Why would FEMA cut his communication lines?

[Jeanette in FL]

From Meet the Press interview with Aaron Broussard, Jefferson Parrish president. I can't get my mind around this? Why would they do this?

MR. BROUSSARD: Sir, they were told like me, every single day, "The cavalry's coming," on a federal level, "The cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming." I have just begun to hear the hoofs of the cavalry. The cavalry's still not here yet, but I've begun to hear the hoofs, and we're almost a week out.

Let me give you just three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. "FEMA says don't give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines." Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America--American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. FEMA also turned away folks who wanted to help

Not ordinary folks, but the Coast Guard Auxillary in Florida. I hope it was merely incompetence, but ....

[randr]

2. All of the incidents of FEMA interference and neglect need

to be collected in one place. Names and numbers need to be taken for all information that is coming out.

[Jeanette in FL]

9. Yes, because there is so much

It is just so hard to comprehend but it sure seems nefarious to me.

[fooj]

3. There will be no place for these mass murderers to hide.

Peace.

[goclark]

4. Oh my God! I saw him crying on TV

but I didn't know who he was...BUSH GOTTA GO!

[mzmolly]

5. To keep the media out.

Damage control.

[Mugsy]

10. I'm not defending Bush, but there was a legit reason.

This a poor excuse, but since no one is suggesting any reason at all, this was a problem of limited resources. FEMA likely commandeered his electricity and sat-link for their own use.

Poor excuse, but definitely not for the express purpose of keeping the story quiet.

[Sydnie]

22. I call bullshit on that

Keeping in contact with those that are most familiar with those areas, those that have trained to handle emergencies locally, would be a plus, not a minus for them. This man never said that his communication was ever interfered with by any FEMA communications once he reconnected his line, nor did he say that his line was interfering with FEMA before they cut it in the first place.

FEMA is using scanner frequencys. We have threads and threads of the communications being documented right here on DU.

I think they didn't want to let these people get a word out. It's easy to say no one asked for their help if they have no way of communicating with them, right?

During blivet**'s little walkabout the other day, when he was being briefed in that hanger, he was told that all the cell phone providers were out reconstructing their towers and that cell service was coming back on line. They are in the business of re-establishing communications, not in cutting any that already exists.

[johnaries]

24. No, apparently they just pulled the lines and left.

Otherwise the sheriff wouldn't have been able to go back in and reconnect them.

[Gormy Cuss]

32. Cut them through gross incompetence?

Occam's razor guess.

It may have been done intentionally for some reason, but given everything else about the operations, plain incompetence as the reason works for me.

[zippy890]

6. Terra-ists might be usin 'em

AAAARRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

[txindy]

7. They don't want him contacting anyone for help. Or, worse, yet...

Telling the truth to the country. That worked out well for them, though, didn't it? God bless that Sheriff who posted his men with orders to defend those lines.

They (those in the federal admin.) are so evil it is hard to comprehend.

[madokie]

23. He needs to be added to the list of people we want representing

us. So many private citizens, potential leaders coming forth. People I would like to see in some cases in cabinet posts. Don't say they may not be qualified, look at what we have now. jerkoff, brown, bush*, rumsfeld, cheney and the list goes on for ever.

[Catshrink]

8. Because the mis-administration wants to control the message.

The images coming out of NOLA are disturbing and reveal the regus as the racist incompassionate incompetent assholes they are. Cutting communication means cutting the informations lines which means only what Jerk-off says is heard.

Yeah, I'm cynical and angry about what's happened and continues to happen.

[HereSince1628]

11. FEMA turning 1000 points of light into snuffed out candles of hope

FEMA's turning away of assistance is beyond forgiveness.

[Horse with no Name]

12. Because DONATIONS aren't accepted

Help will only be CONTRACTED out. There's alot of money to be made dontcha know?

[salin]

16. Got to line Dick Cheney's pockets (via his Haliburton stock) dontcha know?

[gemlake]

13. Then they can't "request" help

Because, you know, FEMA is only there to respond to the "requests" of local and state officials.

[seito]

14. Heads are going to roll

How on earth did they expect to get away with this?

[Z_I_Peevey]

19. If sociopaths have a fatal flaw, and I think they do,

it is that they believe the whole world is really, deep down where it can't be acknowledged, as selfish and cold as they are. They do not believe there is any such thing as conscience, human decency or goodness.

They thought they could get away with it because they don't believe in decency.

[DoYouEverWonder]

15. God these FEMA guys are everywhere

and doing everything they can to prevent people from getting help. The Govenor needs to order FEMA out of LA.

[gemlake]

18. To save the lives of innocents

The National Guard must remove FEMA.

I agree.

[kurtyboy]

17. I worked for FEMA for years, and my wife still does.

She's in the disaster area, doing her level best to make things happen.

But there have been other governmental forces at work, undercutting everything FEMA attempts. Please, stop saying FEMA when you complain about the government response.

Start the more important meme--

The Department of Homeland Security is the failure here!

Bush wants us all to kill FEMA, and this is just how he's doing it. If he has his way, the whole cadre of experienced, toughened emergency managers will be gone, and in their stead, only the Department of Homeland Security and the Northern Command. If that don't send shivers up and down your spine and you dog's spine, you're on heavy narcotics.

[dave502d]

33. Nice post.n/t

[McCamy Taylor]

20. Excellent question. FEMA administration heads need to be fired.

[RBHam]

21. Can You Handle The Truth?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4627413

[AirAmFan]

25. Broussard answered your question himself: 'BUREAUCRACY committed murder'

Mike Brown, the fired horse-show manager who Dubya assigned to kill off FEMA, has tried to strangle the disaster relief capacity James Lee Witt built up under Clinton with asinine red tape. Brown's minions must follow dozens of nonsensical rules and commandments. Commandment Number One seems to be, "Thou shalt put no other Gods before ME".

Delegations of skilled disaster relief specialists from local government agencies all across the USA have been turned back at checkpoints because they did not have "approval codes" from Washington. Apparently, no "approval codes" were given out until Thursday night, after Dubya's advance teams had established his Friday itinerary of photo-ops.

The bureaucratic mindset is very simple to understand: NOTHING HAPPENS unless "proper procedure" is followed. If people have to die because of bureaucraticv red tape, "so bei it".

At the hearings Barack Obama has called for, I'd especially like to hear thoughts about all this red tape from the New Orleans couple in their 50s who stood in neck-deep water for three whole days, until an ordinary Joe volunteer rescued them in his small canoe:

From http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09.html :

"One among the thousands was Mark Perillat, a 49-year-old Bywater resident. After sending his wife and children to Lake Charles, he had stayed on in their home for three days, venturing out repeatedly into flooded neighborhoods by canoe to rescue trapped people and deliver them to overpasses, bridges -anywhere he could drop them. One canoe load, a couple in their 50s, had stood for three days in neck-deep water, he said."

[dave502d]

26. Because they wanted to hide what happen.n/t

[OneBlueSky]

27. kicked and recommended . . . n/t

.

[Beam Me Up]

28. NEWBIES: PLEASE GIVE US LINKS TO YOUR STORIES!

You've obviously quoted something but what, where? Please, when you do this, copy and paste the LINK from your web browser into your post so we can all find the original for followup and context. Many of us out here archive these stories for future reference. PLEASE DO THIS FOR US! Yes, we can search for them, but you could help save us time by simply posting the link that must be right in front of you.

Edit to add link I found. Scroll halfway down the page for the quote in the OP:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9179790/

[geomon666]

29. Crooksandliars.com the video is there. n/t

[julialnyc]

30. because they don't want any calls to tv any photos from phones

notice how there are no new images coming from the city

[GoldenOldie]

31. Seems that the Federal Governement - George W. Bush wants control of LA.

From snatching all the bits and pieces from TV, DU, etc., it seems as if the Bush Administration was and is attempting to wrest control of LA from Dem leaders.

It was FEMA who prevented the Red Cross from entering NO immediately after the passing of Katrina. It was FEMA who prevented the buses from entering NO to pickup the evacuees. It was FEMA who prevented water and food getting to the victims. It was FEMA Director and Homeland Security Director, Chertoff who claimed the victims had food and water when they didn't. It was FEMA who claimed that LA/NO had not requested assistance. It was the Bush Administration who denied the constant request of LA officials for funding for levees.

Now Gov Blanco receives a memorandum requesting/suggesting they she relinquish her authority and turn it over to the corrupt, imcompetant Federal officials who have lied and decieved her State.

Bush and his merry band of thugs want full control and marshall law in the State of LA.....for what reason? They have not asked AL nor MS to relinquish their authority to them???? WHY?

[Slit Skirt]

35. Bingo.....look at this + suspension of posse comitatus

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

September 4, 2005 -- Reports continue that communications in and around New Orleans are being purposely jammed by the US government (see Sep. 2 article below). The jamming is having an adverse impact on emergency, disaster recovery, and news media communications. The jamming is even affecting police radio frequencies in Jefferson Parish, according to an Australian news report.

Jamming radio and other communications such as television signals is part of a Pentagon tactic called "information blockade" or "technology blockade." The tactic is one of a number of such operations that are part of the doctrine of "information warfare" and is one of the psychological operations (PSYOPS) methods used by the US Special Operations Command. Jamming is currently being used by US forces in Iraq and was used by the US Navy in the botched coup attempt against President Hugo Chavez in April 2002. US Navy ships off the Venezuelan coast jammed diplomatic, military, emergency services, police, and even taxi cab frequencies in Caracas and other large cities.

From "The Manchurian Printer," Simson L. Garfinkel :

"Not surprisingly, the unclassified version of the Pentagon's report barely mentions the offensive possibilities of Information Warfare---capabilities that the Pentagon currently has under development. Nevertheless, these capabilities are alluded to in several of the diagrams, which show a keen interest by the military in OOTW---Operations Other Than War. "They have things like information influence, perception management, and PSYOPS---psychological operations," says Wayne Madsen, a lead scientist at the Computer Sciences Corporation in northern Virginia, who has studied the summer study report. 'Basically, I think that what they are talking about is having the capability to censor and put out propaganda on the networks. That includes global news networks like CNN and BBC, your information services, like CompuServe and Prodigy,' and communications satellite networks. 'When they talk about 'technology blockade,' they want to be able to block data going into or out of a certain region of the world that they may be attacking."'

[Greybnk48]

34. They just said on MSNBC

that a report went out that there were people "posing" as FEMA officials and doing all kinds of things. The MSNBC reporter said he checked with two officials and they said this was not true. There were no FEMA imposters to their knowledge, no reports of this anywhere. I'll bet FEMA floated the rumor in hopes of later claiming that they didn't actually do some of these things.

[Jeanette in FL]

36. I was thinking the same thing

When I was listening to the first report of "phoney" FEMA official calling themselves "FEMA Procurement" stealing cars and demanding possessions. Then they (FEMA) said that they had numerous items stolen such as uniforms, letterheads, badges, id's. As soon as I heard this it sounded like bullsh** to me. I said they want that out there incase of stories like this get out.

Then I started thinking, if they had FEMA articles stolen, how secure were they that someone could steal them. That doesn't make me feel too secure.

[Roy]

37. The story about stolen FEMA equipment and IDs.

Was exposed and being reported this morning as bogus. There was no such theft.

Were they planning to use this to say that the people blocking rescue efforts were not FEMA but the people who stole the items?

Just like the floating of rumors about emergency evacuations were hampered by being shot at? The rampant lawlessness that has been proven not to exist was preventing them from going in and delivering relief supplies?

It seems to me they were trying to preemptively cover all bases for their indifference and ineptitude.