Rove's Master Plan: Shift Blame to Local Officials

[Nbadan]

Many Evacuated, but Thousands Still Waiting
White House Shifts Blame to State and Local Officials

By Manuel Roig-Franzia and Spencer Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 4, 2005; Page A01


NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 3 -- Tens of thousands of people spent a fifth day awaiting evacuation from this ruined city, as Bush administration officials blamed state and local authorities for what leaders at all levels have called a failure of the country's emergency management.

President Bush authorized the dispatch of 7,200 active-duty ground troops to the area -- the first major commitment of regular ground forces in the crisis -- and the Pentagon announced that an additional 10,000 National Guard troops will be sent to Louisiana and Mississippi, raising the total Guard contingent to about 40,000.

Authorities reported progress in restoring order and electricity and repairing levees, as a hospital ship arrived and cruise ships were sent to provide temporary housing for victims. As Louisiana officials expressed confidence that they had begun to get a handle on the crisis, a dozen National Guard troops broke into applause late Saturday as Isaac Kelly, 81, the last person to be evacuated from the Superdome, boarded a school bus.

But there remained an overwhelming display of human misery on the streets of New Orleans, where the last 1,500 people were being evacuated from the Convention Center amid an overpowering odor of human waste and rotting garbage. The evacuees, most of them black and poor, spoke of violence, anarchy and family members who died for lack of food, water and medical care.

About 42,000 people had been evacuated from the city by Saturday afternoon, with roughly the same number remaining, city officials said. Search-and-rescue efforts continued in flooded areas of the city, where an unknown number of people wait in their homes, on rooftops or in makeshift shelters. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the flooding -- 250,000 have been absorbed by Texas alone, and local radio reported that Baton Rouge will have doubled in population by Monday. Federal officials said they have begun to collect corpses but could not guess the total toll.

Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday.

The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals," said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.

A senior administration official said that Bush has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and the New Orleans mayor.

Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.

"The federal government stands ready to work with state and local officials to secure New Orleans and the state of Louisiana," White House spokesman Dan Bartlett said. "The president will not let any form of bureaucracy get in the way of protecting the citizens of Louisiana."

Blanco made two moves Saturday that protected her independence from the federal government: She created a philanthropic fund for the state's victims and hired James Lee Witt, Federal Emergency Management Agency director in the Clinton administration, to advise her on the relief effort.

Bush, who has been criticized, even by supporters, for the delayed response to the disaster, used his weekly radio address to put responsibility for the failure on lower levels of government. The magnitude of the crisis "has created tremendous problems that have strained state and local capabilities," he said. "The result is that many of our citizens simply are not getting the help they need, especially in New Orleans. And that is unacceptable."

Maybe the WH hasn't read the Homeland Security National Response Plan. The Plan ensures the seamless integration of the federal government when an incident exceeds local or state capabilities.

http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/press_release/pre...

When W issued the State of Emergency on Sunday night before the storm made landfall and it was still a Cat 5, the response to the disaster was automatically the responsibility of the Federal Government. What if it was a terrorist attack and the Governor was killed or injured and couldn't respond? This is why Bush lives in a bunker and we don't.

DHS and FEMA failed to respond with the slightest hint of competence or concern to this incomprehensible human tragedy for days on end while W played the guitar, ate cake, and waited for NOLA to drown. Every American knows that the federal government takes over in these situations, or what the hell is the purpose of FEMA otherwise?

Look, this issue is settled. Americans know the Federal government failed the Southeast. There is no debate on it. We are passed that now...Now the question must be asked: are we safer than we were 4 years ago? And the answer, sadly, is no. We need new leadership to make this country safe."

[Al Sharpton]

I hate when white folks pass the buck.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

:lol

75% of Americans think state/local government dropped the ball on this...

http://abcnews.go.com/US/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1094262&page=1

Did Rove vote 75% of the time?

[The Ressurrected One]

Why wasn't the Superdome and other designated shelters stocked with sufficient quantities of supplies?

Why weren't emergency services staged outside New Orleans until after the storm passed and all was safe?

Those are the major contributing factors to what happened afterward. And, those were both local responsibilities. Period.

[The Ressurrected One]

Maybe the WH hasn't read the Homeland Security National Response Plan. The Plan ensures the seamless integration of the federal government when an incident exceeds local or state capabilities.
And when that became apparent, the feds stepped in. Exceedance of a local or state capability is the call of the local or state government...not the feds. For the feds to take control would be to usurp state sovereignty.

[SpursWoman]

And when that became apparent, the feds stepped in. Exceedance of a local or state capability is the call of the local or state government...not the feds. For the feds to take control would be to usurp state sovereignty.


And prior to this monstrosity of ineptness, ask any Governor how much authority he/she wants taken away from them. That's been an issue forever, not just in disaster situations.

Anyone will tell you that they want as much control at the state level as possible to ease the burden of the federal government, well, obviously there's a problem being able to trust that they can handle it. Have you seen any fuck-ups of this magnitude in any other disaster-prone state?

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Maybe the WH hasn't read the Homeland Security National Response Plan. The Plan ensures the seamless integration of the federal government when an incident exceeds local or state capabilities.

Wednesday it became apparent that the catstrophy had exceeded local and state capabilities, Wednesday evening Lt. Gen. Honore took charge for the federal government.

The only thing the feds are guilty of is thinking that NO would have its shit together half as good as the folks in Florida and Alabama who have dealt with storm after storm the last year and a half.

[The Ressurrected One]

Wednesday it became apparent that the catstrophy had exceeded local and state capabilities, Wednesday evening Lt. Gen. Honore took charge for the federal government.

The only thing the feds are guilty of is thinking that NO would have its shit together half as good as the folks in Florida and Alabama who have dealt with storm after storm the last year and a half.
Amen to that! It's starting to look like the City of New Orleans just expected to throw the doors of their shelters open and let the people fend for themselves until the big tit of the federal government came down to bail them out.

In fact, I'm willing to concede that if the City of New Orleans had just admitted this, the federal government would have done just that.

If the federal response is guilty of anything, as AH said, it's that they figured the New Orleans officials were as prepared as everyone else on the Gulf Coast that regularly deals with Mother Nature. I bet they work those questions into their next disaster response.

So, mayor, are there enough supplies at your shelters to support the maximum capacity for 72 to 96 hours? No? Okay, we'll have them.

So, mayor, did you move your critical emergency reponse resources to high ground in case your fucking city floods? No? Fine, we'll bring more.

Oh, and mayor, you do realize people eat and crap, right? How bout rounding up every port-a-can you can find and storing them at the Superdome until this blows over. Then you can move them outside so people don't have to sleep in excrement and urine if the city plumbing should fail.

[JohnnyMarzetti]

The Bush blame game is on!

[SpursWoman]

so how much kleenex have you gone through so far?

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

^^^^^^^^

You do realize that per federal law, the governor has to do things like request martial law be declared, right?

They had a NO SWAT commander on MSNBC today, and he straight up said that the National Guard's hands were tied until his governor saw it fit to declare martial law (which she STILL hasn't).

As much as some of you libs screamed about Bush and the law, Constitution, etc. in going into Iraq, you sure all of a sudden want him to say the hell with the Constitution and federal law in all this.

[Dos]

the mayor of NO is no Rudy Guliani!

[Vashner]

NBAdan must be one of Rove's secret lovers... to get the inside information of course.

[Nbadan]

I guess the WH didn't get the memo:

Statement on Federal Emergency Assistance for Louisiana


The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, (Friday)and continuing.

The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn.

Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding.

Representing FEMA, Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Department of Homeland Security, named William Lokey as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: FEMA (202) 646-4600

WhiteHouse.gov (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html)

The blame game continues...

[timvp]

I don't believe in the Rove conspiracy (:lol), but the partisanship has gotten out of hand. It's to the point that it's disgusting.

Let's see, if you voted for Bush, then you are trying to pass the buck to the local government. If you voted for Kerry, you blame everyone dying on Bush.

It'd be nice if more people could look at events individually instead of just jumping on the partisanship bandwagon.

[Nbadan]

Let's see, if you voted for Bush, then you are trying to pass the buck to the local government. If you voted for Kerry, you blame everyone dying on Bush.

Correction. If your Karl Rove your passing this off to the locals, if you believe that the feds share equal responsibility your in the majority.

[Nbadan]

Multiple failures caused relief crisis
Analysis
By Paul Reynolds
World Affairs correspondent, BBC News website

The breakdown of the relief operation in New Orleans was the result of multiple failures by city, state and federal authorities.

Evacuation at last, but why so late?

There was no one cause. The failures began long before the hurricane with a gamble that a Category Four or Five hurricane would not strike New Orleans.

They continued with an inadequate evacuation plan and culminated in a relief effort hampered by lack of planning, supplies and manpower, and a breakdown in communications of the most basic sort.

On top of all this, there is the question of whether an earlier intervention by President Bush could have a made a big difference.

The planning

Before Hurricane Katrina struck, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) was confident that it was ready. Its director, Michael Brown, said: "Fema has pre-positioned many assets including ice, water, food and rescue teams to move into the stricken areas as soon as it is safe to do so."

Mr Brown even told the Associated Press news agency that the evacuation had gone well. "I was impressed with the evacuation, once it was ordered it was very smooth," he said.

Yet on Saturday 28 August, the day before the evacuation was ordered, Mr Brown did not say that people should leave the city. All he said was:

"There's still time to take action now, but you must be prepared and take shelter and other emergency precautions immediately."

This has made Fema appear complacent in the period immediately before the hurricane arrived. If it did not expect the worst, it would not have prepared for the worst.

The Brown statement went out on the same day that the National Hurricane Center was warning that Katrina was strengthening to the top Category Five. Everyone knew the dangers of a Category Five. A Fema exercise last year called "Hurricane Pam" had looked at a Category Three, and that was bad enough.

The evacuation

It was announced at a news conference by the Mayor Ray Nagin on Sunday 28 August, less than 24 hours before the hurricane struck early the next morning.

The question has to be asked: Why was it not ordered earlier?

The Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said at the same news conference that President Bush had called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation.

The night before, National Hurricane Director Max Mayfield had called Mayor Nagin to tell him that an evacuation was needed. Why were these calls necessary?

School buses still lined up after the hurricane

Again, as with Fema, the New Orleans mayor should have known that on the Saturday, Katrina was strengthening to Five.

It was already clear on the Sunday that the evacuation would not cover many of the poor, the sick and those who did not pay heed.

The mayor said people going to the Superdome, a sports venue named as an alternative destination for those unable to leave, should bring supplies for several days. He also said police could commandeer any vehicle for the evacuation.

But how much support was there at the Superdome? And how much city transport was actually used? There is a photo showing city school buses still lined up, in waterlogged parking lots, after the hurricane.

There are questions for the mayor, dubbed heroic by some, to answer.

The relief operation

The scenes which most shocked the world were at the Superdome and the nearby Convention Center. Yet it turns out that neither Mr Brown nor his boss, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, knew about the crises there until Thursday.

This, despite numerous television reports from the scene. It was not until Friday that the first relief convoy arrived.

It was midday Tuesday that I became aware of the fact that there was no possibility of plugging the gap, and that essentially the lake was going to drain into the city

Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security Secretary

"The very day that this emerged in the press, I was on a video conference with all the officials, including state and local officials. And nobody, none of the state and local officials or anybody else, was talking about a Convention Center," Chertoff told CNN. Note how he blames local officials.

Nor did he know about the breach in the floodwalls until a day later.

"It was midday Tuesday that I became aware of the fact that there was no possibility of plugging the gap, and that essentially the lake was going to drain into the city," he said on NBC.

Other, more successful operations, notably the airlift by the Coast Guard, should be acknowledged.

And in a disaster area the size of Great Britain, resources were stretched.

But ironically the failure at the Convention Center would have been fairly easy to put right. Reporters drove there without problems. One took a taxi.

What one wonders was Fema/the mayor's office/the governor's office doing while all that was played out on live TV?

One lesson agencies might want to learn is that someone senior should do nothing but monitor TV.

Some of this might explain why people at the Superdome and the Convention Center had to wait so long. It does not explain why communications were not better.

Another sign of slowness was that the Department of Homeland Security did not issue the first ever declaration of an "incident of national significance" until the Wednesday. Such a declaration allows the federal government a greater role in taking decisions.

One lesson agencies might want to learn is that someone senior should do nothing but monitor TV

In fact, the arguments between federal and state authorities about who was able to do what is another part of this story.

The Department of Homeland Security said the local authorities were inadequate. The locals responded that Fema had been obstructive - it had, for example, stopped three truckloads of water sent by the store Wal-Mart. And so on.

It took days to sort out who should send troops and from where.

Nor does Governor Blanco escape criticism. It took until Thursday, for example, for her to sign an order releasing school buses to move the evacuees.

The president's response

Mr Bush has been blamed for failing to rise to the occasion. His critics argue that he took too long to get back to Washington and did not provide the inspirational leadership needed at such a time. Nor, it is said, did he intervene early enough to get things moving.

Washington Post correspondent Dan Balz concluded:

"Anger has been focused on Bush and his administration to a degree unprecedented in his presidency. Senator Mary Landrieu [a Louisiana Democrat] said in an ABC News interview that aired Sunday that she would consider punching the president and others for their response to what happened there. Local officials, some in tears, have angrily accused the administration of callousness and negligence."

The president's defenders point out that it was he who urged an evacuation of New Orleans (he has no legal power to order one) and that he did acknowledge the "unacceptable" pace of the relief effort. Further, they say that aid is now flowing and reconstruction will take place.

Another issue for Mr Bush is why Michael Brown was appointed director of Fema. He had previously been its deputy and had been hired as its general counsel by the director Joe Allbaugh. He played a role in studying the government's response to national emergencies. Before that Mr Brown, a lawyer from Oklahoma, had run the Arab horse association.

Senator Hillary Clinton has said that Fema should be removed from the Homeland Security Department and made an independent agency again.

The gamble

When Hurricane Camille, a rare top Category Five storm, hit Mississippi in 1969, just missing New Orleans, the levees around the city were strengthened - but only enough to protect against a Category Three hurricane.

The gamble was taken that another Category Five would not threaten New Orleans anytime soon. This attitude prevailed among successive administrations.

Lt General Carl Strock, the Army Corps of Engineers commander, admitted that there was a collective mindset - that New Orleans would not be hit. Washington rolled the dice, he said.

After flooding in 1995, the existing system was improved. However, the sums were relatively small. About $500m was spent over the next 10 years.

From 2003 onwards, the Bush administration cut funds amid charges from the Army Corps of Engineers that the money was transferred to Iraq instead. The latest annual budget was cut from $36.5m to $10.4m.

A study to examine defences against a category Four or Five storm was proposed, at a cost of $4m. The Times-Picayune quoted the Army Corps of Engineers project manager Al Naomi as saying: "The Iraq war forced the Bush administration to order the New Orleans district office not to begin any new studies."

But in any event, there was no plan for a major strengthening. This would have taken billions of dollars and many years.

And an Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman, Connie Gillette, said there had never been any plans or funds to improve those floodwalls which had failed.

It is a long and complex chain of responsibility.

All these issues, and many more, will now be the subject of congressional and other inquiries.

BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4216508.stm)

[SpursWoman]

BBC News?


OMG, they are so Anti-Bush it's not even funny. :lol

[Nbadan]

Please, argue the content and not the source.

So much for those who have been argueing that Governor Blanco waited to long to declare a state of Emergency..


FRIDAY, AUGUST 26TH

GOVERNOR BLANCO DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY

BATON ROUGE, LA--Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco today issued Proclamation No. 48 KBB 2005, declaring a state of emergency for the state Louisiana as Hurricane Katrina poses an imminent threat, carrying severe storms, high winds, and torrential rain that may cause flooding and damage to private property and public facilities, and threaten the safety and security of the citizens of the state of Louisiana The state of emergency extends from Friday, August 26, 2005, through Sunday, September 25, 2005, unless terminated sooner.

http://www.gov.state.la.us/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=...

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27TH

Governor Blanco asks President to Declare an Emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina

BATON ROUGE—Today Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco forwarded a letter to President Bush requesting that he declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina.

In response to the situation I have taken appropriate action under State law and directed the execution of the State Emergency Plan on August 26, 2005 in accordance with Section 501 (a) of the Stafford Act. A State of Emergency has been issued for the State in order to support the evacuations of the coastal areas in accordance with our State Evacuation Plan and the remainder of the state to support the State Special Needs and Sheltering Plan.

Pursuant to 44 CFR § 206.35, I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster. I am specifically requesting emergency protective measures, direct Federal Assistance, Individual and Household Program (IHP) assistance, Special Needs Program assistance, and debris removal.

The full text of the letter follows:

http://www.gov.state.la.us/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=...

From Saturday on, it was clear for the Federal resources to come in and help those people. Blanco followed the law.

[Ocotillo]

OMG, they are so Anti-Bush it's not even funny. :lol

Your fair haired boy just can't do any wrong.


Do you prefer grape or orange kool aid?

[Nbadan]

http://news.globalfreepress.com/katrina/Disaster_Relief_Request/images/index_img_0.jpg

[Useruser666]

What exactly did the state and local agencies do to prepare for this disaster?

[timvp]

I don't believe in the Rove conspiracy (:lol), but the partisanship has gotten out of hand. It's to the point that it's disgusting.

Let's see, if you voted for Bush, then you are trying to pass the buck to the local government. If you voted for Kerry, you blame everyone dying on Bush.

It'd be nice if more people could look at events individually instead of just jumping on the partisanship bandwagon.

:lmao

I could give Ms. Cleo a run for her money. Seven posts later and it rings even more true.

Amazing.

[Spam]

I blame that bitch Mother Nature!!

[Dos]

the BBC won't even call a terrorist a terrorist...

[SpursWoman]

Your fair haired boy just can't do any wrong.


Do you prefer grape or orange kool aid?




WTF do you even know about me to say anything like that? Do you even read anything from the BBC? I guess you're only used to listening to one side of the story anyway. They are totally anti-American, and are having a total field day with this major fuck up. They are British, that's what they do. :lol

There's only 2 fair haired boys that a GAF about and they both live in my house.


Do you prefer KY or do you like it dry? :rolleyes

[CharlieMac]

I have a couple of relatives in the military that called from NO yesterday. Apparently there were alot of supplies, vehicles, and equiptment that could have been used in the rescue phase of this disaster sitting under 5 feet of water.

There's enough blame to be spead around evenly. If you aren't as biased as Moore or Coulter though.