NPR-ATC - aired "Katrina Timeline Unexecuted plans - Shocking!

[demo dutch]

A must hear ....amazing ... especially 90 mtg between Blanco, Nagin and Bush onboard Airforce One, during which GW said "I'll send in the troops if you answer to the WH"

The Audio for this story will be available at approx. 7:30 p.m. ET

NPR:
Katrina Timeline: Unexecuted Plans

All Things Considered, September 9, 2005 · Just days before Hurricane Katrina hit, officials from state, local and federal agencies were hearing that this could very likely be the big one -- the one they knew could devastate the city. They spent the weekend in almost non-stop conference calls -- making sure all the plans for food, water and security were in place. But even before the storm hit, some of the plans started to fall apart. National Guard troops in other states sat ready, waiting for orders that never came. Instead, they were told to wait for an official plan and a chain of command to be established. NPR's Daniel Zwerdling and Laura Sullivan report.

Link
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4839666

[bloom]

1. Oh MY GOD

Well - I guess that is how he does things.

Now - if he would just get impeached for it.

[wurzel]

2. Why did Gov of LA need 24 hours to think about national guard?

She must have had a reason.

[kath]

5. she didn't need 24 hours to think about National Guard - Bush wanted to

federalize everything and strip her of ALL power.

[demo dutch]

8. She advised them before 24 hrs were up that she wasn't playing ball

I think.

[cthrumatrix]

9. BINGO -- I heard a RW radio hate monger say next time he should just

take power...

Very interesting...so next disaster bush just takes over and the

real happenings behind what/how things happened would never be known

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

16. Then Halliburton would have no bid contracts for all of New Orleans,

and not just the military bases.

[notadmblnd]

45. I knew it, I said it here days ago

the bush admin was holding aid back for control of the city. she didn't give it up.. he didn;t send it.

[demo dutch]

6. I know, she probably needed to get advise you don't just relinquish

your state to the Feds, There must be more to it

[stevietheman]

42. Recall that this took place several days after the flooding...

started... the federal assistance should have already started by Tuesday... not Friday! This throwing it on the governor's lap is a reich-wing scheme to play the "blame game" they tell everyone else not to play.

[boston bean]

3. link please. this is huge.

[demo dutch]

4. I posted link but audio not available till 7:30 pm

[boston bean]

7. where did you get the info about the conf. call on A1? I didn't see

it on the site.

I am probably missing it.

[Kolesar]

11. NPR only puts up blurbs at show time

By tomorrow, the audio should be up there at www.npr.org

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. This happened last Friday

when Bush toured the region for the 1st time.

Bush threatened to withhold troops and aid if Blanco didn't sign over control of the NG to the Federal Government.

If Blanco hadn't stood her ground, New Orleans would be well on the way to becoming Fallujah West and the hordes of scary black people would be endangering the rest of the country soon. We should all thank god that Bush did not get away with his little devious plan.

[boston bean]

15. do we actually hear bush saying this? or is it someone recounting?

sp

[DoYouEverWonder]

20. This didn't happen in public

but from the sounds of it there were at least a few people from both sides that were present. Supposedly Blanco and Bush had a 90 minute meeting and in the video from right after they finished Bush looked royally pissed and Blanco looked like the cat that ate the canary.

[AbbyR]

29. I can see how RW folks could make it look bad ...

so I'll need help here - they will say that she had to sign over the National Guard in order for help to go in. Someone - is that true? I'm going to need ammunition to use in defense of the "It's all her fault" line.

Thanks, folks. I'm getting much better at standing MY ground, with your help.

[DoYouEverWonder]

35. Isn't it apparent that that's not true?

Only after Blanco stood up to Bush did the rescue operation go into full swing. Why? Because Blanco walked away from the Feds, hired Clinton's former FEMA Director James Witt to take charge and then all of a sudden things started to happen.

That opened the door for Blanco to bring in Gen. Honore to take charge of the National Guard. Otherwise, Rumsfeld would have been in charge of the LA National Guard and instead of a rescue operation they would still be running a military operation which is what we had last week.

[notadmblnd]

46. no, only after there was an outcry from MSM did the aid go out.

nt

[DoYouEverWonder]

47. The outcry came from the Internet

and the reporters on the ground during the disaster. Both of us forced Bush to end his vacation two whole days early and finally by Friday he got around to visiting the region. That was the first time the Governor could meet him face to face in order to get things straight. When she walked out of the meeting and took control, the rescue operation began.

[notadmblnd]

49. I know that.. but MSM finally got the message and that is why

I said they threw the fit. I was glued to my keyboard until just a few days ago. Many nights I didn't even sleep while listening to the scanners in NOLA. We need to go back through the scanner threads and revisit all the goings on that week.

[DoYouEverWonder]

50. Plus all the threads from the first week of the storm

there is a ton of good information about what really happened in those threads.

BTW: Good work on the scanner threads. I'm sure all that work will be worth it in the long run.

[Pirate Smile]

36. She did NOT sign authority over and look at all of the troops in there now

It wasn't necessary for her to do it to get troops. Bush was trying to pressure her to do what he wanted.

[demo dutch]

14. It's not on the site. It just aired on All Things Considered

at the end of the story they mentioned to go to their website. I went to the site to find the audio where they mention the AF One bit. (During his Friday visit to the region)

The whole thing was a little under 30 min and discusses the entire mechanics from the moment hurricane threads went up to the moment troops arrived. A variety of sources werere interviewed for the piece. When it becomes available I'll will post the audio on DU

[boston bean]

17. can you pm it to me. sometimes i can't find the threads i need to.

if it no trouble of course.

Thanks in advance.

[demo dutch]

19. You mean email?

[boston bean]

21. private message through DU.

[demo dutch]

26. No problem. It is a reporter recounting what transpired at the

meeting. I assume several people where present at A1 from each side. Someone who was present must have filled in the reporter. I'm assuming NPR checks their facts before broadcasting something like that because It's pretty damaging

[demo dutch]

33. Found another interesting link...on DU discussing it

snip
Well, here is the story: a few nights ago, he met with Gov. Blanco. He isolated her, and attempted to get her to sign an agreement that partly would have exonerated the Feds and FEMA, and placed blame squarely on the state government. Well, I see in these NY Times articles that Karl Rove is orchestrating this cowardly attempt to diffuse blame. This story, by the way, comes from someone very high up in Blanco's administration.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4644904

If he indeed isolated her.. then it's her word against his!!!

[boston bean]

10. kick

[QuettaKid]

13. KICK KICK KICK!!!!

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[elehhhhna]

22. uh oh. can't wait!

[lateo]

18. I heard this a little while ago.

It sounded like to me that the LA government handled everything the way they were supposed to.

[electron_blue]

23. omg, thank god for npr

can't wait to hear the audio

[mirandapriestly]

31. For A while there I was afraid NPR was drinking the KoolAid

but it sounds like they have come through on this

[correlator]

57. But they had to go and ruin it by sucking up to Wal-Mart

Yeah, ATC did a great job on the Katrina response today, but then they blew all their cred with me when they ran this story:

All Things Considered, September 9, 2005 · Wal-Mart was able to get essential supplies to rural parishes in Louisiana before FEMA or the Red Cross arrived. The company's logistics and transportation system made it well suited to respond to an emergency like Katrina.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4839696

This really scares me because Wal-Mart was sponsoring NPR shows for a while earlier this year.

[geniph]

24. So he basically held the emergency supplies hostage

demanding complete power. He LET PEOPLE DIE BECAUSE HE WANTED 100% CONTROL OVER THE SITUATION. That might be the most indecent thing I've ever heard in my life.

[Horse with no Name]

25. ....

:wow:

[Be Brave]

27. Thank you for this post! And a kick for you. n/t

[EVDebs]

28. How does IEM, Inc's SE LA / NO FEMA outsourced hurricane plan

fit into all this ? www.ieminc.com shows their plan was to kick in when state/local efforts were overwhelmed...


IEM Team to Develop Catastrophic Hurricane Disaster Plan for New Orleans & Southeast Louisiana
June 3, 2004
http://www.ieminc.com/Whats_New/Press_Releases/pressrelease060304_Catastrophic.htm

"The IEM team will complete a functional exercise on a catastrophic hurricane strike in Southeast Louisiana and use results to develop a response and recovery plan. A catastrophic event is one that can overwhelm State, local and private capabilities so quickly that communities could be devastated without Federal assistance and multi-agency planning and preparedness."

Also, what about the busing by FEMA and the state ? Most of the FEMA buses were out of state charters. I understand the state used mostly local school buses (p.44-45 of the current Newsweek shows this, with the school buses on one side of the highway and charter buses from AL and TN on the other side of the highway). My web research shows buses from as far as Cincinnatti OH and Hickory NC also were contracted for by FEMA.

Why weren't buses contracted for relief of the evacuees at the Superdome and convention center contracted for in advance ? That is the $64K question IMHO.

[Just Me]

41. Bush blocked those activities: he wanted to militarize and privatize,...

,...(eg profiteer) of the tragedy. Just like Iraq,...only without bombs.

[AnnInLa]

52. EVDebs: the plan was never funded, never implemented

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050909/ap_on_re_us/katrina_what_planners_feared;_ylt=ArYNrJmu816Pc0H8pMq2Hx9I2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

snip

On the defensive, White House officials have said Louisiana and New Orleans officials did not give FEMA full control over disaster relief. The so-called Hurricane Pam plan, which was never put into effect, envisions giving the federal government authority to act without waiting for an SOS from local officials.

Brown, relieved of his onsite Katrina duties Friday, said he was kept apprised of Hurricane Pam planning from the beginning. He assumes the report also was sent to superiors at the
Homeland Security Department, "but can I put it in the hands of Secretary Ridge or Secretary Chertoff? No."

snip



"We designed this to be a worst-case but plausible storm," said Madhu Beriwal, chief executive of Innovative Emergency Management Inc. of Baton Rouge, hired by FEMA to conduct the exercise.

The 2004 report was designed to be the first step toward producing a comprehensive hurricane response plan, jointly approved and implemented by federal, state and city officials. But a lack of funding prohibited planners from quickly following up on the 2004 simulation.

"Money was not available to do the follow-up," Brown said.

((You guys should really go to the above link and read the entire AP report...evidently, AP has it's hands on the whole report. But, since it was never funded and implemented, it's a moot point.))

[demo dutch]

30. Keep kicking this thread

[tilsammans]

32. Kick!

:kick:

[nookiemonster]

34. Kick!

n/t

[Angry Girl]

37. Why are we surprised?

It's all deliberate, as far as I'm concerned. We'll never know the whole truth. It's genocide with kickbacks.

Read this entry to show you how these bastards will continue to make money.

Funeral-Gate Rises Again
http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/?view=plink&id=1359

More stuff here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4712365

And we gave FEMA $50 BILLION to administer? Are we insane?
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_09_04.php#006462

Nightweed's Hurricane Katrina Aid Organizations

[IndyOp]

38. It's on NPR?!?!? THANK GOD!

We've known about this for a week - but I did NOT think it would ever appear in the mainstream corporate media.

Holy, holy freak -- :freak:

[Window]

39. Dayum!

Kick

[girl gone mad]

40. I'm listening now.

Edit: Says FEMA was supposed to be prepared to provide food and water to survivors.


No commucication because the generators that could have been used to recharge handheld radios for communication were in Iraq.

This is pretty damning stuff.

[teach1st]

43. I'm listening too...

Tuesday morning: William Lockey, chief coordinator for FEMA, doesn't seem to realize that two failed levees are flooding the city: "I don't want to alarm anybody that New Orleans is filling up like a bowl. That just's not happening."

[stevietheman]

44. Don't forget to listen to Part 2 -- here's the link

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4839669

[bloom]

48. In the next hour NPR allowed David Brooks to spin it back to the locals

I hate it when they do that. Have David Brooks and some other guy from the Washington Post and sit around with the commentator and have a discussion and spin the story to how they (Bush&Co.) want it spun.

[Wordie]

51. Is there, or will there be a text transcript? I'd like to see it. n/t

[nashville_brook]

53. zwerdling freaking rocks!

he's my npr fave!

[TayTay]

54. kick - Amazing! n/t

[Roxy66]

55. I listened to it on my break at work tonight

It was amazing...I wish I could have listened to it all

[Nothing Without Hope]

56. another thread on this- blackmailing of Blanco by Bush to grab civil power

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4715924
Thread title: NPR Reports: GW to Blanco"I'll send in the troops if you answer to the WH"

MP3 files and more documentation (like the Wash Post article on the blackmailing attempt) in this thread. Also many related links and background discussion on civil vs martial law and much more.

Does anyone STILL believe the delays and blocks of aid by federal agents was not deliberate?

And how about FEMA cutting the emergency phone lines in Jefferson Parish? They were caught that time, and the local authorities mounted an armed guard to keep FEMA from cutting them again after they were repaired. How many OTHER communication lines did FEMA or other federal agents compromise without detection?{/b]

I believe there were multiple goals in this deliberate manipulation of a diaster into a hugely murderous catastrophe. One is a goal the neocons have been working toward for years: suspension of the Constitution and declaration of martial law. You can bet that any "civil disturbances" around the country protesting the hurricane victims' treatment will be hyped and fabricated into something that could be used as a "justification" for extension of martial law. The regulations are already on the books and it can still happen. Don't dismiss it as tinfoilhattery - read the posts and links in the other thread.