Laying the blame for the debacle in New Orleans

[Walt Starr]

Just sent this LTTE off to the Chicago Tribune:

Ever since it became evident to the Bush Administration that the failure to respond to the catastrophic events in New Orleans was going to harm them politically, there has been a politically motivated concerted effort to lay blame at the feet of Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin. Nothing could be further from the truth. On March 1 of this year, The Department of Homeland Security assumed primary responsibility for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This entailed providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort (fully documented at the DHS website http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/theme_home2.jsp)

Clearly, blame lays squarely at the feet of the following individuals in order:

1) Michael Brown, Under Secretary for Emergency Preparedness & Response, Department of Homeland Security

2) Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security

3) Dick Cheney, head of the Office of National Preparedness

4) George W. Bush, President of the United States

Furthermore, the danger and potential for this disaster was known well in advance. Predictions were made as early as August 26 when predictions were made for a category 4 storm which could hit anywhere from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana. At that moment, the potential for levee breaks and massive flooding was known as this has been a forecast scenario for decades.

Governor Blanco made her first plea for Federal aid in a memo issued on August 28th, the day prior to landfall.

The levee break was first reported on August 29 at 11:15 PM, demonstrating immediately on the day of landfall that a disaster on monumental scale was underway.

Clearly, the ineptitude of the above named individuals is directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds, possibly thousands. Had the Department of Homeland Security, under the direction of the White House, fulfilled its charter, we would have never seen babies dying before our eyes live on national television.

This is a national disgrace, and all of the individuals responsible must be held accountable. If there was a shred of dignity and honor in any of them, they would be issuing their resignations forthwith.

[kliljedahl]

1. Impeach & Indict

Not necessarily in that order.

[JuniperLea]

2. How much more cause do we need

to get his ass out of office? How many more people does he have to kill?

[Pallas180]

3. This interview shows George Bush was directly responsible for no action:

Original message

On BBC: Northern Command was in position, before the hurricane hit, waiting for Presidential orders, that didn't come, apparently until he returned to the WH on Thursday evening .It seems he only began to act on Thursday, after he got back from his fund-raising,cake-eating, guitar playing trip to California on Thursday. PAPERWORK NEEDED TO GET THE TROOPS EN ROUTE DIDN'T COME FROM WASHINGTON UNTIL LATE THURSDAY.

This was on the episode of BBC World News which played on a local (Philadelphia area) PBS station at 6:00 am this morning. . The BBC announcer was interviewing Lieutenant Commander Sean Kelly whom she referred to as Leftenant Commander. This is the entire interview with no missing context.

Announcer: The relief operation is the largest ever conducted in America. It's being coordinated by the US Northern Command in Colorado. Leftenant Commander Sean Kelly explains how the relief effort is being organized.

Kelly: US Northern Command is the command that coordinates the military support for our federal and state agencies. They call up and request a capability and we try and provide that capability, whether it's medical resources, search and rescue helicopters, food, water, transportation, communications; that's what we provide.

A: So it sounds like you're providing a bit of everything. I mean, do you know how much you're actually providing?

K: Right now we've got 4,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marine and coast guardsmen supporting this. They've delivered more than 9 million meals, I can't remember how many millions of liters of water.

A: 9 million meals? Do you actually have 9 million meals?

K: It's those "meals ready to eat". The packaged meals that the Army takes out with them out in the field. We have 9 million of 'em ready. I know at least 100,000 went to the Superdome the other night to help the people out there in New Orleans. So they're staged at various places throughout Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.

A: Now I'm sure you're aware of the criticism that the authorities have been slow to respond to this. When did you get the order to start relief work?

K: NorthCom started planning before the storm even hit. We were ready for the storm when it hit Florida because, as you remember, it crossed the bottom part of Florida, and then we were planning, you know, once it was pointed towards the Gulf Coast. So what we did was we activated what we call defense coordinating officers to work with the state to say okay, what do you think you'll need, and we set up staging bases that could be started. We had the USS Baton sailing almost behind the hurricane so that after the hurricane made landfall it's search and rescue helicopters would be available almost immediately. So we had things ready. The only caveat is, we have to wait until the President authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the military can't just act in this fashion, we have to wait for the President to give us permission.

A: Now I gather that your engineers are also involved in pumping some of that flood water out of the areas.

K: Yes, our military personnel are helping to reconstruct the levees which frees up the engineers to start pumping out the waters so that hopefully New Orleans can be high and dry soon enough.
___________________________________________
So apparently everything was in position, waiting for Bush's order, which didn't come until Thursday evening.



You might want to interview this man or reprint the article:
Sat Sep-03-05 11:14 AM

Original message
On BBC: Northern Command was in position, before the hurricane hit, waiting for Presidential orders, that didn't come, apparently until he returned to the WH on Thursday evening .It seems he only began to act on Thursday, after he got back from his fund-raising,cake-eating, guitar playing trip to California on Thursday. PAPERWORK NEEDED TO GET THE TROOPS EN ROUTE DIDN'T COME FROM WASHINGTON UNTIL LATE THURSDAY.
This was on the episode of BBC World News which played on a local (Philadelphia area) PBS station at 6:00 am this morning. . The BBC announcer was interviewing Lieutenant Commander Sean Kelly whom she referred to as Leftenant Commander. This is the entire interview with no missing context.
Announcer: The relief operation is the largest ever conducted in America. It's being coordinated by the US Northern Command in Colorado. Leftenant Commander Sean Kelly explains how the relief effort is being organized.
Kelly: US Northern Command is the command that coordinates the military support for our federal and state agencies. They call up and request a capability and we try and provide that capability, whether it's medical resources, search and rescue helicopters, food, water, transportation, communications; that's what we provide.
A: So it sounds like you're providing a bit of everything. I mean, do you know how much you're actually providing?
K: Right now we've got 4,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marine and coast guardsmen supporting this. They've delivered more than 9 million meals, I can't remember how many millions of liters of water.
A: 9 million meals? Do you actually have 9 million meals?
K: It's those "meals ready to eat". The packaged meals that the Army takes out with them out in the field. We have 9 million of 'em ready. I know at least 100,000 went to the Superdome the other night to help the people out there in New Orleans. So they're staged at various places throughout Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.
A: Now I'm sure you're aware of the criticism that the authorities have been slow to respond to this. When did you get the order to start relief work?
K: NorthCom started planning before the storm even hit. We were ready for the storm when it hit Florida because, as you remember, it crossed the bottom part of Florida, and then we were planning, you know, once it was pointed towards the Gulf Coast. So what we did was we activated what we call defense coordinating officers to work with the state to say okay, what do you think you'll need, and we set up staging bases that could be started. We had the USS Baton sailing almost behind the hurricane so that after the hurricane made landfall it's search and rescue helicopters would be available almost immediately. So we had things ready. The only caveat is, we have to wait until the President authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the military can't just act in this fashion, we have to wait for the President to give us permission.
A: Now I gather that your engineers are also involved in pumping some of that flood water out of the areas.
K: Yes, our military personnel are helping to reconstruct the levees which frees up the engineers to start pumping out the waters so that hopefully New Orleans can be high and dry soon enough.
___________________________________________
So apparently everything was in position, waiting for Bush's order, which didn’t come until Thursday evening.