Katrina-related accusations and the info behind them

POSTED BY: Geezer
UPDATED: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 03:57
VIEWED: 7777
PAGE 3 of 11

Quote:

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Originally posted by rue:
I saw a news report on CBS the other day that had serious timeline errors (declaration of national emergency). It also highlighted selected bits of information while ignoring others (said Nagin waited to call 'an evacuation' rather than saying a voluntary evacuation was ordered, followed by a mandatory one), and in addition expressed dubious legal opinions (for example, that the Insurrection Act needed to be invoked).

You have to be careful, for too many network news shows the news means simply parroting either the administration or what some other drone said longer and louder than anyone else.

It is most helpful to read original documents (NOLA, FEMA) and original legal decisions (National Guard). In my experience, the media depend on the fact that virtually no one will fact-check them.

Failing that, foreign English-language media is a generally good source of information.

Other than that, all of the to-the-minute news sources have generally been archived, so it's not possible to go back to unfiltered sources. It would be nice if the news links from before landfall through the first few days I provided are still active, though I suspect not.

So, smooth move Geezer. You will not find many active links from when it matters.

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So you've just explained how you can feel free to continue to believe things that can't be verified. Smooth move, Rue.



"Keep the Shiny side up"

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I heard, but have not had time to verify, that Blanco asked for 700 buses from FEMA for evacuaiton, and FEMA only sent 100. Add this to your list- it should be easy to verify or disprove.

Please don't think they give a shit.

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Quote:

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Originally posted by SignyM:
I heard, but have not had time to verify, that Blanco asked for 700 buses from FEMA for evacuaiton, and FEMA only sent 100. Add this to your list- it should be easy to verify or disprove.

Please don't think they give a shit.

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From a Boston Globe article.

http://www.boston.com/news/weather/articles/2005/09/11/chronology_of_e
rrors_how_a_disaster_spread/?page=1

"Bureaucratic glitches slowed progress from the beginning. On Sunday, the day before the storm, the Louisiana National Guard asked FEMA for 700 buses to evacuate people. It received only 100."

That's the extend of the info I could find. This says the state National Guard, not the Gov. requested the busses. It assumes (without providing any evidence) that "bureaucratic glitches" were the problem, but doesn't give any indication of where the busses were for, or why only 100 of 700 requested were sent. Maybe by Sunday, all the busses FEMA had available were already assigned. Maybe they couldn't find drivers (New Orleans couldn't). Lots of unanswered questions.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Geezer:

Quote:

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Originally posted by SignyM:
I heard, but have not had time to verify, that Blanco asked for 700 buses from FEMA for evacuaiton, and FEMA only sent 100. Add this to your list- it should be easy to verify or disprove.

Please don't think they give a shit.

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"Bureaucratic glitches slowed progress from the beginning. On Sunday, the day before the storm, the Louisiana National Guard asked FEMA for 700 buses to evacuate people. It received only 100."

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We saw hundreds of buses sitting unused in bus depots in New Orleans, any local school district in NW Louisiana could have and should have been tapped to provide buses. Maybe FEMA thought that she could look out her window and find a few of those big, yellow ones on her own. Why should FEMA maintain huge, unused bus depots in select locations unused but ready to duplicate services available on a daily basis to local officials.

Gee, maybe FEMA should have a wharehouse filled with Louisiana National Guardsman that it can use for an emergency (since the real ones are too busy escorting Democratic Congressmen to clean out their New Orleans homes or blocking relief supplies headed for the Superdome). FEMA could then send its own New Orleans local police and trash collectors. Perhaps a FEMA mobile City Hall. FEMA Parks and Rec lifeguards for the pools. FEMA weights and measures inspectors to make sure the gas pumps are properly calibrated. Duplicate state and local services and resources for every level since in the event of an emergency state and local officials have no power or ability and their existing infrastructure and resources simply evaporate in the hours before they might be needed. Uh, oh, Gov Blanco's pen is out of ink. Sure, she's got a bunch sitting in her desk drawer, but she gets on the phone and calls FEMA asking for 700 special, Federal ink pens, sure they only send her 100, but she doesn't even use those for three more days while complaining that she can't write anything because she needs help.

H

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Quote:

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Originally posted by Geezer:
1. Some independent source that it actually occurred.
2. Verification that it was actually FEMA.
3. If it did occur, what was the reason behind it?

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First, thank you for responding to my annoyed post so rationally. I respect that. These are very good points, and it is important to think critically, especially when the media reports merely hearsay. Having said that, Rue makes a good point too that hearsay is sometimes all the media has to go on. In a situation where communications are down, and exit and entry is controlled by martial law, sometimes second-hand accounts are as good as it gets.

Here is an excerpt of a shocking first-hand account. There is a lot more at the original link. The blame in this story definitely goes to local "authorities," though much of this suffering here would not have happened had FEMA had not obstructed relief in the first few days. It is unclear which "military" was involved in turning away the chartered buses and why--I doubt that the authors themselves know. The highlights in bold are my emphasis.

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http://www.livejournal.com/users/sfsocialists/3687.html
On Day 2, there were approximately 500 of us left in the hotels in the French Quarter. We were a mix of foreign tourists, conference attendees like ourselves, and locals who had checked into hotels for safety and shelter from
Katrina. Some of us had cell phone contact with family and friends outside of New Orleans. We were repeatedly told that all sorts of resources including the National Guard and scores of buses were pouring in to the City. The buses and the
other resources must have been invisible because none of us had seen them.

We decided we had to save ourselves. So we pooled our money and came up with $25,000 to have ten buses come and take us out of the City. Those who did not have the requisite $45.00 for a ticket were subsidized by those who did have
extra money. We waited for 48 hours for the buses, spending the last 12 hours standing outside, sharing the limited water, food, and clothes we had. We created a priority boarding area for the sick, elderly and new born babies. We waited late into the night for the "imminent" arrival of the buses. The buses never arrived. We later learned that the minute the arrived to the City limits, they were commandeered by the military.

By day 4 our hotels had run out of fuel and water. Sanitation was dangerously abysmal. As the desperation and despair increased, street crime as well as water levels began to rise. The hotels turned us out and locked their doors,
telling us that the "officials" told us to report to the convention center to wait for more buses. As we entered the center of the City, we finally encountered the National Guard.

The Guards told us we would not be allowed into the Superdome as the City's primary shelter had been descended into a humanitarian and health hellhole. The guards further told us that the City's only other shelter, the Convention
Center, was also descending into chaos and squalor and that the police were not allowing anyone else in. Quite naturally, we asked, "If we can't go to the only 2 shelters in the City, what was our alternative?" The guards told us that that was our problem, and no they did not have extra water to give to us. This would be the start of our numerous encounters with callous and hostile "law enforcement".

We walked to the police command center at Harrah's on Canal Street and were told the same thing, that we were on our own, and no they did not have water to give us. We now numbered several hundred. We held a mass meeting to decide a course of action. We agreed to camp outside the police command post. We would be plainly visible to the media and would constitute a highly visible embarrassment to the City officials. The police told us that we could not stay. Regardless, we began to settle in and set up camp. In short order, the police
commander came across the street to address our group. He told us he had a solution: we should walk to the Pontchartrain E

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