FEMA Deliberately Sabotaging Hurricane Relief Efforts

[bassman79]

Numerous credible sources have come forward with examples of how the Federal Emergency Management Agency is deliberately sabotaging Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in New Orleans.

Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard appeared on Meet the Press Sunday and broke down in tears as he described FEMA's criminal activities.

"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."

Why would FEMA, an organization supposedly tasked with helping in a time of crisis, deliberately cut police communication lines? This is a blatant example of sabotage and a sick push to make the disaster worse. In carrying out these actions, FEMA are no better than the animals who shot at rescue workers and helicopters.

We now have multiple reports of police being ordered to guard key infrastructures in order to defend them from FEMA federal agents. Sheriffs in numerous different counties are guarding highways to keep FEMA out. FEMA is being treated as the enemy because they are sabotaging key facilities in an effort to intentionally worsen the already desperate scenes of horror in New Orleans.

[stopbush]

1. Destroying the village to save the village.

Where did we hear that?

[Caution]

2. oh please. the situation is bad without a crackpot conspiracy theory

Enough with this crap already. The total incompetence is enough to bury this administration.

[Lerkfish]

4. actually, there have been many reports of FEMA turning back rescue units

what is crackpot about it? I've seen a lot of threads talking about it here at DU with links to credible sourcs like the chicago tribune, the Orlando sentinel, etc.

I wish I could search for them for you, but can't because of DU's level three restrictions.

[bpilgrim]

51. Here is an Archive of AUDIO, VIDEO and IMAGES that back up the charges

http://news.globalfreepress.com/gallery/index.php?cat=19

psst... pass the word :bounce:

peace

[John Doe II]

54. Here is one

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4658479

[Lars39]

6. What's that phrase, "Ignorance is bliss"?

[Joe Chi Minh]

28. And wilful ignorance (i.e. blasphemy against the Holy Spirit,

the term used by Christ, or Invincible Ignorance, in Catholic theology) is the sin for which, in Christ's own words, "there can be no forgiveness, because it is an eternal sin."

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. There is nothing crackpot about the criminality that we are seeing

These stories are coming from state and local officials throughout the region.

Even before the storm HS/FEMA has done EVERYTHING they could to hamper the rescue and disaster response. There is a large body of evidence to prove this at this point.

FEMA was put under Military Command when it was folded into the Dept of HS. This was a big mistake. Rummie has been calling the shots from the start and he has run this even worse then he has run the Iraq War if that is even possible.

This whole operation was a Giant FLOP. A FAILURE TO LEAD ON PURPOSE.

[SittingBull]

26. or though negligence?? nt

*blurp

[Jackpine Radical]

41. Was it FDR who said you should never assume malice when

incompetence is a sufficient explanation?

Well, guess what. Mere incompetence is not a sufficient explanation for the obviously deliberate acts of malice that have been perpetrated by FEMA.

What kind of mere incompetence would lead you to cut communication lines? To withhold water from people in desperate need? To send away National Guardsmen, trained firefighters, a Navy ship with a 600-bed hospital and water desalination equipment?

No, we're long past the point where incomptetence is a credible explanation.

[Raksha]

56. Well, incompetence is NOT a sufficient explanation!

FEMA has been consistently sabotaging relief efforts.

Edited to add: Sorry, I didn't read your note all the way through before posting my reply. I see you came to the same conclusion I did, but then what other reasonable conclusion can anyone draw from the evidence?

[all.of.me]

27. but why? why is this happening?

what is the big picture? (i am just asking questions. i'm not sure anyone has the answers, but this is what's in my head. the truth will surface eventually.)

[bassman79]

49. So they can run a federal martial law takeover exercise

[Peace Patriot]

55. See my answer to Caution, above (top of thread) for my spec on

what's going down. I also think that the pending Plame indictments might have bearing--White House in disarray (divided between the indictable and the non-indictable?), possible Bush/Cheney divide (was Bush deliberately stranded out there in publicityland, with no clue? --that birthday cake photo op of Bush seems incredible to me; how could his handlers let that happen? --then, after Halliburton gets the first contract, the PR machine gears back up. Was Cheney promised martial law in LA, all the better to loot it, in exchange for not ratting on Bush? Is that why Bush/FEMA committed these insane acts of blockading help--Bush was under pressure?...I dunno. SOMETHING'S going on.) (--and truly, you have to think like a mobster to figure these people out.)

(Note: We really, really need to throw Diebold and ES&S election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW. That's my advice.)

[mattclearing]

10. You obviously haven't been paying attention.

FEMA has been blocking more than it has been sending in.

[spuddonna]

12. Can you explain why FEMA would cut communication lines ?

I mean, without a conspiracy theory? Can you give me any plausible reason why a govt agency would cut communication lines in an emergency? The man that said this was Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard. He said this while talking to Tim Russert on Meet the Press.

[DoYouEverWonder]

24. That one may be hard to prove

The big question is why did they withhold food and water for the people of New Orleans?

They had food staged BEFORE the storm and they never brought it in.

They made no attempt to help the victims in any significant way for 5 days after the storm. Why?

[EVDebs]

25. Outsourced contracts...see post #20.

The modus operandi of Bush's administration policy is to outsource and privatize as much as possible. This socializes the risks and privatizes the profits.

Get with the program ! Now, they tell us, don't investigate this...yet hurricane season's not finished with until around November. How many else will die because of outsourcing ?

[Just Me]

35. I do believe they were hard at work assigning private contracts,...

,...rather than allowing either government resources or volunteers flood the area with assistance. I would DEFINITELY demand to see every single contract that has been awarded over the last ten days and for the following three months.

[Vincardog]

40. Simply because NO votes Democratic.

Don't forget when aWoL was asked to comment the movie
'THE GRAPES OF WRATH'

"THE POOR ARE POOR BECAUSE THEY ARE LAZY."
This from the Laziest occupant of the pResidency ever
We have to impeach the Chimp.

[SoCalDemocrat]

57. Many were taken out by flood waters

If the flood waters didn't do it and FEMA did, the reason would be to

a) prevent transmission of photo/video/reports the don't want leaked
b) set the groundwork for expensive contractor repairs of infrastructure

[Just Me]

13. Statements of fact do not constitute "conspiracies".

Just in case you have become completely integrated in the 1984-type propaganda, I though I'd refamiliarize you with reality.

FEMA did, IN FACT, turn away NUMEROUS entities attempting to deliver aid.

[bloom]

14. Are you saying Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard is lying?

this has been posted on at least 522 message boards - it's from the transcripts of Meet the Press.

People who think everything is peachy with the government and who don't want to believe FEMA would be doing this crap don't need to be hassling the rest of us.

[ananda]

17. crackpot? I don't think so..

Why would anyone lie about this? I can't think of a single reason.

Sue

[Walt Starr]

23. Ordinarily, I am one of the first to jump on "conspiracy theories"

this time, however, there are multiple charges and this definitely ebars investigation. At a minum, we have depraved indifference resulting in homicide.

[SeanQ]

29. Both Brussard and Lee have reported this on national media,

even FOX news is reporting that aid is being turned away by FEMA.

[Pacifist Patriot]

31. Please explain how statements of fact constitute a crackpot

conspiracy theory. If anything it's excellent evidence of the total incompetence.

[truth2power]

47. they wouldn't let the Red Cross into the city. Why? n/t

[TankLV]

48. Oh my fucking GOD, man! GET A FUCKING CLUE!

OPEN YOUR GODDAMN EYES & EARS!

I cannot believe someone can be so utterly CLUELESS!

[Peace Patriot]

53. You haven't been paying attention, Caution. You need to see this

thread, which has begun a list of all the reports of FEMA blockading help, refusing help, keeping help out, not calling upon offered help, and staged and ready help, sabotaging local efforts, and telling other states NOT TO COME without proper legal request (insane, in an emergency like this--got to get rescuers on the move, do paper work later). There was an entire US battleship right offshore, with food, water, med facilities, rescue helicopters, all set to go, couldn't get a presidential order (report by a Lt Commander at the Pentagon). It is incredible, really--while thousands of people were drowning, dying of dehydration, starving, injured, sick.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4665492

This was not incompetence, in my opinion. It's too massive. It had to have been deliberate. And Bush eating birthday cake, and Cheney "gone fishing," while all this was happening--the governor, mayors begging for help, no help arriving, help being turned away by FEMA. A serious crime was committed here, with the motive likely being Bushite disaster profiteering. Halliburton got the first contract. Then and only then did Cheney come out of hiding, and cancel a trip to Canada "due to Katrina." I've no doubt they have big plans for NO--maybe a high security enclave for the rich, near oil supplies, with the poor all attritioned off, or dumped on other states. They sought martial law and federalization of the LA Nat'l Guard. Blanco resisted, and demanded their FEMA head back out, who had done all this horror to turning help away (and got Clinton's FEMA guy to come in). It looks to me they were using the sick and dying as an extortion item to strongarm her into martial law. There is even evidence of misdirection--those helicopters that didn't show up to sandbag the levees; cutting of communication lines (by FEMA); the supposed shots that stopped the Superdome food/water drop (FAA spokeswoman says, no such shots).

We really need to try to get on top of things early, when the Bush Cartel goes into profiteering mode like this (lies, misdirection, coverup, with massive human consequences). It's looking a lot like the Iraq war, in fact--all the deliberate chaos and utter disregard for human life--used to grab resources, to commit theft (their prime motive, in my opinion, in almost everything they do). It's not conspiratorial to think this way, Caution. It's just street smarts. Something we're all having to learn.

[Raksha]

58. Great summary, Peace Patriot.

I've been following the unfolding story of FEMA's inactions from the beginning, just like everyone else here, but you put it together very well. Is it all right if I "borrow" your post to send out as an e-mail to my friends and repost on another forum?

[Lerkfish]

3. the only conclusion I can come up with is trying to create anarchy so

they can push martial law through.

nothing else makes sense.

[walkon]

5. Mike Ruppert and From the Wilderness

has an interesting and frightening take on the potential danger from FEMA. We must be very careful and realize that every Bush FUBAR has a hidden agenda and it is not about democracy. And it is not just the neocons agenda -

What Are Their Names
David Crosby

I wonder who they are
The men who really run this land
And I wonder why they run it
With such a thoughtless hand

What are their names
And on what streets do they live
I'd like to ride right over
This afternoon and give
Them a piece of my mind
About peace for mankind
Peace is not an awful lot to ask

Greeks Bearing Gifts @
www.fromthewilderness.com

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Fortunately FEMA got neutered this weekend

When Governor Blanco refused to give up control of her state to Bush, and then went out and hired Clinton's former FEMA Director.

It was at the same time that General Honore showed up and put the National Guard in control of running the disaster response and then things started to actually happen.

Both of those people did a good job and FEMA's plan for control of New Orleans was foiled. At least for the moment.

[kster]

34. This is what

I have been thinking. I think the plan whatever it was, backfired and now they are trying to cover it up.

[bloom]

30. It doesn't hurt to keep it in mind...

People will have to be clear about what they expect. Food, water, rescue from floodwaters. Not more martial law. Not more soldiers keeping out volunteers and keeping the survivors in. Assistance, not shooting to kill and killing communications and keeping out the press.


From your link:
"If this thinking is not curtailed, then as the economic collapse of the United States becomes ever harder to conceal, FEMA will have been given a green light to impose the most draconian and heartless of measures in our country. FEMA will have the ability to divide the US up into ten autonomous regions, independently governed.Denver will be key to that decentralization and I note with irony that the CIA recently announced it was moving its National Resources (formerly Domestic Operations) Division to Denver (Washington Post, May 5, 2005) . FEMA will have the authority to confiscate any private property, food, medicine, personal vehicles, water supplies and even to impress citizens into forced labor and relocation as needed. FEMA will be able to override all local governments in a declared national emergency, quarantine neighborhoods and compel people to receive untested (for efficacy) vaccinations of drugs which may be dangerous (remember the smallpox vaccines?) and which will only enrich the pharmaceutical companies. FEMA will have the authority to confiscate firearms and gold held by private individuals. The government records proving what I say here are available in abundance and have been widely circulated over the internet for years. The little that remains of our Bill of Rights will simply cease to exist with a Code Red terror alert or another Katrina. And global warming makes another Katrina somewhere inevitable."

[bushisanidiot]

7. I'm starting to wonder who the "snipers" were who were supposedly

shooting at the rescue attempts.. that never did make any sense, but it provided an excuse to stay out and drag their feet longer..

[kansasblue]

21. makes much more sense that it was just people signaling for help

shooting into the air to ask/warn for help. FAA

Laura Brown, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman in Washington, said she had no such report.

"We're controlling every single aircraft in that airspace and none of them reported being fired on," she said, adding that the FAA was in contact with the military as well as civilian aircraft.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1087205

[Karenina]

22. No pilots reported being shot at.

[Just Me]

37. Exaggeration of facts for an excuse to NEGLECT Americans in need.

I sincerely believe it was all about profiteering efforts by the BushCO/neoCON regime,...they needed an excuse for a window of time to arrange profiteering off American disaster/tragedy/suffering/misery. They just DO NOT A GIVE A DAMN ABOUT AMERICAN LIVES. They don't give a damn about any human life unless they can exploit it!!!

[bassman79]

50. EXCELLENT QUESTION

Who were the snipers? Did they even exist? When FEMA stopped airlifts, it was cause "they were being shot at". Why? What's the point? When FEMA turned away everyone with boats, it was cause someone in a boat got "shot at", whole nother part of town, different type of residents, why would they shoot?
Total bullshit, a cover story for the sabotage. And a way to demonize the residents of NO to devictimize them and take the heat off BushCo.

[mattclearing]

8. It is to preserve the job for contractors. Saving lives is an afterthought

Nominated.

[SmokingJacket]

18. Exactly. The worse things get, the more money can go to

private contractors and their shareholders.

Taking as much out of government hands and filtering it first through private hands is the point.

[all.of.me]

15. fema IS the enemy!

i can't think of a better word.

[OctOct1]

16. lets put the pieces together

You know Bush was falling in the polls because of Cindy
You know that he needed a 9/11
You know they would capitalize on anything
You know FEMA was held back
You know that when Bush showed up everything started moving
You know that that Texas was the place to move people to. (Duh)

If you compare what they did for Hurricane Frances last year and what they did for Katrina, it is so obvious.
They purposely held back and even stopped help from coming

Can anyone say Giuliani enough
This is a call for strong Republican leadership and the crushing of Democrats

There spin goal is as follows
Democrat = weak
Democrat = failure
Democrat - entitlements
Democrats are wieners
Democrats are creating there own demise.



Example of today’s spin
Rush just had a caller that was from a parish outside of NO.
Mostly republican parish, of course. And these republicans got there act together and cleaned up and are doing fine. Whereas NO is full of democrats that want the Gov. to bail them out.
To top it off, they have Lieberman doing the investigation. HA, HA.
I am from CT and I know Lieberman will give it to them on a silver platter.
We have to stop this madness.
I want to see all of our Democratic leaders protecting there own and going after FEMA.
And then finding the trail to the top.
There has to be a dirty memo somewhere.
Lock Michael Brown up and seize his computer.
Well, maybe that’s a little overboard

[SeanQ]

32. Not overboard at all - one death deserves a full investigation

how much more action does hundreds or thousands of deaths demand?

[Joe Chi Minh]

19. If that doesn't cry to Heaven for vengeance,

I don't know what does!

[EVDebs]

20. FEMA outsourced planning and evacuation efforts, sabotaging

the 'improvise, adapt, overcome' efforts of Broussard and others


Wayne Madsens' article FEMA Outsourced New Orleans Disaster Plans
http://www.wnymedia.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=45&Itemid=35

Companies like IEM, Inc. and the busing charter companies (from out of state) got the planning and evacuation contracts.

IEM's 'plan' wasn't worth squat and the busing should have used all locally available buses and drivers planned for in advance. Instead, buses from as far away as Ohio and North Carolina were contracted for by FEMA, who didn't even know the Superdome/ConventionCenter thousands were waiting and waiting and waiting for rescue...until the media told them and the mayor shouted in their ears !

www.ieminc.com

[txaslftist]

33. My take is that it was about control...

...FEMA wanted to be the only ones doing anything in NO so they could take all the credit for the good they did.

Unfortunately, they didn't do any good and they made the situation much worse by keeping others out.

Who was it who barred the 500 rescue boats from NO, anyway? Was that FEMA?

[Just Me]

36. The corporatocracy HAD to take care of business profits, first.

All available governmental and volunteer resources were haulted until the profiteers could exploit this human tragedy.

That's my take. Halliburton has a no-bid contract. I wonder how many and what other private companies with links to the administration will enjoy "arranged" taxpayer-funded contracts.

This administration is leeching our country. BASTARDS!!!!

[Vincardog]

38. Failed Evacuation Murder Americans. These Fucks must be thrown out

[Imagevision]

39. Seems Fema is into some kind of cover-up or something - we'll

see if major networks will still be reporting from New Orleans...if that stops -- it'll be a major concern for all americans because it would have to do with Bushco covering tracks...this is fucking nuts!

[cthrumatrix]

42. FEMA is getting "cover their ass coverge" from Lou Dobbs

[renate]

43. I'm a little concerned that Michael Brown will be the only one blamed

because FEMA has been so much worse than useless. Maybe they're trying to make his role so egregiously awful and criminal in order to say the failure on the federal level was his fault and his alone, and everything else was the mayors' and governors' faults.

I don't think it'll be possible... Nero was on camera fiddling while the Gulf Coast drowned--but still, I worry.

[hlthe2b]

44. We need to get Greg Palast on this...

Why not summarize as much as possible and forward to him (gregpalast.com)

[schrodingers_cat]

45. Even my "I only get my news from the news" neighbors are aware of this

We all sat out back and watched the sun set, and earnestly discussed how we would band our resources together in the event of a major catastrophe(major faultline sits.25 miles away), because, as one of them put it, "the thing we learned this week, if nothing else, is that we are all on our own if the &%*$# hits the fan."

This is not my America........

[gate of the sun]

46. we all need to digest if true

what this really means for us as citizens.

[drm604]

52. This kind of fits with what I was discussing in another thread.

On BBC: Northern Command was in position, waiting for Presidential orders.

This wasn't outright sabotage but it appears that it may have been a deliberate withholding of help.