Rumsfeld kept rescue choppers from Katrina

[cal04]

by SteinL
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/5/17/732410/-Rumsfeld-kept-rescue-choppers-from-KatrinaTurf-War

The GQ article about SecDef Rumsfeld is now up. Frank Rich referenced it in today's column.
http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_9217

There you'll find the cover pages of the top secret notes Rumsfeld sent to the WH - with biblical quotations above battlefield images.

But you'll also find this:

a final story of Rumsfeld’s intransigence begins on Wednesday, August 31, 2005. Two days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans—and the same day that Bush viewed the damage on a flyover from his Crawford, Texas, retreat back to Washington—a White House advance team toured the devastation in an Air Force helicopter. Noticing that their chopper was outfitted with a search-and-rescue lift, one of the advance men said to the pilot, "We’re not taking you away from grabbing people off of rooftops, are we?"

"No, sir," said the pilot. He explained that he was from Florida’s Hurlburt Field Air Force base—roughly 200 miles from New Orleans—which contained an entire fleet of search-and-rescue helicopters. "I’m just here because you’re here," the pilot added. "My whole unit’s sitting back at Hurlburt, wondering why we’re not being used."


Choppers with rescue air lift equipment were standing hours away, in the hundreds, and had not been deployed!
And why hadn't the choppers been sent?
Because Rumsfeld was engaged in a turf war, and it would take days before he finally sent in both troops and released the materiel.

The US military had hundreds of rescue choppers with airlift equipment within easy range. As BOHICA points out below, there were people in the military who were shaking with rage at not being allowed to assist.

The article explains:

The search-and-rescue helicopters were not being used because Donald Rumsfeld had not yet approved their deployment—even though, as Lieutenant General Russ Honoré, the cigar-chomping commander of Joint Task Force Katrina, would later tell me, "that Wednesday, we needed to evacuate people. The few helicopters we had in there were busy, and we were trying to deploy more."

Even a singularly obtuse George W Bush began understanding something was wrong, and in the end turned on his recalcitrant SecDef. But would you believe it - still it would take days before Rumsfeld gave the orders.

The article is worth reading in full. Personally I was convinced that Rumsfeld was a deeply delusional man, but the article makes it clear that he was dangerously delusional, and that the Bush presidency has him and Cheney to thank for a legacy that will go down in infamy.

Bush convened a meeting in the Situation Room on Friday morning. According to several who were present, the president was agitated. Turning to the man seated at his immediate left, Bush barked, "Rumsfeld, what the hell is going on there? Are you watching what’s on television? Is that the United States of America or some Third World nation I’m watching? What the hell are you doing?"

Rumsfeld replied by trotting out the ongoing National Guard deployments and suggesting that sending active-duty troops would create "unity of command" issues. Visibly impatient, Bush turned away from Rumsfeld and began to direct his inquiries at Lieutenant General Honoré on the video screen. "From then on, it was a Bush-Honoré dialogue," remembers another participant. "The president cut Rumsfeld to pieces. I just wish it had happened earlier in the week."

The battlefield briefing cover sheets with biblical quotations can be seen at the slide-show that GQ has put up. The images are exclusive to them, and I can't place one here.

The article has a link to the cover-sheets mentioned by Frank Rich:

[sakabatou]

1. Rumsfield must be tried in court for this.

[Horse with no Name]

50. Yet, he won't

add this to the long list.:(

[MountainLaurel]

2. Just incredible

I think of the people who had to hack their way out of their attics as the water rose (not caused by the hurricane, but by the Army Corps of Engineers' fuck-ups), the nurses and physicians and family members -- some of whom I know -- who spent four days trying to evacuate patients by bass boats and hand respirating patients after the power went out, the people who are still looking for elderly relatives they'd lost touch with, and this just angers me to no end.

[left is right]

17. to be fair

the ACE's budget had been cut and cut again over the 30years preceding Katrina and during the * administration it had been cut so drastically that even inspections couldn't be made. They had warned that the levies could not withstand a level 4 hurricane. (I don't have a source for this. My daughter wrote her cause and effect college English term paper on this and I proofed it for her. She had properly cited this but that was two years ago and I don't remember the source.)

[pacalo]

32. Your daughter's information about the years of warnings about the levees is spot on.

I live in that soup bowl & had heard about the scenarios & budget cuts for years.

[MichiganVote]

3. ..And if we had had a decent "decider" he never would have been premitted this kind of power.

[madeline_con]

5. The TX chimp couldn't decide what kind of sandwich to eat.

Why he is even mentioned in the debate is beyond me. He was a figurehead used for name recognition to win elections. Nothing more.

[Hannah Bell]

59. Delusional. Better figureheads were available.

The Bush/Walkers have been an obvious power center since the 80s, a less obvious one since the turn of the 20th century. There are Bushes seeded throughout the corridors of power.

Delusional to portray bush as some schlub who wandered into the oval office, directed by folks like rumsfeld, cheney & rove.

the bushes brought *them* to power, not the reverse.

[madeline_con]

4. The Frank Rich you linked to is not about NOLA. nt

[csziggy]

20. Neither is the GQ article - it is about Rumsfeld

I think the meaning was that the Frank Rich article referred to Rummie's weird scripture enhanced photo memos. The GQ slideshow of those memos is linked to on the first page of the Rumsfeld article.

[Liberty Belle]

6. That's the first thing I've ever read that showed Bush had a shred of decency;

One cannot help but wonder how much his advisors influenced made the man, and how different our world might be today had someone with a soul held Rumsfeld and Cheney's jobs. But of course the buck stops with the president for his dismal cabinet picks and the devastating consequences.

[rcrush]

9. I dont believe that part of the story

Bush suddenly having a moment of conscience sounds like a lot of made up horseshit to me. Also the fact that he would talk to Rummy like that. Rummy owned his ass.

[KittyWampus]

11. I believe it- Bush was cognizant his image was tarnished,IMO. So from that angle

perhaps he was forced to engage in what was actually happening.

[rcrush]

12. I dunno

To me he seemed to be so drunk or doped up to know what was going on. Its possible that what was left of his humanity tried to creep out every once in awhile. But I doubt he had the balls to talk to Rummy like that.

[anonymous171]

18. Do you remember how bad their response made Bush look?

Even the MSM couldn't make excuses for it. Bush was covering his own ass.

[burning rain]

36. That part does rather smell.

Given that Rumsfeld later got the boot for bungling Iraq anyway, may as well heap other people's rightful share of Katrina blame on him too.

[Stephanie]

64. Well remember Bush didn't see the news reports until Thursday

AFTER the staff had to make DVDs for him. He was too busy vacationing up until then. Flew back from SD to Crawford to sleep on his own pilly Weds night, did the flyover on Thurs, watched DVDs of the news on the plane, returned to the WH and THAT was when the mtg would have been held. So it was already days too late.

[defendandprotect]

99. Yes, I also find it this unlike anything I've ever seen or heard before re Bush . . .

we need more information on this --

Meanwhile, didn't it seem at the end that Bush/Cheney were in splitsville?

And, recently, Cheney pretty much hung responsibility for the torture on W.

[Hannah Bell]

24. it's a lie; that's why.

suddenly many threads painting bush as some powerless dupe of cheney & rumsfeld.

the bush/walkers have been connected since the 1800s. there are bush/walkers holding positions of power throughout the establishment currently. bush was no dupe, & he didn't make such a statement.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

62. How do you know he didn't make that statement

were you there? I am no Bush apologist, not by a long shot. But I agree with the above post that Bush saw this as the public relations disaster that it was, this was all coming right to his doorstep and he just might have realised while watching those people on the rooftops and in the Superdome that he couldn't let this go on and save face. I tend to believe the story but only after knowing Bush's motivation for doing so.

[pacalo]

34. I was wondering if the unknown advisor was being charitable & glossed over for the writer.

Certainly, Bush had the power to override Rumsfeld & see that the job got done, having seen the "third-world country" scenario playing out on tv during those first 5 days of government inaction. One could swallow that advisor's undeserved tribute to Bush only if they had lived under a rock during the unfolding of events.

[defendandprotect]

97. Yes -- and that moment has to be acknowledged . . . but it was tragic . . .

and still is!!

Cheney and Rumsfeld were put there purposefully -- to run Bush --
and they did it effectively. Obviously, in this case, Bush seems to
wake up for a second and understand his confidence may be misplaced.

I think Cheney was a Poppy Bush pick?
And Rumsfeld and Cheney are the evil twins, are they not?

Then there's 9/11 . . . !!!

[Maru Kitteh]

106. By who?

Who - put Cheney and Donald there to "run" Bush?

[Hannah Bell]

108. Do you really think Bush has nothing to do with his father's power nexus?

Does that go for Jeb & the other brothers too, you think? Plus the cousins, uncles, aunts seeded around? You think they don't consult each other?

That must be why it was Bush's cousin who called the election for him after it was called for Gore, & why his uncle was instrumental in opening up China...etc.

Cheney & Rumsfeld didn't "run" Bush Jr. He was fully in the loop.

[destes]

109. Perfect. The audacity of power and corruption.

Bush Jr. took and takes his orders from the "Family" for which Cheney and Rumsfeld are but capos. These people are the logical extension of a world economy dominated by exploitation-based capitalism.

China has it's own burgeoning elite and also India. I see where the Congress Party there has made new gains. Innovation, no matter the case for it's inception, evolves into entrenchment. (like Christian mythology)

[Hannah Bell]

110. if you go into the history of india, at least, you'll find that some of the

"burgeoning elites" are the same old elite families that were compradors to the east india company.

[destes]

114. Yeah, and before that allies of the Moguls......

........the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The Bush family was probably associated with the East India Co. as well. (just guessing)

[Hannah Bell]

115. not to my knowledge. but the ancestors of john forbes kerry were huge in both india & china.

[destes]

116. Then we shall hoist them on their own petards.........

...........Those damn Kerrys of yore.

[Hannah Bell]

118. it's direct descendancy from the drug dealers & slave drivers.

that's where kerry's money comes from.

[opihimoimoi]

7. Rummy the Dummy, Baka Skebei, should be tried in court...and neutered

[defendandprotect]

98. Was Rumsfeld playing dumb with Bush . . . ?

Or was he just purposefully dragging his feet over something he

didn't want to do?

Despite how necessary that it be done...

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

8. Americans died because of the inactions of the Bush administration in Katrina

They DIED. It's a well known fact that ships sat offshore with troops and food and supplies and that ONLY the Coast Guard deployed itself without executive order because as the head of the Coast Guard said at the time - "We know our mission. No one has to tell us" or words very close to that effect.

The Bush administration was MORE CONCERNED about fomenting a political strategy to make Governor Kathleen Blanco look bad than they were in saving people. I have a VIVID retention of all the crap that when on as it happened. Katrina was when the American people realized exactly how incompetent and EVIL the Bushies were. Katrina was dereliction of duty, malfeasance, negligence, negligent homicide, call it anything you like.

I would have been thrilled if Bush had been impeached for Katrina as well he should have. Forget about Iraq, wiretapping, shredding the Constitution - Katrina should have been the catalyst to get him out.

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

74. EXACTLY!

[CrispyQ]

76. And we'll never know how many died, either.

I think they stopped counting because they were concerned the number of dead would be higher than the number of dead on 9/11. I simply don't believe the 1300 number, or whatever the fuck it was. :grr:

[MadMaddie]

117. Don't forget the trains...I never hear anyone talking about them.

http://www.emergencyrailconcepts.org/using_amtrak.htm

Amtrak offerred to get people out they were told there help wasn't needed.

[Champion Jack]

10. Arrest Rummy now

[AndyTiedye]

13. Could Rumsfeld be Prosecuted For This?

At the least, gross negligence leading to the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of people.
Might be a hate crime in here too.

[Raksha]

40. I think Rummy may be the weak link, the first of big fish to fry.

He doesn't have any friends. Based on the GQ article, even the other Bush loyalists in the WH couldn't stand him because of his stubbornness and stonewalling.

[bdamomma]

81. rummy=hate

sounds pretty right to me.

[arikara]

14. Check out those covers at the link

unreal. What a bizarre insane bunch was in power.

http://men.style.com/gq/features/topsecret

Most of the quotations they used are old testament but they still trot the name of poor Jesus out when its convenient for them. Bastards.

[defendandprotect]

100. I well remember that JFK fired Gen. Edwin Walker ---- yeah . . . guy Oswald supposedly shot at --

and he fired him for distributing right-wing material in the military --

Nazi type stuff -- I don't know if it had any Christian connections.

Gen. Edwin Walker also later led the racist riot at Ole Miss --

was arrested and Judge recommend psychiatric care.

Rumsfeld and Walker, IMO, both understood -- or were being guided by those

who well understand -- that it would be desirable for the military to be

under total right-wing control -- and heavily propagandized with right-wing

material.

This "Christian warrior god" of Rumsfel's is the Nazi version of "god."

[dorkulon]

15. Why the hell are we only finding out about this now? /nt

[Samantha]

51. Historical rewrite of the Bush* years???

Could that be why?

Sam

[izquierdista]

16. More evidence

That Dumbya was never in charge. How can the marionette move the arms of the puppet master?

[glitch]

37. Think "Chucky" nt

[csziggy]

19. One piece of BS in the article I disagree with and have articles that would dispute

Is this part: "The problem was that the Guard deployment (which would eventually reach 15,000 troops) had not arrived—at least not in sufficient numbers, and not where it needed to be. And though much of the chaos was being overstated by the media, the very suggestion of a state of anarchy was enough to dissuade other relief workers from entering the city."

There were plenty of volunteer rescuers and relief workers that wanted to enter New Orleans to help that were stopped by FEMA. Of the contemporary accounts that I saved, not one said any of those volunteers were "dissuaded" by "suggestion{s} of anarchy." In fact some volunteers came close to being arrested for trying to get to the city to render aid.

[uppityperson]

21. Thank you for that. Knowing those who were there immediately and being there 2 wks later myself

and being stopped by feds even then

[csziggy]

22. I was stuck at the computer but I have gigabytes of articles about Katrina

And all the Bush crap starting before the 2000 election. The revisionist history that has been inflicted on the world in the last ten years is disgusting.

[cal04]

25. thank you for posting

that

[pacalo]

29. As an eye-witness to the miles-long caravan of cars with out-of-state license plates

on our way back home after Katrina, I had the same reaction to that passage. And you're right -- they were blocked by FEMA!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

39. Well, the Red Cross stayed outside for a long time and said it would not endanger their workers.

The first thing I thought of was Red Cross ambulances in the Spanish Civil War, for some strange reason.They certainly placed themselves in peril.

At any rate, I used to contribute to the Red Cross, but I don't any longer due to their inaction during Katrina. Harry Connick can get in, but they can't? Sean Penn can go in, but they can't? The news media can go in, but they can't? I just thought they totally violated their mission during Katrina.

[Hekate]

43. It might be worth writing to the author about that. The DUer accounts from NOLA were a testament...

... to people's desire to help, their attempts to help. VOLUNTEERS AND VICTIMS ALIKE WERE TURNED BACK BY BLACKWATER AND OTHER ARMED THUGS. :cry:

Hekate

[omega minimo]

53. Hekate! Are you all right after the fires?

:pals:

[Hekate]

56. Aww, thanks Omega. Yes, we're good until the next one. It gave me asthma, but hey...

... it could be a lot worse.

The Hekate kids' home didn't burn down either and they were able to move back in when the evacuation was lifted. :toast:

Hekate
:hi:

[omega minimo]

57. So is it safe

to make God's Retribution for Reagan Library jokes now?

:yoiks: :evilgrin:

[Hekate]

60. Absolutely, only Reagan's Liberry was never in danger

Too bad :evilgrin:

[Hannah Bell]

58. Given the slant of the article, & given that anyone who was paying attention

couldn't have missed the media & word-of-mouth reports of help being turned back, I suspect the writer isn't interested in correction.

It's a revisionist history, I'd bet sponsored by the bush faction.

New Orleans was deliberate ethnic cleansing & takedown of the democratic voting bloc. Plus a quickie transformation of public schools to charter schools.

[csziggy]

75. I suspect the GQ article is all about throwing Rummie under the bus

And inflaming the Islamic world against the US at a point when Obama is starting to make headway, since Obama did not release the rest of the torture photos. What other reason is there to let those Rumsfeld memos out with their weird biblical quotes?

[Hannah Bell]

89. i suspect you're right.

[omega minimo]

52. IT. WAS. GENOCIDE...................... TELEVISED. RACIST. GENOCIDE.

[defendandprotect]

101. That's my belief -- GOP . . . sexist, racist, homophobic . . .

and it all came together in that administration!!!

I think it might have frightened Bush enough for him to be worried ---

maybe like the morning of 9/11 he sat in the Florida elementary school classroom

after hearing of the second plane crashing into the WTC?

[KeepItReal]

54. FEMA stopped and turned away 18 wheeler trucks full of supplies

""Why did it happen? Who needs to be fired?" asked Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, south of New Orleans.

Far from deferring to state or local officials, FEMA asserted its authority and made things worse, Mr. Broussard complained on "Meet the Press."

When Wal-Mart sent three trailer trucks loaded with water, FEMA officials turned them away, he said. Agency workers prevented the Coast Guard from delivering 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel, and on Saturday they cut the parish's emergency communications line, leading the sheriff to restore it and post armed guards to protect it from FEMA, Mr. Broussard said."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspecial/05blame.html

[defendandprotect]

102. And, again, we've never had any real investigations of what the

hell had been going on with these organizations and within that administration!

[Hannah Bell]

23. "Is that the United States of America or some Third World nation..." bullshit.

bush revisionism.

"heck-of-a-job" who waited days to go to new orleans did not say this.

why are DU-ers facilitating bush's history rewrite?

[glitch]

38. "Why are DU-ers facilitating bush's history rewrite?" Damn good question. nt

[Wednesdays]

26. K&R

:kick:

[Badgerman]

27. You must ask: Who is worse? The doer of the deed or those who will not punish! Think about it. n/t

[Hekate]

44. The doer of the deeds. We don't know yet about the other, but we do know Rummy et al are evil...

... and Obama et al. are trying like hell to clean up an 8 year mess and they've only been there a few months.

Hekate

[Badgerman]

77. Doers can be insane, to not lock them up or medicate is a concious choice to allow them to continue!

No, I see no reasonable rebuttal to the conclusion that a person(s) who knowingly let someone who is a proven threat to the general safety and welfare of the public continue to roam about unfettered and un-medicated, has definitely performed the greater crime. In the context of the subject, the 'Bush' criminals, to not even make evidence of possible criminal activity available to the judicial process (including Congress), and to go so far as to declare an ipso facto amnesty or pardon...is well, the greater crime, period!

Let the facts appear in a court, be it Judicial or Congressional, but let it be found out and known, and decided upon.

[SammyWinstonJack]

61. If nothing is done too the doer of the deed, then those who will not punish, of course.

Guess we just have too wait and see. Don't ya just love that? :silly:

[Uncle Joe]

28. On the other hand, Rumsfield did promote torture, so he's got that going for him.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x449268

Maybe if the victims of Katrina had stripped their clothes off, Rumsfield would have sent help?

[pacalo]

30. The GQ article was so well written by Robert Draper -- K&R.

[Kingofalldems]

31. Didn't the Blue Dogs just love Rumsfeld?

Am I wrong? I wouldn't want to cast aspersions.

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

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[EFerrari]

35. Fucking psychopath. He needs to spend more time with his prison cell. n/t

[yoyossarian]

41. Delusional is not the word I'd use...

As I've been saying for the past 9 years now,
inhuman MONSTER is more like it...



RUMSFELD IN NEW ORLEANS:

"Come on in! The water's fine!"


Great gift tee shirts, mugs, buttons and other cool stuff at


Laugh City!

President Evil Online has risen from the grave!

[Arugula Latte]

42. I'll never forget calling my (then) Senator, a Republican, and screaming at his staff

I've never screamed at a staffer before, but I was so worked up over how those fucking Republicans were sitting on their asses and letting people drown and practically die of thirst. I called Sen. Gordon Smith's office a few times and said something like: "Smith is a Republican. Please have him tell Bush and whoever else to fucking DO SOMETHING! People are dying! Why aren't they helping?!" The staffers were just so aggravating. "Ma'am, calm down. There's no need for swearing." Well, there is when people are dying, and it wouldn't take much to airlift WATER to the Superdome, for starters! :grr: Gawd, the thought of that time just riles me up. FUCK! :banghead:

[uppityperson]

49. I called Bill Gates (am in WA) and did the same thing

told him I'm never ever buy any of his products again if he didn't use his mega-millions to rent or buy a helicopter and go drop water for people.

[Patiod]

70. I did that too - glad I'm not the only one

I called Specter's office, also crying, and said "Look, I know that idiot in the White House is too stupid to do anything right, but Arlen has been a reasonable guy all these years, can't HE possibly do anything?" I have to say that the person I talked to at his office was actually really nice, and seemed upset by everything going on (or NOT going on) as well.

The ONLY good thing to come out of that nightmare is that it FINALLY awakened enough of the sheeple to the fact that "mission accomplished" boy was actually a total loser. I think we needed something of that magnitude to wake up the idiots in this country and get a big enough vote that they couldn't steal it again.

[defendandprotect]

103. This was a precedent in national emergency non-action by Repugs . . .

[Hekate]

45. Rumsfeld is a monster in human form--a murdering monster. People need these periodic reminders...

... including our own DU left wing. THIS is what we escaped when we elected Obama. Now we just need to see that historical record is set straight, hopefully with a chapter on trials and prison sentences.

Hekate

[omega minimo]

46. Katrina NOLA was American genocide.

:evilfrown:

[MilesColtrane]

47. And the rehabilitation of George Bush's legacy begins...

I've heard that the Bush Presidential Library will have an entire "think tank" full of employees whose job it is to crank out memories of ole George being wronged by his advisors, the C.I.A., Cheney, Rumsfeld, his generals, the press, etc...

[snot]

48. totally my thought. Which eye-witness is providing this belated testimony, again?

i smell rove.

[Usrename]

55. Someone diverted the choppers that were going to stop the flooding.

According to the mayor, Black Hawk helicopters were scheduled to pick up and drop massive 3,000-pound sandbags in the 17th Street Canal breach, but were diverted on rescue missions. Nagin said neglecting to fix the problem has set the city behind by at least a month.

http://www.americablog.com/2005/08/new-orleans-mayor-nagin-there-is-way.html

[peace13]

63. They all sat and did nothing . They are all guilty.

I would like to add that when the government gets hijacked and military personnel don't speak out, there is a problem. When entire units are sitting on their thumbs during a crisis....Well we have problems on all levels. Our citizens no longer do the 'right thing' because they are human and can think. Too sad, and sick on so many levels.

[LeftHander]

65. Bullshit.

Bullshit.

Bush was diddling guitar and eating cake while the bitches were cat fighting over the who gets to wear the captains hat as NOLA drown.

Bush was responsible for not engaging his leadership ranks and prepping the nation for a total rescue response to a PRETTY CLEAR and VISIBLE THREAT - KATRINA.

Bush tossed the buck back to the crowd of wanabes like a white trash wedding bouquet.

Bush worst President in history, worst manager and administrator of people to be in office.

[SusanaMontana41]

66. Read the GQ article yesterday

and wanted to vomit afterward. Nobody defined "hubris" and "ego" better than Rumsfeld.

Don't know how that creature can sleep at night.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

67. I call BS on what Shrub allegedly said. NORTHCOM was waiting to be called in by him

and had been on alert for days prior to landfall and Shrub never called them in. There was an interview on BBC with a NORTHCOM officer, Sean Kelly discussing this. Of course that audio was lost in the memory hole.

[suffragette]

86. Found a link to BBC video of interview with NORTHCOM officer

After reading your post, went looking and found the DU thread on this: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4605183
Here's the quote, as posted by :

Announcer: The relief operation is the largest ever conducted in America. It's being coordinated by the US Northern Command in Colorado. Lieutenant Commander Sean Kelly explains how the relief effort is being organized.

Kelly: US Northern Command is the command that coordinates the military support for our federal and state agencies. They call up and request a capability and we try and provide that capability, whether it's medical resources, search and rescue helicopters, food, water, transportation, communications; that's what we provide.

A: So it sounds like you're providing a bit of everything. I mean, do you know how much you're actually providing?

K: Right now we've got 4,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marine and coast guardsmen supporting this. They've delivered more than 9 million meals, I can't remember how many millions of liters of water.

A: 9 million meals? Do you actually have 9 million meals?

K: It's those "meals ready to eat". The packaged meals that the Army takes out with them out in the field. We have 9 million of 'em ready. I know at least 100,000 went to the Superdome the other night to help the people out there in New Orleans. So they're staged at various places throughout Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.

A: Now I'm sure you're aware of the criticism that the authorities have been slow to respond to this. When did you get the order to start relief work?

K: NorthCom started planning before the storm even hit. We were ready for the storm when it hit Florida because, as you remember, it crossed the bottom part of Florida, and then we were plaining, you know, once it was pointed towards the Gulf Coast. So what we did was we activated what we call defense coordinating officers to work with the state to say okay, what do you think you'll need, and we set up staging bases that could be started. We had the USS Baton sailing almost behind the hurricane so that after the hurricane made landfall it's search and rescue helicopters would be available almost immediately. So we had things ready. The only caveat is, we have to wait until the President authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the military can't just act in this fashion, we have to wait for the President to give us permission.

A: Now I gather that your engineers are also involved in pumping some of that flood water out of the areas.

K: Yes, our military personnel are helping to reconstruct the levees which frees up the engineers to start pumping out the waters so that hopefully New Orleans can be high and dry soon enough.

The link that was created to an MP3 of it is gone now, as you noted.

Poked around more and most all other articles reference that same link.

But, I did find a link to a video of the BBC report: http://tomraworth.com/bbckat.mov

The pertinent section starts a bit after the midway point.

It's so important to remember what actually happened, especially with it looking like a major rewrite is being attempted.

I suppose it is possible that Rumsfield, as well as Bush, did not give the orders they BOTH should have and BOTH are guilty, but this does look like an attempt to shift blame away from Bush and we need to counter it with the facts of what happened.

While looking for the above, the article that goes into details about the Bataan also came up:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1993305
Navy ship nearby underused
Craft with food, water, doctors needed orders

By Stephen J. Hedges
Tribune national correspondent
Published September 4, 2005

ON THE USS BATAAN -- While federal and state emergency planners scramble to get more military relief to Gulf Coast communities stricken by Hurricane Katrina, a massive naval goodwill station has been cruising offshore, underused and waiting for a larger role in the effort.

Can't get the link for the TRibune article to work either, but it looks like the whole article is available on a couple web sites.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

94. Thank you for digging this up. As you can see I was pretty active on that thread and at one

time had the mp3 but lost it in a computer crash. I'm so happy someone has it on video.

This story never made it to MSM (I wonder why?) and probably be totally ignored in the rewrite of Shrub's history. Rumsfeld will get all the blame and Shrub will become a hero and given the Medal Of Honor by the next Repuke resident.

[suffragette]

95. Thank you again for bringing it up.

It was difficult to find so we should make a point to save it in case that website goes away.
I did find some mentions of the story on Democracy Now and other progressive websites, but as you note, none in MSM.
And it is important to have the original video or audio report so we have that proof that that was exactly what was said.

I think the fear the neocons spread has now come full circle and is biting them in their collective asses, and now they are frantically trying to deflect blame onto each other.
And I agree that we can't allow this revision of Bush's crimes.

There could be a kernel of truth, in that Rumsfield might also have obstructed aid. He is certainly callous enough to have done that. And it would still have been consistent with that regime - crimes and obstruction at every turn. If anything, it would point even more to the purposeful blocking of aid that took place in Bush's government.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

111. Rumsfeld's hands were tied. Shrub had to suspend posse comitatus in order to allow

Northcom to act. That's why Kelly said they were waiting for the pResident.

And, your welcome! :hi:

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

93. Northcom waited while those bastards tried to make political hay out of Blanco

Never caring for a moment that every second, every minute, every hour, and every day they delayed caused more deaths of American citizens.

The most compelling account I ever read of Katrina was a Daily Kos diary called "They're Not Coming" which was about the horror that existed outside of New Orleans itself, in the rural parishes. Google it, it's a great great read that just rips your heart out.

[underpants]

68. IIRC everyone was on vacation-staffers had to compile a DVD for Bush to watch

HE didn't even know what was going on what with McCain's birthday and everything.

[Javaman]

69. "The president cut Rumsfeld to pieces." I call bullshit...

If moron* actually cared, gave a damn and wanted to help people, the talking chimp* would have ordered asshole rumspuke to release those helicopters to help people. But alas, more revisionist history here.

more didn't give a flying fuck. I think that is clearly evident of him playing guitar with some musician while NO drowned.

[NJCher]

71. memos will do major damage to our relationship w/Middle Eastern countries

Glorious pictures of war combined with Bible verses? This is proof beyond belief that these crackpots in the White House were waging a religious war. Indeed, bush himself said it: a crusade.

And Obama is worried about torture pictures damaging relationships? What about this? This points to what Middle Easterners have long maintained.

I am aghast at how juvenile they are, despite the fact that I have always maintained that Republicans are nearly all emotionally immature.


Cher

[DesertDiamond]

72. This actually gives me a modicum of respect for GW Bush...

I have often wondered how much of the problem was, not Bush himself, but the people who surrounded him. I knew Rumsfeld and Cheney are corrupt, greed and power driven sociopaths. It may be that they were just so dominant that GW didn't have the strength to overcome them. It was clear to me way from the beginning of this whole drama that they chose him because they viewed him as an easily manipulated puppet. But based on what I read in this article, I am encouraged to believe GW was, perhaps not strong enough, but also not completely mindless, and certainly not completely corrupt.

[JHB]

112. Don't give him too much credit...

Remember when that pre-landfall briefing videotape surfaced, where "Heckuvajob" Brownie was giving him a surprisingly good rundown of the potential dangers, and the sort of assets that could be brought to bear, and Bush sat through the whole thing like a bump on a log: no questions, little or no reaction, just a big nothing. (Like he was drunk, high, or otherwise spaced out or doped up and trying not to show it by not talking or moving much.)

That made me wonder if Brownie really was as bad as he seemed at the time, or was just left to twist in the wind.

Whatever the dynamics of Bush, Rummy and Cheney, Bush was always the problem. The fact that he never took firm control, so that everything was the people around him vying for advantage just multiplied the problems.

[Vidar]

73. Add several hundred counts of manslaughter to the

the thousands of murders he won't be prosecuted for.

[winyanstaz]

78. Heads must roll!!!

That was such dereliction of duty on all levels. Someone must be accountable!

[aquart]

79. But we can't hang him? What kind of pension is he getting from us?

[ooglymoogly]

80. This is patent nonsense about bush having a rant.

He could have picked up the phone and said I want those helicopters there yesterday and if they are not there within the hour you will be fired and an investigation will ensue and indeed we would have seen helicopters flying over NO like flies on rotted meat. Folks were dying all over the place and it was on television. If this nonsense had been true he would have fired Rummy on the spot. He was the commander in chief, Rummy was not. The underlying motif in my opinion was ethnic cleansing and they were all in collusion on this. They had let the levies go for years knowing full well the first 5 hurricane that came along the levies would not hold; And guess what that is exactly what happened; The "undesirables" were annihilated. N.O. is just a Disney version of what it was with no interest in resurrecting the old N.O. with the diversity that made it what it was.

[defendandprotect]

104. Time will tell . . .

seems lots of us are having the same problem with this version of Bush --

OTOH, I think they danced the government around him most times --

Maybe he got a call from Poppy asking what the hell was going on?

IMO, it doesn't make Bush look good -- it really makes him look dumb.

How many other presidents would have been watching TV and not knowing what

systems were in play -- ??? What was going on??

Do you think Obama would have sat there waiting for Rummy to appear in a

meeting to find out why he hadn't been doing his job?

What about Bush aides? Weren't they encouraging him to do the necessary?

We have some ideas about how this Cheney-Rumsfeld-Bush thing worked . . .

the puppet show . . . but Bush himself was a vicious man. We know he was

talking about invading Iraq at least a year before he was elected.

We can remember his mimicking the woman who was being executed in Texas when

he was governor. This is the guy who blew up frogs with firecrackers.

Could he be testy with his handlers if he thought it was makimg him look bad?

[MagickMuffin]

82. Rumsfeld must have sent to much time at his vacation home Mount Misery

Mount Misery's owner was Edward Covey, a farmer notorious for breaking unruly slaves for other farmers. One who wouldn't be broken was Frederick Douglass, then 16 and later the abolitionist orator. Covey assaulted him, so Douglass beat him up and escaped.



I guess owning a home by a fellow torturer has a warm and fuzzy spot in Donny's heart, if he had one. They were all guilty of malfeasant in this tragedy.

[Hannah Bell]

83. The article says federal troops weren't sent in because rumsfeld didn't

want to do it.

Do you remember the storyline at the time?

It was quite public, & Bush would have been fully aware of it; "Commander in Chief".

In fact, it's my memory that he made public statements that blanco hadn't declared a state of emergency in time, or requested aid in the prescribed manner or something of the sort to explain the lack of federal assistance to NO (v. e.g. MS).

Re the use of federal troops, Bush said at the time:

"I think that's one of the interesting issues that Congress needs to take a look at," President Bush said while making his third tour of the battered Gulf Coast region this week.

Some homeland security experts now believe there should be federal troops — that don't need 72 hours for call-up as some National Guard units require — capable of dropping into a disaster zone as the damage is being done, rather than afterward.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-09-13-gns-troops_x.htm.

• Q: As New Orleans flooded and slipped in anarchy, Katrina victims were pleading for more security. Why couldn't federal troops come to their rescue?

A: Federal troops are legally constrained in what they can do domestically by the Posse Comitatus Act. Passed in 1878 to limit the use of federal troops to control southern polling places, Posse Comitatus makes it a crime to employ "any part of the Army …to execute the laws." It does not apply to the U.S. Coast Guard.

• Q: Can the restrictions using federal troops for domestic enforcement be suspended in time of emergency?

A: Two laws allow this.

The president can invoke the Insurrection Act, which permits the military use of federal troops on U.S. soil to put down violence that local authorities are incapable of handling.

Under the National Defense Act of 1916, the president can federalize a state's National Guard troops in an effort to centralize control over a chaotic situation. Bush suggested "federalizing" Louisiana's Guard forces when the chaos in New Orleans began escalating, but Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco objected.

• Q: Have these measures been used before?

A: Yes. The elder President George H.W. Bush federalized the Guard forces used to quell the 1992 riots in Los Angeles.

• Q: Why change the laws restricting federal troops if there are fairly direct ways of circumventing them when the need arises?

A: Invoking rarely used measures can be difficult, time-consuming and potentially highly controversial.

In the case of Louisiana, a Republican president would be taking control from a Democratic governor. The Bush administrations debated this, and decided against it, according to reports about the dialogue between Washington and Baton Rouge.

Automatic mechanisms that permit, or even obligate, a powerful federal military response to a major disaster could save time by eliminating politics and indecision.


It's bullshit.

[Hannah Bell]

84. "The president holds the power"

MARGARET WARNER: That raises the other really sensitive issue, which is, okay, on whose say-so should federal troops go in? And the question is: Do you wait for the governor to ask for the help, or should the circumstances be widened under which a president could just, on his own or her own authority say, we're activating American active duty forces?

LAWRENCE KORB: Well, I think it's the president's judgment. He has to decide whether in fact the state is up to the job. Now obviously it works better if the state asks them to send the troops in, then you don't have any constitutional issues, but the fact of the matter is the president has to make that judgment.

If, in fact, the state is not up to the job or if the National Guard troops are deployed overseas, for example, as they're being used now, I think this is important for the Pentagon to be planning ahead of time so that when the president makes the decision, they know what to do. I agree we ought to use National Guard when we can. But remember National Guard troops are trained in the same way active forces are. They're used very much. So the idea that they're under state control doesn't change the way that they've been trained.

MARGARET WARNER: Is it constitutional, I mean, just under our current system, for a president to usurp the governor's powers in this regard?

GENE HEALY: Well, under -- the Constitution seems to prefer in Article 4 Section 4 that there is a request from the state government -- the Insurrection Act does have a provision that allows even over the objection of the state governor that allows the president to send in active duty military. The president --

MARGARET WARNER: A certain class of citizens isn't being protected?

GENE HEALY: Well, it's actually when the law -- federal law cannot be enforced. This is what Eisenhower used in Little Rock. I don't think it's something we want to -- the way the law draws a line now is the president should think twice before he does this.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec05/military_9-27.html

[Hannah Bell]

85. Federal troops get limited role in Katrina work

3 September 2005, 15:47 CDT

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Saturday it will carefully limit the role of 7,200 federal troops heading into chaotic New Orleans and other places hit by Hurricane Katrina to avoid violating a law barring them from domestic law enforcement duties.

"They will not take on a law enforcement role nor have they been directed in any way to do so," said Lt. Gen. Joseph Inge, deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command, which oversees the military relief effort.

For the first time since Katrina devastated New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana and Mississippi on Monday, President George W. Bush on Saturday ordered in a large influx of regular military troops -- 5,200 Army active-duty Army soldiers and 2,000 Marines.

The military relief effort until now has been primarily handled by part-time National Guard troops under the command of state governors. Under law, they are permitted to perform law enforcement duties at a governor's command.

The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, enacted during the post-Civil War reconstruction period, prohibits federal military personnel from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States. But the president can waive the law in an emergency.

Asked whether Bush might waive the law, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "We continue to consider the full range of options."

Inge said the Marines and Army soldiers will concentrate on providing humanitarian assistance to Katrina victims. But asked whether they could perform tasks like crowd control and site protection, Inge said, "That's correct. Probably not too much crowd control because you run the edge of law enforcement there."

http://www.redorbit.com/news/general/229547/federal_troops_get_limited_role_in_katrina_work/


This is after Bush's supposed conversion.

His father sent federal troops to do riot control. Do you think he wasn't aware of the precedent?

Instead New Orleans got Blackwater.

[Hannah Bell]

87. Bush politicking delayed Nat'l Guard for a WEEK after Katrina

Both the Bush Administration and Louisiana officials were involved in political jockeying. The story, which focuses on the Louisiana side, reveals painful emails that show how much time and energy state leaders were pouring into PR battles in the heart of the disaster:


"By the weekend, the Bush administration will have a full-blown PR disaster/scandal on their hands because of the late response to needs in New Orleans," according to a Sept. 1 e-mail message sent by Blanco communications director Bob Mann ...

Kopplin advised the Blanco staff by e-mail that "we need to keep working to get our national surrogates to explain the facts."

But Blanco and Louisiana officials had every right to be concerned, because the White House was waging a PR battle of its own:

Any paranoia that Blanco officials might have had about a GOP agenda was fed by phone calls and e-mail messages from national media and other sources. For example, an ABC News reporter wrote Blanco's press secretary, "2 senior GOP aides have called me to suggest we should be focusing more blame on Governor Blanco." ...

An e-mail message between Blanco aides said a prominent New Orleans banker "called . . . this morning and has it on very good authority that (White House strategist) Karl Rove is directing effort to put blame on kbb (governor) for mess saying that the reason feds not on ground sooner was that she refused to give up her authority."

It's tempting to stop there, and blame both sides for allowing hundreds to die while they tried to get a one-up in the media spin wars. There's some truth to this, but buried in the story is the deeper issue that led to the armed-forces stand-off: who would be in control.

The issue was never -- as the White House and right-wing pundits attempted to claim -- that Blanco and Louisiana leaders hadn't asked for troop involvement. The story marshalls evidence which shows that this claim is at best an excuse, and at worst a lie:


* On the day Katrina hit, Blanco told Bush "We need everything you've got" -- which made Bush's claim a day later that the governor had "not specifically requested troops" look like he was wiggling out on a technicality.

* On August 30, after a trip to the Superdome, Blanco's National Guard chief, Maj. Gen. Bennett Landreneau, specifically requested federal military involvement to Lt. Gen. Russel Honore of the federal response task force, and Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau.

* On August 31, "Blanco called Bush at 2:20 p.m. to say she wanted a federal troop mobilization 'today' and asked that someone communicate to her when the soldiers would arrive."

So Louisiana asked for troops. The hold-up was about who would be in command: the Bush Administration wanted to "federalize" the operation, including taking over control of the Louisiana National Guard. Blanco and Louisiana officials wanted to retain oversight.

The White House was especially adamant about a federal take-over. The drama reached its height on August 31, when Louisiana leaders discovered that Karl Rove was making federalization a crusade from his White House perch:


he mention of Rove, a shrewd and aggressive molder of public opinion, was a red flag. Blanco aides feared his involvement meant the federalization issue had become a political flash point, as internal memos indicated that week. At one point a memo from Kopplin said, "Rove is on the prowl."
Let's step back and ask a question: Why was an administration made up of states' rights Republicans pushing for a federal take-over of the National Guard response? Blanco's team feared it was a way for Bush to step in and appear the hero after public outrage at the botched hurricane response.

But more to the point, there was no reason for Governor Blanco to give up control. And experts she consulted told her she shouldn't, especially considering that the main point of federal intervention -- getting other states to commit their guard detachments -- wasn't an issue, since many were already sending them, some without approval:


Blanco officials talked to military brass about the consequences of federalizing, with most officers advising the governor to maintain control over her Guard troops.

Among the most important recommendations was the one by Blum, the National Guard Bureau chief, who said the governor had nothing to gain by federalizing her Guard, according to Ryder's notes. Besides, massive numbers of Guard units now were flowing in quickly from other states, Blum pointed out.
There were also legal issues about limits on federally-controlled troops engaging in local policing -- which the White House, instead of acknowledging, tasked the Department of Justice with finding out ways to get around.

So what ended up happening? On September 3, President Bush sauntered into the White House Rose Garden to announce federal troop deployments.


Under Bush's order that morning, Blanco and Landreneau would keep authority over the Guard, and the president and Honore would rule federal forces in the region.

It was the same point they had started with when Landreneau had called Honore four days earlier asking for help.

Let's repeat that: they ended up using the proposal for troop deployment that Louisiana officials had conceded to four days earlier, delayed largely by the White House's insistence on a takeover of the operation.


http://www.southernstudies.org/2005/12/bush-politicking-delayed-natl-guard.html

[Hannah Bell]

88. Blanco spoke DIRECTLY TO BUSH during this turf war:

Blanco has said she asked Bush on Aug. 29, the day of Katrina's landfall, "for everything you've got," requesting 40,000 troops on Aug. 31. The president deployed 7,000 active-duty troops on Sept. 3. Thousands more National Guard troops were already on the ground.

But White House officials were concerned enough about what Brown and military leaders have testified to Congress was a lack of "unified command" to bring state Guard troops and active-duty federal troops under a single commander. They ultimately declined to force the issue over Blanco's objection and worked with existing command authorities.

Gulf Hurricanes -- Accountability

...Within 30 minutes of receiving Rove's message on Aug. 31, Ryder and Blanco Chief of Staff Andrew Kopplin were briefed by Col. Jeff Smith, a senior state emergency preparedness official, advising them of the National Response Plan and Incident Command System, basic components of the Department of Homeland Security's playbook that lay out the chain of emergency authority.

By 2:20 p.m., Blanco called Bush, saying she needed additional resources but not federalization, according to Ryder's notes. Instead, she said an emerging federal/state partnership was jelling and asked Bush instead to commit to an arrival date for troops.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/04/AR2005120400963_2.html

[windbreeze]

90. IIRC you are correct...

He said, Blanco had not asked for help, which was a lie, as it turned out...Blanco had declared a state of emergency days before Katrina ever hit, when it was still sitting out in the Gulf...BUT...there was NO one responding to pleas for help...I believe I recall someone saying that the phone calls for help, went unanswered...


"Some homeland security experts now believe there should be federal troops — that don't need 72 hours for call-up as some National Guard units require — capable of dropping into a disaster zone as the damage is being done, rather than afterward."

I wonder if this is actually what Obama is after with his national service program?

wb

[Hannah Bell]

92. bush had the power to send in federal troops from day one. his father did it for a riot.

bush *chose* not to send in federal troops. for the same reason he *chose* to exclude some louisiana parishes from the pre-hit declaration of state of emergency.

it's infuriating to see all the attention focused on cheney & rumsfeld. the bushes brought them to power; they did not hold independent power. there's a pattern in bush operations: debt, war, privatization of profit on misery, for decades & decades.

[MiniMe]

96. A large portion of the National Guard was in Iraq, that was part of the problem

If the National Guard was home, where they belong, I don't think the problem would be as great. Their equipment was in Iraq too.

[defendandprotect]

105. Right, and moving to a Federal troop system for domestic use would simply FREE UP more troops

for them to use in combat!!!

[Hannah Bell]

107. Nothing to do with it. Special federal units (not NG) have capability to deploy

anywhere on earth in less than 24 hours (I think it's something like 8 hours). Those troops could have been on the ground nearly immediately after Katrina touched down to maintain order & help first responders.

Instead Bush dicked around 5 days, even hindering NG response from other states.

He wound up sending federal troops anyway (so there were troops available) - but only after people had started freaking out over apparent lack of federal response & chaotic conditions e.g. in the stadium.

Now we're told by some anonymous source this is Rumsfeld's fault, & Bush chewed out Rummy.

Bullshit. Blanco spoke *directly* to *Bush* & directly asked for everything possible.

For 5 days the white house was saying "ooh, we have no authority." Documented in articles from the time.

If Bush 1 could send federal troops for a riot, Bush II could send them in for a 3-state disaster like Katrina.

Bush didn't *want* to.

[earth mom]

91. Those bastards are ALL responsible. I don't believe for a minute * gave a rats a$$ about any of it.

There is NO way * would let Rumsfeld run the show.

NO WAY IN HELL.

[agentS]

113. More reason to keep Rethugs out of office

for a million years!
Never let another of these snakes into power!

[bdab1973]

119. That article isn't exactly accurate...

Literally the day the weather improved to where we could fly to the area, we had crews in airplanes leaving for Louisiana and Mississippi. I know people in the rescue units at Kirtland AFB in NM and out at Hurlburt, and they were prepping to go the very next day after the hurricane hit. The squadron I'm in currently is a training squadron with no real "mission", and even they were called on to fly missions to New Orleans the very day weather improved to allow them in.

Certainly the FEMA response was bungled, but the military side was not, I can assure you because myself and numerous friends of mine were involved.