Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina

flavio

flavio

Banned
WASHINGTON - In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage.

Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."

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"We did not know the levees could be breeched" -Bush
 
Hasn't the White House said that the videos don't contradict anything they said? (That's what NBC News said.) If that's the case, why is this such a big deal?
 
I remember watching the Weather Channel's buildup to the storm, when Jim Cantore live from the Gulf Coast said that people should evacuate, leave the area, major destruction on the way, the big one's coming; then eventually he changed to if the people haven't left, it's too late. Didn't mayor Nagin or gov. Blanco have cable or satellite? How's it the government's fault anyway? Should President Bush have called up Nagin and said "Quick--turn on the Weather Channel--there's something you need to see!"

no_bus_fleet.jpg
 
President: Nixon
Danger: Category-5 Hurricane Camille (August, 1969)
Area: About the same area as that affected by Katrina

Response: Nixon prepared the National Guard in advance, ordering rescue ships from Tampa, FL and Houston, TX to stand waiting along with over a thousand regular military, 24 helicopters to assist the Coast Guard and National Guard out as soon as the hurricane passed.

President: Bush 41
Danger: Category-5 Hurricane Andrew (August, 1992)
Area: Florida

Response: In the middle of a re-election campaign, Bush ceased campaigning the day before the hurricane, went to Washington, and assembled one of the largest military forces ever mustered on U.S. soil. Seven thousand National Guard and 22,000 regular military were sent in with the necessary equipment shortly after the hurricane passed through.

President: Clinton
Danger: Category-3 Hurricane Floyd (September, 1999)
Area: Virginia and Carolinas

Response: Meeting with China's president Jiang in New Zealand, Clinton immediately declared the hurricane-affected areas as federal disasters, allowing the military and National Guard to move in and help. Clinton flew home immediately, one day before the hurricane hit, to help coordinate the rescue.

President: Bush 43
Danger: Category-5 Hurricane Katrina (August, 2005)
Area: Gulf Coast

Response: National Guard troops are down about 8,000 members because they are in Iraq with much of the necessary rescue equipment needed. Bush was on vacation, riding his bike for two hours the day before the hurricane lands. On the day Katrina landed, Bush attended a birthday party for Arizona Sen. John McCain. The levees began to crack. While emergency 1.5-ton sandbags were ready to be placed to steady the levee and absorb water, there were insufficient numbers of helicopters and pilots to set them before the levees break. Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, pleaded for federal-level assistance and got none. Bush went to San Diego to play guitar with a country singer and end his vacation early -- but not until the next day, because he had tickets to a San Diego Padres game.

Source...
 
President: Clinton
Danger: Category-3 Hurricane Floyd (September, 1999)
Area: Virginia and Carolinas

Response: Meeting with China's president Jiang in New Zealand, Clinton immediately declared the hurricane-affected areas as federal disasters, allowing the military and National Guard to move in and help. Clinton flew home immediately, one day before the hurricane hit, after looking for his cigar cozy coordinated the rescue.
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There I fixed it...
 
so flav what should he have done? called back all the armed services aound the globe to take care of this? Im sure of your answer, but ill let you say it in your own words.
 
http://otcentral.com/forum/showpost.php?p=477538&postcount=8

I still think Brown had a problem with Chertoff, but, I've changed my mind
about Chertoff. I now don't think he did, and is doing an insufficient job.

The STILL need loaders, and dump-trucks down there in at least 2 of the states.

Bush has put his faith in delegating these responsibilities to people that
are not getting it done efficiently.

I've got very little faith in HS right now myself.
 
It's not the role of the federal government to be first responders in a state-level disaster, it's for the locals:


Under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, which was revised after 9/11, the Federal Government and FEMA are not allowed to interfere with local operations unless they are authorized by state and local leaders.

Meanwhile Blanco had her own advisors insisting that the President was actually making a request for federal takeover of the Louisiana National Guard, and asking to put Louisiana State Police under federal control. They were concerned that this would be the same as martial law and lead to abuse of power by the federal government.

By Tuesday, August 30, the federal relief effort began shipping food, water and medical supplies toward Louisiana for use in New Orleans. The same operation was underway in Mississippi and Alabama. The governors of those states had a already signed on to federal help and relief was pouring in. Governor Blanco was the lone holdout. She had still not made a decision.
The Department of Defense sent search and rescue experts, doctors, nurses and support personnel. FEMA was there to help as much as they could but local and state officials would not allow them to participate because Governor Blanco still had not given her permission.

On Thursday, September 1, amid a growing clamor of questions about the lack of action being taken in New Orleans, Blanco finally signed Executive Order KBB-2005-23, giving permission for the federal government to enter Louisiana with military assistance. FEMA began to move supplies into the stricken parishes along the path of Katrina. The Red Cross was finally given permission to deliver the food and water it had stockpiled in the area.

http://www.northsidejournal.com/special2.htm
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To seize control of the mission, Mr. Bush would have had to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows the president in times of unrest to command active-duty forces into the states to perform law enforcement duties. But decision makers in Washington felt certain that Ms. Blanco would have resisted surrendering control, as Bush administration officials believe would have been required to deploy active-duty combat forces before law and order had been re-established.

While combat troops can conduct relief missions without the legal authority of the Insurrection Act, Pentagon and military officials say that no active-duty forces could have been sent into the chaos of New Orleans on Wednesday or Thursday without confronting law-and-order challenges.

But just as important to the administration were worries about the message that would have been sent by a president ousting a Southern governor of another party from command of her National Guard, according to administration, Pentagon and Justice Department officials.

"Can you imagine how it would have been perceived if a president of the United States of one party had pre-emptively taken from the female governor of another party the command and control of her forces, unless the security situation made it completely clear that she was unable to effectively execute her command authority and that lawlessness was the inevitable result?" asked one senior administration official, who spoke anonymously because the talks were confidential.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/n...38795-dGCl9WlaN8lbkCHBy9hw2w&pagewanted=print
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The REAL question in all this is how Bush and Cheney managed to plant the explosives BEFORE the hurricane in time for Rove to blow the charges....

"I heard from a very reliable source who saw a 25 foot deep crater under the levee breach," Farrakhan explained. "It may have been blown up to destroy the black part of town and keep the white part dry."
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The Other One said:
It's not the role of the federal government to be first responders in a state-level disaster, it's for the locals:
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I agree with that.

As for NO:
That's why I blame the mayor for not evacuating more, and
the Governor mainly for a lot.
The Governor, I think she failed severely in the 'first' stages. I really have a
hard time seeing that she did squat.
 
Apparently he wasn't watching CNN/CSPAN/MSNBC. They all said the levees could be breached.
 
Ugh-oh, BushCO had some inside help

WASHINGTON - In the hectic, confused hours after Hurricane Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast, Louisiana's governor hesitantly but mistakenly assured the Bush administration that New Orleans' protective levees were intact, according to a new video obtained by The Associated Press showing briefings that day with federal officials.
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Look...The Mayor & the Governor both told the feds to "stay out, we okay". The Federal Government in not allowed to get involved unless they are asked. We went thru all this back then.

Find som enew subject to bash bush (too bad Bish didn't write this)

More useless video
 
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