoes in posh stores.
Maybe a line of shoes will be named for her, just like the oil tanker.

Babara Bush - baking cake for the poor to eat & then chewing on her foot.

Jerkoff - at home relaxing. Didn't find out about the storm till he read the morning paper. Think paper was the 'Yesterday's News'

[iamjoy]

71. Then Maybe We Should Credit Tom Ridge

maybe that's the reason things didn't go all crappy in Florida after the four hurricanes last year.

It always seemed odd that it was incompetence, since they did a decent job last year. Although I considered the possibility, I don't really want to believe that our government was deliberately allowing people to die because it wasn't an election year, or because of the demographics of the victims.

Maybe, like in so many things it is a combination of factors.
But, if Chertoff screwed up, then we must acknowledge the heck of a job Tom Ridge did in hurricane response for Florida last year.

[NoAmericanTaliban]

77. Florida was during election year..

also things didn't go all that smooth. Remember during 'Charlie' FEMA told everyone to evacuate to certain locations in Florida - then the storm shifted and blasted the folks trying to flee. If they had stayed where were they would have been better off. Also, there was tremendous fraud going. Almost $30 million went to folks in counties not even touched by the storms. Anything to buy votes. Now FEMA will not help the folks in Florida that were hit by Katrina because only 200 homes were damaged, not 800 now required by FEMA. Let's not forget that Homeland Security was the same group that told us to get duct tape & plastic wrap in case of a terrorist attack. Why is everyone surprised at their failures? This admin couldn't even get us flu shots last year.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

81. Read this article for a little insight into what took place in Florida

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fema23mar23,0,5221240.story

State records show Bush re-election concerns played part in FEMA aid

Consultant predicted a `huge mess'

By Megan O'Matz & Sally Kestin
Staff Writers
Posted March 23 2005

As the second hurricane in less than a month bore down on Florida last fall, a federal consultant predicted a "huge mess" that could reflect poorly on President Bush and suggested that his re-election staff be brought in to minimize any political liability, records show.

Two weeks later, a Florida official summarizing the hurricane response wrote that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was handing out housing assistance "to everyone who needs it without asking for much information of any kind."


It was an election year and it was treated like a campaign move. Also, take note that the Sun Sentinel tried to get these documents released before the election and were unable to. It was the following March under the threat of a lawsuit before they were released.

[georgia10]

73. heads up from Sept.. 5

at DailyKos
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/5/225729/7487

Reposted here on the 6th.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4668155#4669329

The bloggers have been screaming this for over a week now. The NRP put Chertoff and Bush in charge. Full responsibility. They screwed up.

I'd be surprised if they even READ the plan.

[Megahurtz]

74. What a Lazy Asshole!

Charges should be laid on this dolt.:grr:

[ClintonTyree]

76. Well, bush...........

we're waiting. One of two things are going to happen. He'll be forced to step down, although not "officially", or he'll be given some sort of reward for his meritorious service such as The Medal of Freedom. Which will it be......hmmmmmmm!
I guess since bush himself has assumed total responsibility for the failure of the Federal Government to act, he'll probably get the medal.
Chertoff is scary looking dude, like Dr. Death or something. He creeps me out.

[Up2Late]

79. Unbelievable! Looks like they have pulled the National Response Plan too!

Anyone save a copy and can post a copy on-line before they edit it to take out all the stupid and insensitive crap?

I cann't even believe the lack of urgency in the way that memo is written,

AND I have a question! Why the F*ck is Chirtoff distributing this memo to the Presidents Cabinet Secretaries but NOT the POTUS or the VPOTUS? :wtf:

Wouldn't you think a Real POTUS would want a copy of that? It might help keep the POTUS and the VPOTUS "in the Loop," wouldn't it? Or maybe that's just another of their ways of avoiding responsibility or blame.

I'd be willing to bet that President Clinton would have expected a copy of that memo.

[Tesibria]

85. ??

What plan have they pulled? the NRP is available at

W/ Appendices: http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/NRP_FullText.pdf

W/o Appendices:
http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/NRPbaseplan.pdf

[Up2Late]

86. Well, some of it's still at that link, I tried to save a copy, but got...

...an I/O error after a timeout. So when I went to view all the pages, they stop at 408 of 426 of the "Full" plan. Maybe this is how you keep people from saving a copy of a pdf?

This is new, I was referring to the web page link that Knight-Ridder posted at the bottom of the article. That's the link I meant when I said it looked like they pulled it.

[Laelth]

88. Even better ...

Clinton would have read it. His aides wouldn't have had to make a video for him to understand it.

:mad:

-Laelth


Edit:Laelth--smiley error.

[gasperc]

80. more shocking...Chertoff stuck while removing head from ass

caught with his head up his ass, Chertoff frantically yelled at aides to leave the room while he feverishly attempted to remove his own head from his ass. When asked what his head was doing in his ass?, Chertoff replied "that I only plan to answer 3 or 4 questions so ask those questions very carefully"
caught off guard, the media plianly demured.

[Tesibria]

83. Flawed analysis -- of a flawed plan

Before you flame me - please understand that I believe that FEMA's response was HORRID at best.

That being said, this story is inaccurate - both factually and legally.

FACTUALLY: Brown implemented portions of the NRP on Friday, the 26th (e.g., ESF-15 (THAT's the story, folks! See *N1*). By Saturday, the 26, Brown had implemented *ALL* Emergency Support Functions of the NRP. In short - he neither need to, nor did he, wait for Chertoff to declare an "Incident of National Significance" (IoNS) -- that was a formality. See National Situation Updates for 8/26 and 8/27 available at http://www.fema.gov/emanagers/2005/augarch05.shtm.

Note too that the NRP calls for/anticipates that an IoNS determination will not be made until a process/investigation occurs. (Translation: time! delay! Had they followed, step-by-step, the NRP, there would have been an even GREATER delay of services) See NRP at http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/editorial/editorial_0566.xml

LEGALLY: Brown had statutory authority to take ALL necessary actions as soon as Bush signed the Declaration of Disaster (Sat, but retroactive to Fri) and Declaration of Major Disaster (Sun). See, e.g., http://frwebgate5.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=653000524134+2+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve (Sunday's Declaration, with amendments). The NRP is *not* a legal document, that grants any authority. And, as noted above, had they followed the NRP, which is geared primarily to responding to a terrorist attack - i.e., the aftermath, not the preparation/prevention - FEMA's response would have been even worse.

*N1* The "story" -- While I haven't been able to find an article on it - I think that the "story" is that one of the FIRST "ESFs" activated by Brown is ESF-15 - which is a DHS - NOT a FEMA "ESF".

What is ESF-15??? External Affairs!!! I.e., essentially, public relations! See National Response Plan, "External Affairs ensures that sufficient Federal assets are deployed ... to provide
accurate, coordinated, and timely information to affected audiences, including governments, media, the private sector, and the local populace. SeeNRP, http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/editorial/editorial_0566.xml)

So -- they immediately activated the PR machine (as evidenced by all their TV appearances over the weekend) ... just failed to activate an "Evacuation Team."

.... still waiting for news media to pick this up ................

[Nothing Without Hope]

91. Cross//Post: Newer thread on this subject:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4777642
thread title: KR Report: 'Confused' Chertoff Delayed Federal Katrina Response

[Imagevision]

92. Chertoff will be following Brownie's exit route after Bush speech

[Name removed]

93. Deleted message

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[demo dutch]

95. Heh Freeper! Surely you should not be posting on this forum!

[Name removed]

97. Deleted message

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[Rebellious Republican]

99. Mister X, I am sure you are not interested in facts, but here you go!

Do to copy right laws we are not allowed to post more than four or so paragraphs, so here are some teasers. The entire article is worth the read, hope it is not to much for you!

And yes, to answer your question before you ask, I am a bonifide FORMER republican, and damn proud of it. Neocons and chickenhawks hijacked the party and are destoying what was once a great nation.

Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen? 'Times-Picayune' Had Repeatedly Raised Federal Spending Issues

>New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.<

>One project that a contractor had been racing to finish this summer: a bridge and levee job right at the 17th Street Canal, site of the main breach on Monday.

The Newhouse News Service article published Tuesday night observed, "The Louisiana congressional delegation urged Congress earlier this year to dedicate a stream of federal money to Louisiana's coast, only to be opposed by the White House. ... In its budget, the Bush administration proposed a significant reduction in funding for southeast Louisiana's chief hurricane protection project. Bush proposed $10.4 million, a sixth of what local officials say they need."

Local officials are now saying, the article reported, that had Washington heeded their warnings about the dire need for hurricane protection, including building up levees and repairing barrier islands, "the damage might not have been nearly as bad as it turned out to be."<

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051313

[Name removed]

98. Deleted message

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[Rebellious Republican]

100. Yes some of us do, and thats what we are trying to protect!

But then agian some here have lost jobs to outsourcing and have considerable time to post. But then who gives a rats ass about keeping Amurikans working? Certainly not the Fascists that are in control of this country right now.