-------------------------------------------------------- From: "Dstacey" <•••@••.•••> To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;> Subject: KATRINA : BLANCO/NAGIN TIMELINE / FEMA Chief Sent Help Only After Storm Hit Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 00:20:24 -0400 ----- Original Message ----- From: <mailto:•••@••.•••>Sallie To: <mailto:Undisclosed-Recipient:;>Undisclosed-Recipient:; Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 9:31 PM Subject: Re: BLANCO/NAGIN TIMELINE Isn't it funny a reporter asked for a timeline about 9 min. into the 10 min. video, and Rumsfeld was lost for words and couldn't tell him where to get one. He's got more excuses than Carter has liver pills. They had two helicopters to rescue 10,000 people. Rummy should have consulted Stu. :)) Go boy! <http://www.canofun.com/blog/videos/selectedpentagonclipsep6. wmv>http://www.canofun.com/blog/videos/ selectedpentagonclipsep6.wmv ----- Original Message ----- From: Bryan To: Starfly Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 8:47 PM Subject: Fw: BLANCO/NAGIN TIMELINE ----- Original Message ----- From: STU Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 8:26 PM Subject: Re: BLANCO/NAGIN TIMELINE It is important that the Bush administration not get away with shifting their responsibility to local officials. Here is what actually happened. Timeline Friday, Aug. 26: Gov. Kathleen Blanco declares a state of emergency in Louisiana and requests troop assistance. Saturday, Aug. 27: Gov. Blanco asks for federal state of emergency. A federal emergency is declared giving federal officials the authority to get involved. Sunday, Aug. 28: Mayor Ray Nagin orders mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. President Bush warned of Levee failure by National Hurricane Center. National Weather Service predicts area will be "uninhabitable" after Hurricane arrives. First reports of water toppling over the levee appear in local paper. Monday, Aug. 29: Levee breaches and New Orleans begins to fill with water, Bush travels to Arizona and California to discuss Medicare. FEMA chief finally responds to federal emergency, dispatching employees but giving them two days to arrive on site. Tuesday, Aug. 30: Mass looting reported, security shortage cited in New Orleans. Pentagon says that local authorities have adequate National Guard units to handle hurricane needs despite governor's earlier request. Bush returns to Crawford for final day of vacation. TV coverage is around-the-clock Hurricane news. Wednesday, Aug. 31: Tens of thousands trapped in New Orleans including at Convention Center and Superdome in "medieval" conditions. President Bush finally returns to Washington to establish a task force to coordinate federal response. Local authorities run out of food and water supplies. Thursday, Sept. 1: New Orleans descends into anarchy. New Orleans Mayor issues a "Desperate SOS" to federal government. Bush claims nobody predicted the breach of the levees despite multiple warnings and his earlier briefing. Friday, Sept. 2: Karl Rove begins Bush administration campaign to blame state and local officials-despite their repeated requests for help. Bush stages a photo-op-diverting Coast Guard helicopters and crew to act as backdrop for cameras. Levee repair work orchestrated for president's visit and White House press corps. Saturday, Sept. 3: Bush blames state and local officials. Senior administration official (possibly Rove) caught in a lie claiming Gov. Blanco had not declared a state of emergency or asked for help. Monday, Sept. 5: New Orleans officials begin to collect their dead. (Adapted from: Katrina Timeline, <http://thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline/>http:// thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline/ ) Those are the facts. State and local officials BEGGED for help as people in their city suffered. The Bush administration didn't get the job done and when their failure became an embarrassment they attacked those asking for help. The New York Times reported on Friday that Karl Rove and White House communications director Dan Bartlett "rolled out a plan...to contain the political damage from the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina." The core of the strategy is "to shift the blame away from the White House and toward officials of New Orleans and Louisiana." This is the same pattern of smearing that the Bush political machine has used for a decade. John McCain and John Kerry had their war records smeared. The CIA cover of Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife was blown after he criticized the Bush Iraq policy. Now, Hurricane victims are attacked when the Bush administration failed to do their duty to help them. It isn't just the Bush administration. Republican Senator Rick Santorum blamed victims in a TV interview and House Speaker Dennis Hastert suggested New Orleans should not be rebuilt. We can't let them get away with this. Please sign our petition today and do your part.<http://political.moveon.org/helpvictims/?id=5965-2979492 -npagZDFPbLOhBhcRy2M59g&t=4>http://political.moveon.org/ helpvictims/?id=5965-2979492-npagZDFPbLOhBhcRy2M59g&t=4 This is just the first step. We need to continue to help those in need directly and make sure our government does their job. There will be a time to figure out who specifically to blame and what to change. In the meantime, the Bush administration needs to get to work helping those in need. Thanks for all you do, +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ <http://www.nytimes.com/> September 7, 2005 FEMA Chief Sent Help Only After Storm Hit By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 11:58 a.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- The top U.S. disaster official waited hours after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast before he proposed to his boss sending at least 1,000 Homeland Security workers into the region to support rescuers, internal documents show. Part of the mission, according to the documents obtained by The Associated Press, was to ''convey a positive image'' about the government's response for victims. Acknowledging that such a move would take two days, Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff roughly five hours after Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29. Before then, FEMA had positioned smaller rescue and communications teams across the Gulf Coast. But officials acknowledged the first department-wide appeal for help came only as the storm raged. Brown's memo to Chertoff described Katrina as ''this near catastrophic event'' but otherwise lacked any urgent language. The memo politely ended, ''Thank you for your consideration in helping us to meet our responsibilities.'' The initial responses of the government and Brown came under escalating criticism as the breadth of destruction and death grew. President Bush and Congress on Tuesday pledged separate investigations into the federal response to Katrina. ''Governments at all levels failed,'' said Sen. Susan Collins, R-<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/ usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/maine/index.html?inline=nyt- geo>Maine. Aid from <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/ countriesandterritories/canada/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> Canada -- three warships and a coast guard ship -- departed for the Gulf Coast on Thursday, more than one week after Canada first offered to send military support. Ottawa has been careful not to criticize the slow U.S. response and simply repeated their willingness to help when Washington finally accepted its offer of assistance. Several Sea King helicopters and about 1,000 personnel were aboard the Canadian ships, which will take several days to arrive off <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/ usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/louisiana/index.html?inline= nyt-geo>Louisiana. The ships were loaded with medical supplies, 1,200 cots, body bags, assault boats, lumber, pollution cleanup equipment -- even diapers, baby wipes and teddy bears. Navy divers were also dispatched to New Orleans from Halifax and British Columbia to inspect damaged levees and help U.S. officials clear navigational hazards. In the U.S., Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said Brown had positioned front-line rescue teams and Coast Guard helicopters before the storm. Brown's memo on Aug. 29 aimed to assemble the necessary federal work force to support the rescues, establish communications, and coordinate with victims and community groups, Knocke said. Instead of rescuing people or recovering bodies, these employees would focus on helping victims find the help they needed, he said. ''There will be plenty of time to assess what worked and what didn't work,'' Knocke said. ''Clearly there will be time for blame to be assigned and to learn from some of the successful efforts.'' Brown's memo told employees that among their duties, they would be expected to ''convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public.'' ''FEMA response and recovery operations are a top priority of the department and as we know, one of yours,'' Brown wrote Chertoff. He proposed sending 1,000 Homeland Security Department employees within 48 hours and 2,000 within seven days. Knocke said the 48-hour period indicated for the Homeland employees was to ensure they had adequate training. ''They were training to help the lifesavers,'' Knocke said. Employees required a supervisor's approval and at least 24 hours of disaster training in <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/ usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/maryland/index.html?inline= nyt-geo>Maryland, <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/ usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/florida/index.html?inline= nyt-geo>Florida or <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/ usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/georgia/index.html?inline= nyt-geo>Georgia. ''You must be physically able to work in a disaster area without refrigeration for medications and have the ability to work in the outdoors all day,'' Brown wrote. The same day Brown wrote Chertoff, Brown also urged local fire and rescue departments outside Louisiana, <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/ usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/alabama/index.html?inline= nyt-geo> Alabama and <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/ usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/mississippi/index.html? inline=nyt-geo> Mississippi not to send trucks or emergency workers into disaster areas without an explicit request for help from state or local governments. Brown said it was vital to coordinate fire and rescue efforts. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said Tuesday that Brown should resign. ------ <http://www.dhs.gov/> The memo from FEMA Director Mike Brown to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is available at: http://wid.ap.org/documents/dhskatrina.pdf -- ============================================================ If you find this material useful, you might want to check out our website (http://cyberjournal.org) or try out our low-traffic, moderated email list by sending a message to: •••@••.••• You are encouraged to forward any material from the lists or the website, provided it is for non-commercial use and you include the source and this disclaimer. Richard Moore (rkm) Wexford, Ireland blog: http://harmonization.blogspot.com/ "Escaping The Matrix - Global Transformation: WHY WE NEED IT, AND HOW WE CAN ACHIEVE IT ", old draft: http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/rkmGlblTrans.html _____________________________ "...the Patriot Act followed 9-11 as smoothly as the suspension of the Weimar constitution followed the Reichstag fire." - Srdja Trifkovic There is not a problem with the system. The system is the problem. Faith in ourselves - not gods, ideologies, leaders, or programs. _____________________________ cj list archives: http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?lists=cj newslog list archives: http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?lists=newslog _____________________________ Informative links: http://www.indymedia.org/ http://www.globalresearch.ca/ http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/ http://www.greenleft.org.au/index.htm http://www.MiddleEast.org http://www.rachel.org http://www.truthout.org http://www.williambowles.info/monthly_index/ http://www.zmag.org http://www.co-intelligence.org ============================================================
