Katrina

POSTED BY: SevenPercent
UPDATED: Friday, August 29, 2025 14:39
VIEWED: 7944
PAGE 5 of 7

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Originally posted by SignyM:
And the lessons are....???

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1. Pay less attention to the enviromental concerns and more attention to pratical needs. This applies to the oil situtation and the topsy-turvy thinking in 1999 that made enviromental cleanup of the that lake a bigger priority then the levy project.

2. Mandatory Evacuation means just that. Yet we need to figure out means to evacuate those without the means to leave without aid. Elderly and such.

3. Shoot looters (the ones carrying TVs, not the ones carrying diapers and water).

4. We need a Domestic Rapid Deployment Force similar to the military ones we keep in readiness for an international crisis. 15,000 troops (for want of a better word) ready to go on a moments notice to respond to a domestic crisis of this magnatude. Seems to me we could reactivate a military command like the 7th Light Infantry and make them kind of a cross between the National Guard and Coast Guard with a special legal status making them a federal unit but allowing domestic operations without a congressional state of emergency, maybe training them to respond before, after, and during floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. Equip them with helicopters and swift boats. Include MASH units, MP battalions, and field kitchens. Such a unit could have deployed by helicopter to the Superdome and other areas on Monday or Tuesday to act as a stop gap until the aid convoys finally punched through on the ground.

5. How about some lesson about building your house upon the sand.

6. A more diversified national energy infrastructure.

7. Better preparation on an individual and family level.

Edit: 8. Pay attention to the experts (but not the liberal ones).

Many, many lessons to be learned here. Oh, and one for our European friends warning them about the dangers of complacancy and overconfidence.

H

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I'm not suprised most of the people are black. In the south, Black people are most consistently the poorest and have the least amount of resources. NO isn't a rich city to begin with, and a great many the people who couldn't get out were those who didn't have a way to leave the city. There is a lot of poverty in NO, away from the dazzle of Marti Gras and the French Quarter.

Living here, as a Black American, I'm aware of the racism that exists, but I've only been to NO a few times, so really don't know how bad it is there. In Baton Rouge, its kind of an undercurrent. Where I go to school, its MUCH worse, so it really just depends on the region. The point is that I can't help imagining (and praying that I'm wrong) that action is not happening sooner bc there is not the apple pie american family on the TV screen.

I pray to God that I'm just paranoid, but how fast were things mobilized for other natural diasters? Every time I turn on the news, I feel ready to cry. I'm trying to mobilize some kind of campus effort here, along with a lot of other people and drives that are ongoing, and aid the centers we have. They are filled to the brim with people. And let me just tell you, bad things are happening here too. There's no looting, but a four-year old girl was raped at one of the centers. People are afraid to leave their houses in BR, there's rumors of people being killed for their vehicles and rescue workers being attacked when they run out of food.

A few days ago, I thought we would actually be cleaning up by now.

Please, pray for us all.

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News source, just now:

Did you hear that Venezuela has offered its Medical Airlift Command for the evacuation of peoples trapped in these devastated regions? Holland has offered the resources of its Public Works Ministry (and they are the acknowledged world experts for below-sea-level water evacuation procedures). Russia has offered over 100,000 temporary living structures, along with military personnel to assist their American counterparts. Iran [IRAN!!] has offered 1 billion US dollars in immediate assistance and guaranteed 5,000,000 barrels of oil at $35.00 US. China has offered its miliary rescue forces (who are acknowledged as some of the best in the world for rescuing people in flood-ravaged areas).

ALL OF THESE OFFERS and more, the U.S. military leaders of the U.S. have declined. U.S. Dept. Bulletin NCO:13788...states that this must remain an INTERNAL ACTION.

(I have not verified this bulletin but don't doubt it, because I read yesterday that similar offers from Canada and France have been RE-f***in'-FUSED!)

Can anyone call this leadership?

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SignyM:

No, you're not the only one with that impression. I slept poorly Sunday night knowing the disaster was striking New Orleans at that time. Michael Moore declared in an open letter to Bush that he was aware of the hurricane in Florida the preceding Thursday. Surely the national weather advisers would have informed the significant members of the White House this was about to happen.

Yet Bush plays GOLF? And the mainstream media IGNORES this? There were some goddamned football games on a night or so ago, as though they were important or something.

At least MSNBC has had full coverage of it since well before landfall, and in fact covers nothing else that I have seen, since Sunday last. Their news personnel also declared the government completely incompetent in this matter, so some of the word is getting out. But what does it take to infuriate people enough to take action?

The U.S. has no decent leadership at all, nothing but worthless government employees who care for nothing but themselves.

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Addenda about looters. As one on-scene reporter explained, those who take TVs and other valuable but seemingly needless items apparently trade them for desperately needed water, food and clothing. Shooting these people is not the correct response. You'll just enrage the survivors.


HERO, your Number 4 suggestion is already in place. It's the National Guard, which is foolishly deployed in Iraq with all its helicopters. What I think we need instead is Washington leadership with intelligence.

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Apparently the emergency management for NOLA was contracted out by Homeland Security to Innovative Emergency Management (IEM). So maybe it wasn't the fault of local and state government, but the current fascination with spending gobs of tax dollars on private contractors. I'll have to research IEM's role in all this.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Ruxton:

ALL OF THESE OFFERS and more, the U.S. military leaders of the U.S. have declined. U.S. Dept. Bulletin NCO:13788...states that this must remain an INTERNAL ACTION.

(I have not verified this bulletin but don't doubt it, because I read yesterday that similar offers from Canada and France have been RE-f***in'-FUSED!)

Can anyone call this leadership?

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I CAN'T BELIEVE WE WOULD REFUSE AID! Bush SHOULD BE IMPEACHED!!! Wait:

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Global Aid Offers Pour Into U.S. in Katrina Aftermath
Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- At least 40 nations and international organizations have offered aid to the U.S. as Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the federal government struggle to cope with rescue and relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The U.S. government will accept any assistance that can help survivors of the storm, Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman, told reporters yesterday in Washington. Katrina killed hundreds, possibly thousands, in four Gulf coast states and flooded 80 percent of New Orleans.

``The pictures that we see on television are hard to bear,'' German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told reporters today at the Chancellery in Berlin. ``It is not only our historical duty, because we've received unlimited help from the American people after the war, but it also goes without saying.''

The U.S., the world's largest economy and a leading a provider of global disaster-relief and foreign aid for decades, will take handouts even from poorer nations, such as the Dominican Republic and Sri Lanka, which have offered to help, according to the State Department.

``No offer that can help alleviate the suffering of the people of the affected area will be refused,'' McCormack said.

Cash, Boats

The State Department now is trying to ``match offers with needs,'' spokeswoman Joanne Moore said. Items offered include cash, boats, aircraft, tents, blankets, and power generators.

Sri Lanka is making its $25,000 donation through the American Red Cross, which is running the largest relief operations in the hurricane-ravaged area.

Having suffered the tsunami of December 2004 ``the people of Sri Lanka and I fully comprehend the grief and the sense of loss experienced by the victims of the hurricane,'' Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga said in a statement.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a target of criticism by the U.S., offered $1 million to the Red Cross through Citgo, the U.S. subsidiary of the country's national oil company. As many as 2,000 Citgo refinery workers in Lake Charles, Louisiana are homeless, Venezuelan embassy spokeswoman Arelis Paiva said.

The U.S. has tentatively agreed to Germany's offer of airlifting, vaccination, water purification, medical supplies and pumping services, Schroeder said. The aid is ready to go on German air force and chartered planes, he said.

France has offered 600 tents, 1,000 camp beds, 60 generators, and three portable water-treatment plants, Denis Simonneau, deputy spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry, said at a press briefing. A 60-strong disaster relief team could be sent ``very quickly,'' and two planes, two naval ships, a hospital ship, and 35 aid workers are standing ready in the Caribbean, he said.

Power Generators

Australia said it will donate $8 million to the American Red Cross. Japan said it will give $200,000 to the relief group and is also ready to provide an additional $300,000 worth of tents, blankets, power generators, and water tanks. Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura telephoned U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today to offer help, the Japanese Embassy said.

``What you see is a combination of things: cynical efforts to get in good with the U.S., from people like Hugo Chavez, but there is genuine good will,'' said Michael Mandelbaum, a professor of foreign policy at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. ``It's the government's policies that are unpopular, but people have a reserv

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