Prince

The week Bush failed America
New Orleans deserved better

Leader
Sunday September 4, 2005
The Observer

When the city of New Orleans was inundated following Katrina, the first response was shock. It was immediately followed by the overwhelming desire to help the victims.
But as the urgency of people's compassion has seemed not to be matched by that of their leaders, another powerful emotion has come to the fore: anger.

It was never within President Bush's power to stop the Gulf of Mexico from rising up and battering Louisiana, but it was his duty to respond wholeheartedly once the scale of the catastrophe became clear. It was also possible to anticipate how devastating an effect Katrina would have. There was ample warning. Low-slung between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi river, New Orleans was exceptionally vulnerable to flooding following a hurricane. Precisely such a scenario was cited (in 2001 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency) as one of the most likely disasters to hit the United States, along with an earthquake in San Francisco and a terrorist attack on New York.

After 11 September, the Bush administration reordered federal government and redirected its resources to prepare for the worst. It created a new Department of Homeland Security with sweeping powers. It wrote a blank cheque for the military. The people of New Orleans, stranded on rooftops, huddled in fear of looters, starving and dying of neglect, might reasonably ask how the most powerful country on earth, already on heightened alert, could fail to respond adequately to its biggest civil disaster in living memory.

The conclusion that there has been a monumental failure of leadership is unavoidable. President Bush did not promptly cut short his holiday. He did not offer early reassurance and comfort to the American people, nor, when he did address the nation, did he convince anyone that he had an adequate understanding of the situation or had prepared a muscular response.

It took five days for a mass relief effort to break through to New Orleans. Inevitably, the questions arise: would it have taken so long had the threat been terrorists instead of flood waters? Would it have taken so long had the victims not been mostly poor? Would it have taken so long had they not been black?

The White House has deflected such concerns by saying that partisan politics is inappropriate in a time of national emergency. Certainly there has been opportunism in some criticism. But when even a pro-Bush paper such as the New York Post can write: 'Frankly, Team Bush seemed a little shaky on its responsibility to take command of the situation', then it is clear that the humanitarian disaster of Katrina is also a political crisis for the President.

The evidence that the US would be unable to respond to a major terrorist attack is being broadcast nonstop from New Orleans on America's news channels: no co-ordination between local, state and federal authorities; inadequate and chaotic evacuation plans; the failure to fund the appropriate agencies; delays in deploying the necessary resources in men and material; and the absence of leadership that can give people hope at a time of national tragedy.

There will be far-reaching political and economic consequences from Katrina and from the damage to the oil infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico, although the scale of these has yet to be calculated. But even America's robust democracy will find it hard to absorb these aftershocks without greater confidence in its leaders. Last week, urban American society revealed its fragility, its vast inequalities, its racial fault lines and its ready propensity to violence. All urgently need the attention of a strong and compassionate White House.

The US projects itself as a beacon of civilisation. That image has been tarnished. Yet it is essential that President Bush attempts to restore the faith of Americans and their friends in the ideals of freedom and democracy. That must begin with addressing these deep-rooted problems.

topolo

Give it up Rob....

Chain Link

This is from the LA times, it seems a pretty fair article attacking both parties, and giving credit primarily to Local officials whove been very vocal about the subject BEFORE Katrina.
Id appreciate it if everyone whos placing blame read this article as theres alot of numbers in here that I havent seen anyone else put together or report so well, Its a good article and I think anyone who cares about the subject should read it(Ill admit its long, but I got through it)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/latimests/20...dleveeprojects
(double posted, once to each side of the arguement)

bio-chem

kbm8795

I think the Administration failure in this catastrophe is already becoming very well documented.

Obviously, the American people need to pass a constitutional amendment which allows us to circumvent the useless federal agencies and accept direct foreign aid from nations with a more humanitarian mission.

It's nice to know we can respond with food and water drops within two days for tsunami victims in Indonesia (apparently without worrying about too many control issues with their provincial officials) but stubbornly reject food and water assistance over control issues. There is something arrogant in the idea that command and control issues between branches of government are more important than saving American citizens from dying of dehydration.

But such is the "culture of life."

brogers

How about the times clinton decided not to apprehend Bin Ladin or do anything when terrorists were attacking our civilians and soldiers.

kbm8795

We could talk all about Osama bin Forgotten if you like - and how he is likely working in the United States for one of our own Taliban-like televangelista organizations. We never caught him. Mission accomplished again.

The point is that the government of the United States' FIRST responsibility is to provide for the welfare and protection of American citizens. And what we understand now is that we can afford hundreds of billions of dollars for other people in the world at the deliberate and intentional expense of our own at home. But even beyond the deaths that could have been avoided with increased levee construction, better evacuation procedures, etc., there is the utterly irresponsible deaths that occurred from American citizens who were begging for a simple drink of water.

There was no big delay in rushing many of the supplies to the areas afflicted. The big delay was in the ego-driven, control-demanding federal agencies who wouldn't release anything and blocked contributions from other Americans. It wasn't Michael Brown manning rescue boats on Monday and Tuesday; it was the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana. It wasn't Michael Brown who risked his own life to transfer prisoners in a flooded jail by swimming to each one and cuffing them; it was the Sheriff of Orleans Parish. It wasn't George Bush who put sheets over the dead as he walked down the streets, surveying the damage. They were removed so he wouldn't have to SEE them.
And it wasn't George Bush who pitched in with his sleeves rolled up - instead he insulted the nation by dragging out two ex-presidents to tour the country begging the American people to contribute money, like WE are the ones who won't take care of our own.

vegman

Bush failed huh? Those people are lucky to even have aid

Note to self: Eat More, Train Hard, and Eat More!

kbm8795

They DIDN'T have aid for most of the week, even though American citizens contributed money, food, water, medical supplies and time to rescue them. But FEMA wouldn't let that assistance into the city. . .of course, the pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together:

From MSNBC:

But after Katrina, a strange paralysis set in. For days, Bush's top advisers argued over legal niceties about who was in charge, according to three White House officials who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the negotiations. Beginning early in the week, Justice Department lawyers presented arguments for federalizing the Guard, but Defense Department lawyers fretted about untrained 19-year-olds trying to enforce local laws, according to a senior law-enforcement official who requested anonymity citing the delicate nature of the discussions.

While Washington debated, the situation in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast deteriorated. Bush traveled to the region in part to work out a deal with local officials to establish a clearer chain of command. By the weekend, federal officials said there could be tens of thousands of troops in New Orleans in short order. Saturday, Bush pledged to return to the region on Monday—and to deploy 7,000 additional active-duty troops under the Pentagon's control. But for many, the help was arriving too late. Officials worked through the weekend trying to hammer out the jurisdictional issues.


Dereliction of Duty. Five-Day Bush.

Big Smoothy

I agree with the OP (Original Post) and article.

But the mayor and the governor dropped the ball, too.

The mayor had the gall to yell at an interview asking where the federal help was - while he never mobilized empty sitting school buses to get people out.

Military men are dumb, stupid animals, to be used as pawns for foreign policy
– Henry Kissinger (January-February 2003 edition of Eagle Newsletter)

kbm8795

And now, the President of the richest country in the world, the same one that turned away help from some local citizens and urged other nations to donate money online for the relief cause, has suddenly determined that we cannot handle this crisis ALONE. Of course, Friday he told the nation that we can handle both Iraq and the hurricane catastrophe.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/inte...?id=1891072005

kbm8795

That is a good point, although the school buses would have been inadequate. The city itself needed at least nearly 11,000 school buses. At the same time, there were no troop carriers or transport planes flying in to evacuate people, even though the federal government had already declared the state a disaster area before the storm hit.

If the issue is how to handle an entire city being threatened, the Mayor was pretty much left with parish presidents, a council, the sheriff's department and 1500 police officers, along with 200 National Guardsmen assigned to the Superdome. Other states were mobilizing and sending their Guard in, other cities and states had offered police and fire personnel as early as last Saturday, and they couldn't get into the city. In many cases, they were blocked by FEMA.

How many American mayors have evacuation programs for their entire city? Especially workable ones? The Mississippi towns and cities did no better, you know - the governor of Mississippi did nothing more than "beg" his residents to flee. A large scale evacuation involving an area nearly 200 miles across would require federal support.

maxpro2

Wtf does that have to do with anything in this thread? Dumbass.

Wow, you're fucking ignorant.

TJ Cline

kbm8795

Time running out for survivors
Rescuers: Not enough resources to save all in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Time is running out for thousands of people awaiting rescue six days after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, rescuers say.

Officials say they do not have the manpower, the resources or enough time to save everyone.

"My guys are coming back and telling me, 'Sir, I went into a house, and there are three elderly people in their beds, and they're gasping, and they're dying,' " Coast Guard Capt. Bruce Jones said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/04...cue/index.html



Criminal. Would you like another piece of cake, George?

Eggs

There has been an increase in stories over the past couple days about the possibility that the state/local government in Louisiana/New Orleans failed to pass on critical information to their counterparts in the organizations that were standing by to provide aid.

Currently, the state governments in currently keeping medical teams from coming in to provide aid: http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/09/04....ap/index.html

That group was set up to help out The Office of Homeland Security a couple years ago, and has over 100 doctors that are standing by waiting to be allowed into the state.

So... it goes on and on. Washington has failed? Perhaps. But it was certainly helped along by state officials. Along with which, the senators and congressmen of Louisiana have failed at their duties in promoting the best interest of their state in congress.

The state government is keeping aid from reaching the sick and dying... but you said it best. "Officials say they do not have the manpower, the resources or enough time to save everyone." At least that is the case when state governments deny aid.

My thought on the matter is... the affected area is 90,000sq miles. Does anybody know how large an area that is or what kind of manpower is needed to tackle something like that? With or without Iraq we wouldn't have had the power to provide aid on that scale.

DOMS

One of the myths the Angry Left has been peddling in the wake of Katrina is that there aren't enough National Guardsmen to deal with the disaster because they're all off in Iraq. National Review Online's James Robbins offers a dose of reality:

Take the Army for example. There are 1,012,000 soldiers on active duty, in the Reserves, or in the National Guard. Of them, 261,000 are deployed overseas in 120 countries. Iraq accounts for 103,000 soldiers, or 10.2 percent of the Army.

That's all? Yes, 10.2 percent. That datum is significant in itself, a good one to keep handy the next time someone talks about how our forces are stretched too thin, our troops are at the breaking point, and so forth. If you add in Afghanistan (15,000) and the support troops in Kuwait (10,000) you still only have 12.6 percent.

So where are the rest? 751,000 (74.2 percent) are in the U.S. About half are active duty, and half Guard and Reserve. The Guard is the real issue of course--the Left wants you to believe that the country has been denuded of its citizen soldiers, and that Louisiana has suffered inordinately because Guardsmen and women who would have been available to be mobilized by the state to stop looting and aid in reconstruction are instead risking their lives in Iraq.

Recall, too, that many of the same people who are now say the National Guard is too important to waste on American security overseas a year ago were insisting that George W. Bush was a bum for serving in the Texas Air National Guard while "war hero" John Kerry was in Vietnam.

kbm8795

Two 53-foot trailers. By the way, if you read the whole story, it appears that other volunteer medical personnel were able to make arrangements through the Louisiana officials. So you have one possible example here of state interference. Hardly a "growing number of stories."

However, those should start appearing:

Under the command of President Bush's two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan this weekend to contain the political damage from the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.

It orchestrated visits by cabinet members to the region, leading up to an extraordinary return visit by Mr. Bush planned for Monday, directed administration officials not to respond to attacks from Democrats on the relief efforts, and sought to move the blame for the slow response to Louisiana state officials, according to Republicans familiar with the White House plan.

The effort is being directed by Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, and his communications director, Dan Bartlett. - New York Times this morning.

Did you get your talking points sent today?

DOMS

"according to Republicans familiar with the White House plan"

Wow, that sounds like a creditable source.

Ooh, ooh, my turn!

"Howard Dean can only achieve an orgasm if his kills a small mammal, such as a puppy or kitten, according to Democrats familiar with Howard Dean."


That was fun...

min0 lee

.

kbm8795

One of the myths about the Right is that they actually have any real interest in the "culture of life." While up to 30% of Louisiana's National Guard was serving overseas, half of their equipment was gone, including badly-needed high water trucks.

So far, the Right's defense has been little more than "those people should have left" and "look at the looters," apparently because it has taken a good week for them to start figuring out how to deflect responsibility for their intentional inaction. Meanwhile, a power struggle appears to continue between state officials and the federal government, which officials regard with suspicion because of their absence in providing assistance after multiple appeals.

Other than the Coast Guard and the helicopters which started rescue operations from the Bataan, just exactly where were the search-and-rescue personnel? Again, police officers and firemen sent by several cities around the country were turned back by FEMA; trucks bringing donated supplies were turned back by FEMA; individuals who drove for 12 hours to bring supplies were told to donate money. And, indicative of some kind of power struggle going on between public officials, Jefferson Parish President Boussard claimed FEMA cut off emergency communication lines between coordinating state and local officials.

I've read no stories about FEMA officials risking their lives in boats and helicopters trying to rescue people. No tales of FEMA taking rifles and joining the New Orleans police in attempting to maintain order while searching for survivors. No heroic efforts by FEMA to use aircraft to drop needed food and supplies in the city.

Everything points to the sudden and staged appearance of the cavalry to coincide with the arrival of President Bush. But, as Senator Landrieu pointed out in a press release the morning after Bush's appearance, only one crane remained at the 17th St. canal breach site. The breach was temporarily and finally blocked as of early evening last night, at least five days after the Mayor appealed for helicopters to plug the breach before most of the rest of the city was flooded.

We keep hearing that this country had all the resources it needs to handle this massive effort, it just didn't seem to appear. So what are we getting for a $40 billion + Department of Homeland Security budget? New color codes and recommendations for using duct tape?

The city evacuation efforts actually started out according to their own specified plan, although officials have long been wary of using the Superdome as a shelter of last resort. However, that is how they defined it, a location that was supposed to be a centralized point for others to be evacuated. City officials first restricted movement into the Dome to those who were elderly and in ill health before opening it up to others stranded in the city.

The federal government agencies were briefed on the extent of the storm by the National Hurricane Center. The governor should have been able to tell them what she needed and the response should have been immediate. Instead, many Guard units were prohibited from entering the city by FEMA while the federal government haggled with state and local officials over control.

As usual, the federal government won't take any responsibility for that either.

Instead, they are so busy trying to cover their image that they sent Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to tour stricken areas near Mobile, Alabama, a rather ridiculous public relations stunt that only adds to the embarassment of this Administration. Rice, who should be shuffling through the offers of assistance from some 59 countries, posed for photo ops holding a bottle of water, shook some hands, and spoke briefly in a church about how the Lord always comes on time. Surprisingly, she wasn't speaking in front of a portrait of President Bush.

Unless Condi was donating those expensive shoes she was buying in New York two days AFTER the hurricane hit, one wonders why the White House was sending her on tour.

vegman

How does that make me ignorant? or are you just angry?

What I am saying is that they were all worned to leave the city. Now they all complain that they weren't helped fast enough. It was a natural disaster and they should be thankful that they are in the US where they do get help, whether it's fast or slow. The government is not thier mother here to bail them out. Don't get me wrong, I feel for those people and have donated. If someone can change my view on this, I am open for it.

Note to self: Eat More, Train Hard, and Eat More!

kbm8795

Actually, as a right winger, you should be familiar with that tactic used in the Administration. Veteran White House reporters usually understand that to mean people associated with Karl Rove. As the stories appear, the statements by those sources become credible. That's how a professional knows how to use statements by more anonymous sources...an ethical tactic that most wingnuts always assume means propaganda.

To put it more clearly, it's often also useful to watch the response - those who regularly shill propaganda themselves are always the first to assume that other sources aren't credible.

If their actions don't follow the story later, then you know it isn't credible.

kbm8795

So they are paying taxes to help Iraqis out, but not themselves?

kbm8795

CNN reported that Governor Kathleen Blanco just learned this morning the President's itinerary for his trip today. They are trying to cut her out. And:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...090401337.html


This is going to get very interesting.

TJ Cline

Wow, you're fucking ignorant

kbm8795

Hurricane Center Director Tells Paper He Briefed Brown and Chertoff on Danger of Severe Flooding

By E&P Staff

Published: September 04, 2005 6:55 PM ET

NEW YORK Dr. Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, told the Times-Picayune Sunday afternoon that officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, including FEMA Director Mike Brown and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, listened in on electronic briefings given by his staff in advance of Hurricane Katrina slamming Louisiana and Mississippi--and were advised of the storm’s potential deadly effects.

"Mayfield said the strength of the storm and the potential disaster it could bring were made clear during both the briefings and in formal advisories, which warned of a storm surge capable of overtopping levees in New Orleans and winds strong enough to blow out windows of high-rise buildings," the paper reported. "He said the briefings included information on expected wind speed, storm surge, rainfall and the potential for tornados to accompany the storm as it came ashore.

"We were briefing them way before landfall," Mayfield said. "It’s not like this was a surprise. We had in the advisories that the levee could be topped."

Chertoff told reporters Saturday that government officials had not expected the damaging combination of a powerful hurricane levee breaches that flooded New Orleans.

Brown, Mayfield said, is a dedicated public servant. “The question is why he couldn’t shake loose the resources that were needed,’’ he said.

Brown and Chertoff could not be reached for comment on Sunday afternoon.

In the days before Katrina hit, Mayfield said, his staff also briefed FEMA, which under the Department of Homeland Security, at FEMA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., its Region 6 office in Dallas and the Region 4 office in Atlanta about the potential effects of the storm. He said all of those briefings were logged in the hurricane center’s records.



But...but...just like the Presidente, they had no idea this could possibly happen.

min0 lee

ouch.

Eggs

Its the New York Times... of course they are going to bash bush. If there is blame at the local government level, people need to accept that as well. Not all the blame can be laid at the feet of the federal government.

Your article doesn't say otherwise.

As to the info before - Sure, other health groups have made it in. However, we're talking about total response. There were small amounts of federal assets there before, but you said that was inadequate. It isnt being helped out locally

btw, I think I did get my talking points. Just stopping by to see what new hatred and bigotry you are stirring up today Good job on that!

DOMS

A fair post.

That tatic is used routinely by everyone in politics, I'm just saying that one shouldn't quote such statements in a debate, it wont score any points.