Red Cross and DHS..FEDS OR LOCALS?

[Comadreja]

There is an actual STATE Dept. of Homeland Security in Louisiana, and the Freeps are claiming that this is the agency that kept out the RED CROSS. It is impossible to prove otherwise by the RC's announcements on it.

<http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/homeland/default.htm>

[Eric J in MN]

1. There is a discussion of this at Media Matters

http://mediamatters.org/items/200509090002

[mirandapriestly]

2. From the looks of the following article it looks like

the word came from the Feds and the state HS was following orders. I think the Red Cross people were in contact with the locals, but that the ultimate authority was Federal. I saw them doing this too, I was so mad. There is also an article on Daily Kos someone called the Red cross and it was FEMA who gave the orders. (I don't have that one handy, but it is probably still up. It was a few days ago.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05246/565143.stm

Homeland Security won't let Red Cross deliver food
Saturday, September 03, 2005

By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

As the National Guard delivered food to the New Orleans convention center yesterday, American Red Cross officials said that federal emergency management authorities would not allow them to do the same.

Other relief agencies say the area is so damaged and dangerous that they doubted they could conduct mass feeding there now.

"The Homeland Security Department has requested and continues to request that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans," said Renita Hosler, spokeswoman for the Red Cross.

"Right now access is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities. We have been at the table every single day . We cannot get into New Orleans against their orders."

Calls to the Department of Homeland Security and its subagency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, were not returned yesterday.

Though frustrated, Hosler understood the reasons. The goal is to move people out of an uninhabitable city, and relief operations might keep them there. Security is so bad that she fears feeding stations might get ransacked.

"It's not about fault and blame right now. The situation is like an hourglass, and we are in the smallest part right now. Everything is trying to get through it," she said. "They're trying to help people get out."

there is more

[mirandapriestly]

3. This is why I don't trust the Red Cross

from your link:

"While Media Matters for America has found no evidence that Evans or the Red Cross was working with the White House to project a uniform message, Evans's rhetorical shift is consistent with the Bush administration's efforts to to blame and impute the motives of Blanco and other state and local officials. As Fox News general assignment reporter Major Garrett noted, because of the close relationship between FEMA and the Red Cross, the Red Cross has a direct interest in how FEMA looks to the media and the public: "When FEMA is tarred and feathered, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army are tarred and feathered."

[Moderator]

5. mirandapriestly

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DU Moderator

[mirandapriestly]

4. Here is an important part from Media Matters:

"In touting Evans's assertion that state officials blocked the Red Cross from New Orleans to avoid encouraging people to stay or return, Fox News and others have OMITTED ONE KEY FACT:: IT WAS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THAT WAS PRIMARILY RESPONSIBLE FOR COORDINATING OPERATIONS, INCLUDING THE ACTIVITIES OF THE RED CROSS. PRESUMABLY, IF FEMA HAD DEEMED IT NECESSARY FOR THE RED CROSS TO ENTER NEW ORLEANS, THE AGENCY COULD HAVE INTERVENED AT ANY TIME. Both the federal Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) December 2004 National Response Plan (NRP) and the Red Cross' charter clearly place the Red Cross under the purview of FEMA. Further, the response plan stipulates that federal agencies should strive for full coordination with state officials but not allow such coordination to "impede the rapid deployment and use of critical resources"

[Spazito]

6. The FEMA directors are appointed by bush, not the Governors

they are the representative of the federal body not representatives of the state as shown in this article:

"Shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, President Bush appointed Pennington to head the Region 10 office of FEMA, overseeing the government's disaster response in Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Idaho. He makes $138,000 a year."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002484649_pennington10m.html

So, again, the freeps are talking out of their asses, what else is new.