Does FEMA have death counts and is suppressing them ?

[Spinzonner]

I've heard lots of anecdotal reports of large numbers of bodies and deaths in hospitals but the actual reported numbers seem to be kept low and limited to so-called 'confirmed'.

Any else think that FEMA as some fair estimates and good rough counts but is withholding them to protect the adminsitration ?

[KyndCulture]

1. I'd bet my lunch money on it...

[jus_the_facts]

2. here's how they're *protecting* the people of New Orleans.....

[HereSince1628]

3. I think all the death counts are too preliminary to matter.

There are still mortal remains in the wreckage in Alabama, Mississippi, and in New Orleans, the people are _STILL_ dying.

To say it is a terrible loss of life does not capture the horror of it.

[FormerRepublican]

4. I suspect that we'll never know the full truth about this disaster.

The more I see, the more disgusted and revolted at those things in Washington I become.

Hearing those things try to spin this horror into back-slapping congratulations for themselves is completely revolting.

(Heck, I'm running out of adjectives sufficiently bad to describe them.)

[madrchsod]

5. way to soon

but never fear we will know the truth---to many people are really pissed off-----bush can`t hide the truth

[applegrove]

6. You kidding? They lost 25,000 people! Didn't know they were in

convention centre for two days. How could you possibly expect them to have any information?

Need info? Go to CNN. Until they fire the neocons Bush placed at the head of FIMA..they will be useless.

[Divernan]

7. Not FEMA, but Chertoff/Dept. Homeland Security

He tells Brown at FEMA what to do. Brown is a lapdog for Chertoff. Please stop trashing all of FEMA for what Bush's political appointees have done in crippling a formerly excellent federal agency. I know one group of FEMA people on their way to Texas today (they were waiting, like the rest of FEMAs career civil servants for permission from Washington to start working on this disaster). These people will be putting in 12 or more hours a day, seven days a week, working with and for the victims - it would be very stressful work on only a 40 hour a week basis.

When's the last time any DUers put in 80-100 hour weeks for months on end. FEMA workers will be away from their families and homes for many months - they may get one weekend a month to fly home, try to take care of personal obligations, etc., and then go right back to their jobs. They will not be with their families for Thanksgiving, and probably not for Christmas. It takes a special kind of person to dedicate themselves to jobs with FEMA. The career FEMA people, NOT THE INCOMPETENT POLITICAL HACKS/APPOINTEES BUSH HAS PUT IN THERE TO GUT THE ORGANIZATION, are heros and patriots in the best tradition - they get no personal recognition - they get no medals. But they show up day after day and do a very difficult but largely thankless job.

[Lindsay]

9. Point well taken, Diveman.

From now on I will use "FEMA political hacks" and not just "FEMA" when I post.

That's what I've meant all along, and I suspect most other people have as well.

[OneBlueSky]

8. rather than death counts, I'd like to see them rescue the people . . .

still stranded in homes, apartments, businesses, and public buildings throughout the city . . . online message boards (e.g. nola.com) are just full of pleas concerning hundreds if not thousands of people in desperate situations . . .

though it's certainly too late for many (e.g. those trapped in attics), those still alive need and deserve urgent attention . . .

unless, like Iraqi civilians, their lives don't count because they're not white . . . I would like to believe this is not the case in a major, historic city in America . . .

[Lone_Wolf]

10. Although it is something they would do, I think it's too early for a count

n/t

[Pepperbelly]

11. they do not have a clue at this point ...

I suspect that there are so, so many dead lying quietly in their homes. The rest of it is that they may never know. Some foreign sources I have read claim that the alligators have been feasting. :(

[Totally Committed]

12. Of course they do! Believe it!

Do not trust death-counts from anyone the US government can threaten, intimidate or control. They won't be real.

They don't want you to know the magnitude of this until you are too tired to care or until (someday, off in the future) you are not paying attention. Remember how long they were "readjusting" the number of "victims" of 9/11. Then, the higher numbers benefitted them, and so the "adjustments" were always downward. Now, the smaller the number, the better for the administration. I say we won't be told the genuine number of dead until AFTER the 2006 elections.

Or, maybe I'm just too cynical.

TC