Airboaters stalled by FEMA
500 Florida airboat pilots have volunteered to rescue Hurricane Katrina
victims, transport relief workers and ferry supplies. But they aren’t
being allowed in. And they’re growing frustrated.

A "floatilla of aid" TURNED BACK from New Orleans
A group of approximately 1,000 citizens pulling 500 boats left the
Acadiana Mall in Lafayette this morning (Weds.) and headed to New
Orleans with a police escort from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s
Department. The "flotillia" of trucks pulling boats stretched over five
miles. This citizen rescue group was organized by La. State Senator,
Gautreaux from Vermilion Parish. The group was comprised of experienced
boaters, licensed fishermen and hunters, people who have spent their
entire adult life and teenage years on the waterways of Louisiana.

Fearing
riots, Guard rejects food airdrops
Authorities are avoiding airdropping provisions into New
Orleans - the traditional way of supplying disaster victims - out of fear of
sparking riots, a state official said.

Homeland Security won’t let Red Cross deliver food
"The Homeland Security Department has requested and continues to
request that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans,"
said Renita Hosler, spokeswoman for the Red Cross.

US won’t let Canada help Katrina victims
Planes are ready to load with food and medical supplies and a
system called "DART"
which can provide fresh water and medical supplies is standing by.
Department of Homeland Security as well as other U.S. agencies were
contacted by the Canadian government requesting permission to provide
help. Despite this contact, Canada has not been allowed to fly supplies
and personnel to the areas hit by Katrina.

On BBC: Northern Command was in position, waiting for Presidential orders
We had the USS Baton sailing almost behind the hurricane so that after
the hurricane made landfall it’s search and rescue helicopters would be
available almost immediately. So we had things ready. The only
caveat is, we have to wait until the President authorizes us to do so.
The laws of the United States say that the military can’t just act in
this fashion, we have to wait for the President to give us permission.

Confirmation of BBC report: Navy Ship still unused 6 Days after Katrina!
But today the Bataan’s hospital facilities, including six operating
rooms and beds for 600 patients, are empty. A good share of its 1,200
sailors could also go ashore to help with the relief effort, but they
haven’t been asked. The Bataan has been in the stricken region the
longest of any military unit, but federal authorities have yet to fully
utilize the ship.


Daley ’shocked’ as feds reject aid
A visibly angry Mayor
Daley said the city had offered emergency, medical and technical help
to the federal government as early as Sunday to assist people in the
areas stricken by Hurricane Katrina, but as of Friday, the only things
the feds said they wanted was a single tank truck.

Virgina Team turned away- others efforts wasted
Twenty-two Loudoun County sheriff’s deputies and six medical personnel
who left Thursday for the New Orleans area returned home early
yesterday because of poor communication between officials in Louisiana
and Virginia that left the team without required approvals.

FEMA prevents water, fuel delivery- cuts communication lines!
On Meet the Press, the president of Jefferson Parish in New Orleans, Aaron Broussard, said that FEMA turned away aid and cut their communication lines!

Paperwork from DC late to arrive- prevents National Guard from helping
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco
help from his state’s National Guard last Sunday, the day before
Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed
to get the troops en route didn’t come from Washington until late
Thursday.


Guardsmen ’played cards’ amid New Orleans chaos: police official
A top New Orleans police officer
said that National Guard troops sat around playing cards while people
died in the stricken city after Hurricane Katrina.

FEMA Chief Brown caught in a LIE.
In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said
his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of
storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention
Center. He gave another nationally televised interview
the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people
at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least
one, if not two meals, every single day." Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.

Who’s Responsible?
Bush reorganized the government specifically to give the Feds more power in an emergency.

Bush’s Criminal Ignorance: "I don’t think anyone could have anticipated the breach of the levees."

---

Nancy Imperiale | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted September 2, 2005

As a flooded New Orleans sinks further into despair, up to 500 Florida
airboat pilots have volunteered to rescue Hurricane Katrina victims,
transport relief workers and ferry supplies.

But they aren’t being allowed in. And they’re growing frustrated.

"We cannot get deployed to save our behinds," said Robert Dummett,
state coordinator of the Florida Airboat Association. He said the
pilots, who range from commercial airboat operators to weekend pleasure
boaters, "are physically sick, watching the New Orleans coverage and
knowing that the resources to help these poor people is sitting right
in our driveways."

On standby since Monday, the pilots — many from Central Florida
— have spent thousands of their own dollars stocking their boats and
swamp buggies with food, water, medical supplies and fuel.

But the Federal Emergency Management Agency will not authorize the
airboaters to enter New Orleans. Without that permission, they would be
subject to arrest and would not receive security and support services.

The airboat association has complained to several congressmen who have contacted the federal agency on their behalf.

"To me, 500 airboats seems a perfect solution to the chaos and
difficulty getting people out of their flooded homes," said U.S. Rep
Mark Foley, R-Palm Beach Gardens. "I’d love them to be able to go in
and help, and that’s what I’ve conveyed to FEMA."

A FEMA representative said citizen volunteers are not being allowed into New Orleans for one big reason: It’s just not safe.

"I think it’s understandable, particularly given the TV footage
that the entire world is seeing, for folks who have a big heart to feel
a little bit frustrated and want to help," said Frances Marine,
Orlando’s FEMA public-affairs director. "However, it’s so important to
be coordinated. Those areas are dangerous right now. There are health
hazards and limited ways of getting in and out. . . . Right now,
private citizens trying to go into those impacted areas are more
hindrance than help."

That explanation doesn’t sit well with one victim of Hurricane
Andrew, who e-mailed the airboat association, demanding to know why
they weren’t in New Orleans.

"I lost my house with Andrew," said Merle Arostegui, 59, of
Perrine. "I was one of those people sitting on what was left of my
doorstep. Let me tell you: I could be [a victim] in New Orleans right
now, and I am so frustrated.’’

Meanwhile, airboat operators watch and wait.

"It’s probably a 50-50 chance right now that we’ll go," said James
E. Brown, a 54-year-old Longwood man who heads a convoy of 14 local
airboat pilots. "We’re willing to go, we’re able to go, but it’s all up
to FEMA."

However, chaos in the Big Easy is making boaters’ family members nervous.

"The more that is shown on TV of the shootings and looting," Brown
said, "the more loved ones are telling us: ’Don’t go. You’re not
going.’ "

Nancy Imperiale can be reached at nimperiale@orlandosentinel.com or 407-650-6323.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com...

---

A "floatilla of aid" TURNED BACK from New Orleans... Explain!

My name is Jason Robideaux, I am an attorney from Lafayette Louisiana
and have dealt with all of the various law enforcement agencies in
Louisiana during the past 18 years. Although I have had a positive
relationship with law enforcement personnel throughout the State for
many years, I regretfully have a story to share that will shake your
head in disbelief about the La. Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries.

A group of approximately 1,000 citizens pulling 500 boats left the
Acadiana Mall in Lafayette this morning (Weds.) and headed to New
Orleans with a police escort from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s
Department. The "flotillia" of trucks pulling boats stretched over five
miles. This citizen rescue group was organized by La. State Senator,
Gautreaux from Vermilion Parish. The group was comprised of experienced
boaters, licensed fishermen and hunters, people who have spent their
entire adult life and teenage years on the waterways of Louisiana.

The State Police waved the flotillia of trucks/boats through the
barricades in LaPlace and we sped into New Orleans via I-10 until past
the airport and near the Clearview exit. At that time we were stopped
by agents of the La. Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries. A young DWF
agent strolled through the boats and told approximately half of the
citizens that their boats were "too large" because the water had
"dropped during the night" and that they should turn around and go home.

We were pulling a large (24ft) shallow draft aluminum boat that can
safely carry 12 passengers and had ramp access which would allow the
elderly and infirm to have easier access to the boat. We politely
informed the DWF agent that the local and national media had
consistently reported that the water level had "risen" during the night
which contradicted his statement to us that the water "was dropping"
and no boat over 16ft. in length would be allowed to participate in
rescue operations.

We then specifically asked the DWF agent that we (and other citizens in
the flotillia) be allowed to go to the hospitals and help evacuate the
sick and the doctors and nurses stranded there. We offered to bring
these people back to Lafayette, in our own vehicles, in order to ensure
that they received proper and prompt medical care.

The DWF agent did not want to hear this and ordered us home. We
complied with the DWF agent’s orders, turned around and headed back to
Lafayette along with half of the flotillia. However, two of my friends
were pulling my other boat, a smaller 15ft alumaweld with a 25 hp. The
DWF agents let them through to proceed to the rescue operation launch
site.

My two friends were allowed to drive to the launch site where the La.
Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries were launching their rescue operations
(via boat). They reported to me that there were over 200 DWF agents
just standing around and doing nothing. My friends were kept there for
approximately 3 hours. During that time they observed a large number of
DWF agents doing nothing. After three hours had passed they were told
that they were not needed and should go home. They complied with the
DWF’s orders and turned around and went home to Lafayette.

Watching CNN tonight, there was a telephone interview with a Nurse
trapped in Charity Hospital in New Orleans. She said that there were
over 1,000 people trapped inside of the hospital and that the doctors
and nurses had zero medical supplies, no diesel to run the generators
and that only three people had been rescued from the hospital since the
Hurricane hit!

I can’t come up with one logical reason why the DWF sent this large
group of 500 boats/1000 men home when we surely could have rescued
most, if not all, of the people trapped in Charity Hospital. Further,
we had the means to immediately transport these people to hospitals in
Southwest Louisiana.

On Tuesday afternoon, August 30, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee
asked for all citizens with boats to come to the aid of Jefferson
Parish. A short time later Dwight Landreneau, the head of the La.
Depart. of Wildlife and Fisheries, got on television and remarked that
his agency had things under control and citizen help was not needed.
Apparently, Sheriff Lee did not agree with that assessment and had one
of his deputies provide the Lafayette flotillia with an escort into
Jefferson Parish.

Sheriff Lee and Senator Gautreaux - 1000 of Louisiana’s citizens
responded to your pleas for help. We were prevented from helping by
Dwight Landreneau’s agency, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
When I learned that Charity Hospital has not been evacuated and that no
one has been there to attempt a rescue, I became angry.

The "turf-marking" by some minor state agency should never take priority over the lives of citizens!

Signed,

Bewildered and Frustrated,

Jason Robideaux
Attorney At Law

1005 Lafayette Street
Lafayette, La. 70501
(337) 291-9444 office

http://www.thedeadpelican.com/lawyer.htm

there seems to be a theme.... govt refusing aid and people dying


http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8036

---

Fearing riots, Guard rejects food airdrops

Officials
exploring other options for delivering supplies

By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, September 3, 2005

ARLINGTON, Va. - Authorities are avoiding airdropping provisions into New
Orleans - the traditional way of supplying disaster victims - out of fear of
sparking riots, a state official said.

While the military has used helicopters to drop provisions to some stranded
in New Orleans, authorities have not launched the massive supply airdrops seen
in Afghanistan at the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Several C-130 Hercules aircraft are stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base,
but authorities have not ordered them to drop supplies to flood victims,
Arkansas Air National Guard officials said.

Airdropping supplies could actually worsen the situation, said Army National
Guard Lt. Kevin Cowan, with the state Office of Emergency Preparedness.

“Just like Afghanistan, you drop food, it creates chaos,” Cowan said.

He said authorities are looking for a more controlled way to get badly need
food and other supplies to people in the hurricane-ravaged region who need it.

“We’re trying to logistically to plan how to get food the best way,” Cowan
said. “But as of right now, airdrops are not part of the plan.”

He said dropping supplies from the air is an option that is still available,
but “I don’t think that is high on the priority list.”

Officials at U.S. Northern Command and Task Force Katrina could not be
reached in time for publication Friday.

Little Rock Air Force Base is home to about 80 C-130s, but many cannot be
flown because of wing cracks, wrote a spokesman for the 314th Air Wing in an
e-mail.

On Friday, four C-130s from Little Rock Air Force Base were expected to bring
water and MREs to the flood region and to evacuate refugees, wrote Air National
Guard Capt. David Faggard.

The Arkansas National Guard is using 10 C-130s and 15 helicopters to bring
troops and supplies to the flood region, said a National Guard spokeswoman.

Should authorities order an airdrop, “we are certainly ready if that’s what
they need us for,” said Air National Guard Capt. Kristine Munn.

From October to December 2001, the Air Force dropped 2.5 million individual
rations in Afghanistan using C-17 Globemaster aircraft based in Ramstein,
Germany.

www.stripes.com...
http://tinyurl.com/beux3

---

Homeland Security won’t let Red Cross deliver food

Saturday, September 03, 2005

By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

As the National Guard delivered food to the New Orleans convention
center yesterday, American Red Cross officials said that federal
emergency management authorities would not allow them to do the same.

Other relief agencies say the area is so damaged and dangerous that they doubted they could conduct mass feeding there now.

"The Homeland Security Department has requested and continues to
request that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans,"
said Renita Hosler, spokeswoman for the Red Cross.

"Right now access is controlled by the National Guard and local
authorities. We have been at the table every single day [asking for
access]. We cannot get into New Orleans against their orders."

Calls to the Department of Homeland Security and its subagency, the
Federal Emergency Management Agency, were not returned yesterday.

Though frustrated, Hosler understood the reasons. The goal is to move
people out of an uninhabitable city, and relief operations might keep
them there. Security is so bad that she fears feeding stations might
get ransacked.

"It’s not about fault and blame right now. The situation is like an
hourglass, and we are in the smallest part right now. Everything is
trying to get through it," she said. "They’re trying to help people get
out."

Obstacles in downtown New Orleans have stymied rescuers who got there.
The Salvation Army has two of its officers trapped with more than 200
people — three requiring dialysis — in its own downtown building.
They were alerted by a 30-second plea for food and water before the
phone went dead.

On Wednesday, The Salvation Army rented three boats for a rescue
operation. They knew the situation was desperate, and that their own
people were inside, said Maj. Donna Hood, associate director of
development for the Army.

"The boats couldn’t get through," she said. Although she doesn’t know
the details, she believes huge debris and electrical wires made passage
impossible.

"We have 51 emergency canteens on the ground in the other affected
areas. But where the need is greatest, in downtown New Orleans, there
just is no access. That is the problem every relief group is facing,"
she said.

"America is obviously going to have to rethink disaster relief," said
Jim Burton, director of volunteer mobilization for the North American
Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Southern Baptists, who work under the Red Cross logo, are one of
the largest, best-equipped providers of volunteer disaster relief in
the United States. Most hot meals for disaster victims are cooked by
Southern Baptist mobile kitchen units. Burton is a veteran of many
hurricanes.

"Right now everybody is looking at FEMA and pointing fingers. Frankly,
I have to tell you, I’m sympathetic. When in your lifetime have we
experienced this? Even though we all do disaster scenario planning, we
have to accept the reality that this is an extraordinary event. This is
America’s tsunami, that struck and ravaged America’s most
disaster-vulnerable city," he said.

Because New Orleans remains under water, it is different from other
cities where Katrina struck harder, but where relief efforts are
proceeding normally. Agencies place workers and supplies outside
disaster areas before storms, to move in quickly. But there are always
delays, Burton said, because nothing is deployed until experts survey
the damage and decide where to most effectively put relief services.

The Southern Baptists operate more than 30 mobile kitchens that can
each produce 5,000 to 25,000 meals daily, as well as mobile showers and
communications trucks equipped with ham radios and cell phones. They
are supporting refugee centers in Texas and Tennessee, and doing relief
in Mississippi and Alabama. They have placed mobile kitchens around New
Orleans to feed people as they come out.

Initially they tried to drive a tractor-trailer kitchen into New
Orleans from Tennessee. It was stopped by the Mississippi Highway
Patrol because the causeway it would have to cross had been destroyed,
Burton said.

His agency has planned for missing bridges. The Southern Baptists’
worst-case planning is for reaching Memphis after an earthquake on the
New Madrid fault, which in 1812 whiplashed at a stone-crushing 8.1 on
the Richter scale. Burton envisions the Mississippi without bridges.

So when state and local Southern Baptists raise money to build a mobile
kitchen, he tells them to design it to be hoisted in by helicopter.

After Katrina, he thought he would have to airlift a feeding unit to
one isolated town, but a road was cleared, he said. He doubts that
dropping a kitchen into the New Orleans’ poisoned waters, filled with
raw sewage, dead bodies and possible industrial contaminants, would do
any good. It made sense to prepare meals outside the area and truck
them in or bring people out.

"The most important thing is to get the people out of that environment," he said.

He expects unusual problems to continue, because victims of Katrina
flooding will need emergency food for far longer than the usual week or
so. He’s planning on at least two months.

Like the military, relief work requires a supply chain. Because
business management favors just-in-time inventory, rather than
stockpiling goods in warehouses, there isn’t a huge stock of food to
draw on, he said.

"When you go into a local area, it doesn’t take long to wipe out the local food inventories," he said.

The Red Cross serves pre-packaged food, including self-heating
"HeaterMeals" and snacks, that require no preparation. Yesterday the
Red Cross was running evacuation shelters in 16 states, and on
Thursday, the last day for which totals were available, served 170,000
meals and snacks in 24 hours.

While emergency shelters typically empty out days after a hurricane or
other natural disaster, in Katrina’s case they are becoming more
crowded, Hosler said. People who had evacuated to the homes of
relatives or hotels are moving in because they’re out of money or want
to be closer to what is left of their homes.

(Ann Rodgers can be reached at arodgers@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1416.)

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05246/565143.stm

---

US won’t let Canada help Katrina victims

Wed Aug 31st, 2005 at 20:58:29 PDT

"Things that make you want to scream" for $500, Alex...

Okay, first this article:

A specialized urban search and rescue team from Vancouver will be
joining the rescue efforts in Louisiana in the wake of hurricane
Katrina.

B.C. Solicitor General John Les said the province decided to send
Vancouver Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) after officials in Louisiana
asked for help.

"We’re the first non-U.S.-based team to be requested," said Les. "They’re going to be helping as many people as they can."

CTV Vancouver has learned that the team will board a plane Wednesday
night heading to Lafayette, Louisiana, where local authorities will
direct them to devastated areas.

Sounds great! Except for one problem — this team wasn’t allowed to fly
into the US, blocked by Homeland Security from entering. A Canadian
reader sends this report:

On tonight’s news, CTV (Canadian TV) said that support was offered from
Canada. Planes are ready to load with food and medical supplies and a
system called "DART"
which can provide fresh water and medical supplies is standing by.
Department of Homeland Security as well as other U.S. agencies were
contacted by the Canadian government requesting permission to provide
help. Despite this contact, Canada has not been allowed to fly supplies
and personnel to the areas hit by Katrina. So, everything here is
grounded. Prime Minister Paul Martin is reportedly trying to speak to
President Bush tonight or tomorrow to ask him why the U.S. federal
government will not allow aid from Canada into Louisiana and
Mississippi. That said, the Canadian Red Cross is reportedly allowed
into the area.

Canadian agencies are saying that foreign aid is probably not being
permitted into Louisiana and Mississippi because of "mass confusion" at
the U.S. federal level in the wake of the storm.

Once the hard-hit region is back on its feet, there better be a full
accounting of the preparation and response to this catastrophe.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/8/31/235829/261

---

On BBC: Northern Command was in position, waiting for Presidential orders

This was on the episode of BBC World News which played on a local
(Philadelphia area) PBS station at 6:00 am this morning. I can’t find a
stream or transcript online. It’s sitting on my TIVO right now marked
do not delete but I have no way to put it onto my hard drive and no
place to serve it from anyway. If you do have a recording of it, it
starts about 9 minutes in. I’ve done a hand written transcript, the
spelling and punctuation are mine. The bolding is also mine to
emphasize what I think is the important part. The BBC announcer was
interviewing Lieutenant Commander Sean Kelly whom she referred to as
Leftenant Commander. This is the entire interview with no missing
context.

Announcer: The relief operation is the largest
ever conducted in America. It’s being coordinated by the US Northern
Command in Colorado. Leftenant Commander Sean Kelly explains how the
relief effort is being organized.

Kelly: US Northern
Command is the command that coordinates the military support for our
federal and state agencies. They call up and request a capability and
we try and provide that capability, whether it’s medical resources,
search and rescue helicopters, food, water, transportation,
communications; that’s what we provide.

A: So it sounds like you’re providing a bit of everything. I mean, do you know how much you’re actually providing?

K:
Right now we’ve got 4,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marine and
coast guardsmen supporting this. They’ve delivered more than 9 million
meals, I can’t remember how many millions of liters of water.

A: 9 million meals? Do you actually have 9 million meals?

K:
It’s those "meals ready to eat". The packaged meals that the Army takes
out with them out in the field. We have 9 million of ’em ready. I know
at least 100,000 went to the Superdome the other night to help the
people out there in New Orleans. So they’re staged at various places
throughout Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.

A:
Now I’m sure you’re aware of the criticism that the authorities have
been slow to respond to this. When did you get the order to start
relief work?

K: NorthCom started planning before the storm even hit.
We were ready for the storm when it hit Florida because, as you
remember, it crossed the bottom part of Florida, and then we were
plaining, you know, once it was pointed towards the Gulf Coast. So what
we did was we activated what we call defense coordinating officers to
work with the state to say okay, what do you think you’ll need, and we
set up staging bases that could be started. We had the USS Baton
sailing almost behind the hurricane so that after the hurricane made
landfall it’s search and rescue helicopters would be available almost
immediately. So we had things ready. The only caveat is, we have to
wait until the President authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United
States say that the military can’t just act in this fashion, we have to
wait for the President to give us permission.

A: Now I gather that your engineers are also involved in pumping some of that flood water out of the areas.

K:
Yes, our military personnel are helping to reconstruct the levees which
frees up the engineers to start pumping out the waters so that
hopefully New Orleans can be high and dry soon enough.

So apparently everything was in position, waiting for Bush to do something.

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8043

---

Confirmation of BBC report:

Navy Ship still unused 6 Days after Katrina!

Crew of Navy ship ready to play larger role in relief effort

BY STEPHEN J. HEDGES

Chicago Tribune

ON BOARD THE USS BATAAN - (KRT) - While federal and state emergency
planners scramble to get more military relief to Gulf Coast communities
stricken by Hurricane Katrina, a massive naval goodwill station has
been cruising offshore, underutilized and waiting for a larger role in
the effort.

The USS Bataan, a 844-foot ship designed to dispatch U.S. Marines in
amphibious assaults, has helicopters, doctors, hospital beds, food and
water. It can also make its own water - up to 100,000 gallons a day.
And it just happened to be in the Gulf of Mexico when Katrina came
roaring ashore.

The Bataan rode out the storm and then followed it toward shore,
awaiting relief orders. Helicopter pilots flying from its deck were
some of the first to begin plucking stranded New Orleans residents.

But today the Bataan’s hospital facilities, including six operating
rooms and beds for 600 patients, are empty. A good share of its 1,200
sailors could also go ashore to help with the relief effort, but they
haven’t been asked. The Bataan has been in the stricken region the
longest of any military unit, but federal authorities have yet to fully
utilize the ship.

"Could we do more?" said Capt. Nora Tyson, commander of the Bataan.
"Sure. I’ve got sailors who could be on the beach plucking through
garbage or distributing water and food and stuff. But I can’t force
myself on people.

"We’re doing everything we can to contribute right now, and we’re
ready. If someone says you need to take on people, we’re ready. If they
say hospitals on the beach can’t handle it ... if they need to send the
overflow out here, we’re ready. We’ve got lots of room."

Navy helicopters from the Bataan and Pensacola Naval Air Station in
Florida have joined the growing aerial armada of choppers that are
lifting hurricane survivors from flooded surroundings and delivering
food and water.

More will arrive throughout the weekend when the aircraft carrier USS
Harry S. Truman and four other Navy ships, including three amphibious
assault ships - really mini-aircraft carriers with flat decks for
helicopter use - arrive in the Gulf from Norfolk, Va. The USS Comfort,
a hospital ship dispatched from Baltimore, is also steaming toward the
Gulf coast.

The Bataan, though, was already in the gulf when Katrina crossed
Florida and picked up new, devastating energy from the warm gulf
waters. The ship, sailing near the Texas coastline, had just finished
an exercise in Panama, and was scheduled to arrive back at its Norfolk,
Va., home port Friday after six weeks at sea.

Instead, the ship elected to ride out the hurricane in the 12 to 14
foot seas and then fall in behind the storm as it neared the gulf
coast. A day after Katrina struck, Navy helicopters arrived from Corpus
Christi, Texas, and began survey flights over New Orleans.

The initial belief, Tyson said, was that the city had been spared.

"On Monday it was like, Wow, it missed us, it took a turn east,' and everything eased up," Tyson aid. "It wasLet’s open up Bourbon Street,
have a beer, let’s go party, and understandably so. And then all of a
sudden, literally and figuratively, the dam broke, and here we are."

When the city’s levies broke Tuesday, Tyson’s pilots were rescuing
stranded residents. Communications became muddled as the rescue and
humanitarian supply efforts were literally bogged down by the rising
water and sketchy information. Tyson, who would get debriefings from
returning pilots, had perhaps one of the best vantage points to see
what was unfolding.

"It was like a bad dream that you knew you had to wake up from," she said.

A 135-foot landing craft stored within the Bataan, the LCU-1656, was
dispatched to steam up the 90-miles of Mississippi River to New
Orleans. It took on a crew of 16, including a doctor, and its deck was
stacked with food and water. The ship itself carries enough food and
fuel to remain self-sufficient for 10 days.

Moving up through the flotsam of the storm, the crew couldn’t believe the scene on shore.

"We saw a lot of dead animals, dead horses, floating cows, dead
alligators," said Rodney Blackshear, LCU-1656’s navigator. "And a lot
of dogs that had been pets. But no people."

Near Boothville, La., the storm surge had lifted a construction crane
and put it on top of a house. Near Venice, the crew members considered
going ashore to examine the damage but mad dogs drove them back.

"I didn’t want any of my guys in there," said Bill Fish, who commands
seven of the LCUs based in Norfolk, Va., and who went on the river trip.

"Everything was decimated. It was the storm surge."

Then the Bataan was ordered to move to the waters off Biloxi, Miss.,
and LCU-1656 was ordered to return. The landing craft was still 40
miles from New Orleans, but it wouldn’t be able to deliver its cargo.

"It was a disappointment," Fish said. "I figured we’d be a big help in
New Orleans. We’ve got electricity, and the police could have charged
up their radios. We’ve got water, toilets. We’ve got food."

Now sailing within 25 miles of Gulfport, Miss., the Bataan is quickly
become a floating warehouse. Supplies from Texas and Florida are
ferried out to the ship, and the helicopters distribute them where
Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel say they are needed.

The Bataan has also taken on a substantial medical staff. At noon on
Friday hulking gray Navy Sea King helicopters ferried 84 doctors,
nurses and technicians 60 miles out to the ship from the Pensacola
Naval Air Station.

The medical staff had come from Jacksonville, Fla., Naval Hospital, and
they covered a wide swath of medical specialties, from surgeons and
pediatricians to heart specialists, a psychiatrist and even a physical
therapist.

"It’s really a cross section of a major hospital," said Capt. Kevin

Gallagher, a Navy nurse who was part of the group. "We haven’t been
told what to expect, but we’re going to find out once we get out there."

Friday evening the Bataan was to edging closer to the Mississippi
shoreline; until then, it had stayed well out into the gulf to avoid
floating debris.

Closer to shore, it will be able to deploy the landing craft again, as
well as Marine hovercraft that can ride up onto shore to deliver
supplies.

LCU-1656 cruised 98 miles overnight Thursday with a failed electrical
generator and broken starboard propeller to join up again with the
Bataan, their mother ship. Repairs were under way Friday and the crew
was preparing to set out for the shoreline near Gulfport, Miss.,
Saturday with a 15,000 water tank lashed to vessel’s deck, as well as
pallets of bottled water.

Fish said most of his crew hasn’t slept since Wednesday, but the crew
was preparing to go out again as soon as it received orders.

By Friday evening the sizeable medical staff on board the Bataan also
hadn’t been given its mission. The staff’s role in the relief effort
was not up to the Navy, but to FEMA officials direction the overall
effort.

That agency has been criticized sharply for failing to respond quickly enough.

Tyson said the hurricane was an unusual event, one that has left some painful lessons to ponder.

"Can you do things better? Always," Tyson said. "Unfortunately, some of
the lessons we’ve learned during this catastrophe we’re learning the
hard way. But I think we’re working together well to make things
happen."

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/nation/12554907.htm

---

Daley ’shocked’ as feds reject aid

September 3, 2005

BY STEPHANIE ZIMMERMANN AND SCOTT FORNEK Staff Reporters

A visibly angry Mayor
Daley said the city had offered emergency, medical and technical help
to the federal government as early as Sunday to assist people in the
areas stricken by Hurricane Katrina, but as of Friday, the only things
the feds said they wanted was a single tank truck.

That truck, which the
Federal Emergency Management Agency requested to support an
Illinois-based medical team, was en route Friday.

"We are ready to
provide more help than they have requested. We are just waiting for
their call," said Daley, adding that he was "shocked" that no one
seemed to want the help.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen.
Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he would call for congressional hearings
into the federal government’s preparations and response.

"The response was
achingly slow, and that, I think, is a view shared by Democrats,
Republicans, wealthy and poor, black and white," the freshman senator
said. "I have not met anybody who has watched this crisis evolve over
the last several days who is not just furious at how poorly prepared we
appeared to be."

Response ’baffling’

The South Side Democrat called FEMA’s slow response "baffling."

"I don’t understand
how you could have a situation where you’ve got several days’ notice of
an enormous hurricane building in the Gulf Coast, you know that New
Orleans is 6 feet below sea level. ... The notion that you don’t have
good plans in place just does not make sense," Obama said.

Obama said he expects
his counterparts in Louisiana, Mississippi or Alabama will call for
congressional hearings, but he is ready if they do not. "It’s
heartbreaking and infuriating and, I think, is embarrassing to the
American people.’’

Daley said the city
offered 36 members of the firefighters’ technical rescue teams, eight
emergency medical technicians, search-and-rescue equipment, more than
100 police officers as well as police vehicles and two boats, 29
clinical and 117 non-clinical health workers, a mobile clinic and eight
trained personnel, 140 Streets and Sanitation workers and 29 trucks,
plus other supplies. City personnel are willing to operate
self-sufficiently and would not depend on local authorities for food,
water, shelter and other supplies, he said.

Flanked at a Friday
press conference by a who’s who from city government, religious
organizations and business, the mayor also announced formation of the
Chicago Helps Fund for storm victims.

"I’m calling upon
every resident of Chicago to donate what they can afford, whether it’s
50 cents or 50 dollars," the mayor said.

People can make
tax-deductible cash or check donations at any of Bank One’s 330 Chicago
area branches or by check at Chicago Helps, c/o Bank One, 38891 Eagle
Way, Chicago 60678-1388. A phone line to take credit card donations
will be set up.

Churches were urged to
take up collections this Sunday, and firefighters are planning to
collect at major intersections this weekend.

In addition, donations
will be taken at this weekend’s Jazz Fest in Grant Park, and $2 of
every ticket purchased through Ticketmaster for the Chicago Classic
football game at Soldier Field today will go to hurricane relief. The
Shedd Aquarium announced it will donate $1 from every ticket sold this
holiday weekend to relief efforts and has set up "donation stations" at
the aquarium.

Homeless shelters enlisted

By midday Friday,
Inner Voice, a private agency that runs 27 homeless shelters for the
city, had rounded up space in unused facilities for about 2,000 storm
refugees, should they need it, said president Brady Harden.

Ed Shurna, executive
director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, suggested the city
tap recently vacated units at Cabrini-Green and Lathrop Homes that were
slated for demolition but still have heat and electricity available.

Daley reiterated that
students from stricken areas are welcome to enroll in the Chicago
Public Schools and in the City Colleges. Cardinal Francis George on
Friday asked that Catholic schools in the archdiocese waive tuition for
displaced children.

More than 400 students
have applied to Loyola University Chicago, most coming from its sister
Jesuit school, Loyola University New Orleans. Half had been admitted as
of late afternoon Friday. Spokeswoman Maeve Kiley said the school "will
honor their tuition that they already paid.’’

University of Illinois
campuses in Urbana-Champaign and Chicago have admitted more than 100
students, including two foreign students who had Fulbright scholarships
to attend Tulane.

Northeastern said it
would waive tuition and fees for Illinois residents who already paid
another school, and would grant in-state tuition to out-of-state
students. Northwestern plans to let students pay what they would have
at their original school and forward the money to that school.

Contributing: Andrew Herrmann, Dave Newbart

http://www.suntimes.com/output/hurricane/cst-nws-daley03.html

---

Bad Communication Hinders Area’s Aid Efforts

By Michael Laris and Karin Brulliard

Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, September 3, 2005; Page A23

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/09/04/worst-abandonments/

This is a must watch video- Broussard on MtP:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/09/04.html#a4783

---

Paperwork from DC late to arrive- prevents National Guard from helping

Congress Likely to Probe Guard Response

WASHINGTON - Another 10,000 National Guard troops are being sent to the
hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, raising their number to about 40,000, but
questions linger about the speed with which troops were deployed.

Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the
rescue in New Orleans didn’t get the go-ahead until days after the
storm struck - a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco
help from his state’s National Guard last Sunday, the day before
Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed
to get the troops en route didn’t come from Washington until late
Thursday.

California troops just began arriving in Louisiana on Friday, three
days after flood waters devastated New Orleans and chaos broke out.

In fact, when New Orleans’ levees gave way to deadly flooding on
Tuesday, Louisiana’s National Guard had received help from troops in
only three other states: Ohio, which had nine people in Louisiana then;
Oklahoma, 89; and Texas, 625, figures provided by the National Guard
show.

Maj. Gen. Thomas Cutler, who leads the Michigan National Guard, said he
anticipated a call for police units and started preparing them, but
couldn’t go until states in the hurricane zone asked them to come.

"We could have had people on the road Tuesday," Cutler said. "We have to wait and respond to their need."

The Michigan National Guard was asked for military police by
Mississippi late Tuesday and by Louisiana officials late Wednesday. The
state sent 182 MPs to Mississippi on Friday and had 242 headed to
Louisiana on Saturday.

Typically, the authority to use the National Guard in a state role lies
with the governor, who tells his or her adjutant general to order
individual Guard units to begin duty. Turnaround time varies depending
on the number of troops involved, their location and their assigned
missions.

One factor that may have further complicated post-Katrina deployment
arose when Louisiana discovered it needed Guardsmen to do more law
enforcement duty because a large portion of the New Orleans police
force was not functioning, according to Lt. Gen. Steven H. Blum, chief
of the National Guard Bureau at the
Pentagon.

Because the agreement that was already in existence for states to
contribute Guard troops to Louisiana did not include a provision on
their use in law enforcement, Blum said, Gov. Blanco had to get
separate written agreements authorizing Guardsmen to do police-type
duty.

Still, Blum said, this took only minutes to execute.

With many states’ Guard units depleted by deployments to
Iraq, Katrina’s aftermath was almost certain from the beginning to require help from faraway states.

Republicans and Democrats alike in Congress are just beginning to ask
why one of the National Guard’s most trusted roles - disaster relief -
was so uneven, delayed and chaotic this time around.

Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record), R-Neb., said the situation
has shown major breakdowns in the nation’s emergency response
capabilities. "There must be some accountability in this process after
the crisis is addressed," he said.

Democrat Ben Nelson, Nebraska’s other senator, said he now questions
National Guard leaders’ earlier assertions that they had enough
resources to respond to natural disasters even with the Iraq war.

"I’m going to ask that question again," Nelson said. "Do we have enough
(troops), and if we do, why were they not deployed sooner?"

President Bush was asked that question Friday as he toured the
hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast area and said he disagrees with criticism
the military is stretched too thin.

"We’ve got a job to defend this country in the war on terror, and we’ve
got a job to bring aid and comfort to the people of the Gulf Coast, and
we’ll do both," he said.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., plans to
make oversight of the Defense Department, the National Guard and their
assistance his top priority when he returns to Washington next week
from an overseas trips, spokesman John Ullyot said Friday.

Bush had the legal authority to order the National Guard to the
disaster area himself, as he did after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks . But
the troops four years ago were deployed for national security
protection, and presidents of both parties traditionally defer to
governors to deploy their own National Guardsmen and request help from
other states when it comes to natural disasters.

In addition to Guard help, the federal government could have activated,
but did not, a major air support plan under a pre-existing contract
with airlines. The program, called Civilian Reserve Air Fleet, lets the
government quickly put private cargo and passenger planes into service.

The CRAF provision has been activated twice, once for the Persian Gulf War and again for the Iraq war.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/katrina_national_guard

---

Guardsmen ’played cards’ amid New Orleans chaos: police official

NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) - A top New Orleans police officer
said that National Guard troops sat around playing cards while people
died in the stricken city after Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans deputy police commander W.S. Riley launched a bitter attack
on the federal response to the disaster though he praised the way the
evacuation was eventually handled.

His remarks fuelled controversy over the government’s handling of
events during five days when New Orleans succumbed to lawlessness after
Katrina swamped the city’s flood defenses.

The National Guard commander, Lieutenant General Steven Blum, said the
reservist force was slow to move troops into New Orleans because it did
not anticipate the collapse of the city’s police force.

But Riley said that for the first three days after Monday’s storm,
which is believed to have killed several thousand people, the police
and fire departments and some volunteers had been alone in trying to
rescue people.

"We expected a lot more support from the federal government. We
expected the government to respond within 24 hours. The first three
days we had no assistance," he told AFP in an interview.

Riley went on: "We have been fired on with automatic weapons. We still
have some thugs around. My biggest disappointment is with the federal
government and the National Guard.

"The guard arrived 48 hours after the hurricane with 40 trucks. They drove their trucks in and went to sleep.

"For 72 hours this police department and the fire department and
handful of citizens were alone rescuing people. We have people who died
while the National Guard sat and played cards. I understand why we are
not winning the war in
Iraq if this is what we have."

Riley said there is "a semblance of organisation now."

"The military is here and they have done an excellent job with the
evacuation" of the tens of thousands of people stranded in the city.

The National Guard commander said the city police force was left with only a third of its pre-storm strength.

"The real issue, particularly in New Orleans, is that no one
anticipated the disintegration or the erosion of the civilian police
force in New Orleans," Blum told reporters in Washington.

"Once that assessment was made ... then the requirement became
obvious," he said. "And that’s when we started flowing military police
into the theatre."

On Friday, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin denounced the slow federal
response as too little, too late, charging that promised troops had not
arrived in time.

"Now get off your asses and let’s do something and fix the biggest
goddamn crisis in the history of this country," the mayor said in
remarks aired on CNN.

Blum said that since Thursday some 7,000 National Guard and military police had moved into the city.
President George W. Bush on Saturday ordered an additional 7,000 active duty and reserve ground troops.

Blum said any suggestion that the National Guard had not performed well or was late was a "low blow".

The initial priority of the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard
forces was disaster relief, not law enforcement, because they expected
the police to handle that, he said.

The police commander was unable to give a death toll for New Orleans.

"We have bodies all over the city. A federal mortuary team was supposed
to come in within 24 hours. We haven’t seen them. It is inhumane. This
is just not America."

Riley said he did not even know how many police remained from a normal force of 1,700.

"Many officers lost their homes or their families and there are many we
have not heard from. Some officers could not handle the pressure and
left. I don’t know if we have 800 or thousands today."

news.yahoo.com...
http://tinyurl.com/dfzmm

---

FEMA Chief Brown caught in a LIE.

OUR OPINIONS: An open letter to the President
New Orleans Times-Picayune Staff

Dear Mr. President:

We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our
devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not
working, we’re going to make it right."

Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise
before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism.

Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one
main reason: It’s accessible. The city between the Mississippi
River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718.

How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are
interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships,
barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.

Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s
bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing
their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue
the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and
medical supplies.

Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who
work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city
via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning,
that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed
into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.

Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown
New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid
Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show
story Friday morning.

Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people
whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those
who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad
song about how our city was impossible to reach.

We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after
our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been
pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who
could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.

Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he
allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from
the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don’t
know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the
Superdome not been opened, the city’s death toll would have
been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially
higher.

It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people
inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It
should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So
why weren’t they evacuated out of the city immediately? We
learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened,
that the Dome isn’t suitable as a long-term shelter. So
what did state and national officials think would happen to
tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning,
overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food,
water and other essentials?

State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said
the city didn’t have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!"
Every official at the Federal Emergency Management
Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.


In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said
his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of
storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention
Center. He gave another nationally televised interview
the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people
at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least
one, if not two meals, every single day."

Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.

Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told
him, "You’re doing a heck of a job."

That’s unbelievable.

There were thousands of people at the Convention Center
because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many
people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles
could have gotten there, too.

We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American
than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic
Seaboard. We’re no less important than those from the Pacific
Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.

No expense should have been spared. No excuses
should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous
as the claim that New Orleans couldn’t be reached.

Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise
to make our beloved communities work right once again.

When you do, we will be the first to applaud.


www.nola.com....
http://tinyurl.com/8blms


RELATED:

FEMA Chief Brown resigned from his previous job under pressure and lawsuits
(He was the Stewards Commissioner of the International Arabian Horse
Association- he oversaw the judges...) Why did Bush appoint
this guy to be head of FEMA, why did Congress approve him?

In January 2005, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler publically urged President
Bush to fire Brown, citing reports that FEMA disbursed $30 million in
disaster relief funds for Hurricane Frances to residents of Miami,
Florida,
a city which was not affected by the hurricane. Brown admitted to $12
million in overpayments, but denied any serious mistakes, blaming a
computer glitch. Wexler repeated his
call in April to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, citing
new reports that FEMA sent inspectors with criminal records of robbery
and embezzlement to do damage assessments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_D._Brown#FEMA_controversies

---

Who’s Responsible?

Bush reorganized the government specifically to give the Feds more power in an emergency.

In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale
emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary
responsibility for ensuring that emergency response
professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail
providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any
large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort.

http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/theme_home2.jsp


RELATED:

Homeland Security Chief on Meet the Press says he didn’t find out about
the levees breaking until he read the papers Tuesday morning, 24 hours
later!

http://tinyurl.com/dppxr

---

Bush’s Criminal Ignorance

"I don’t think anyone could have anticipated the breach of the levees."

On Good Morning America Bush said:

"I don’t think anyone could have anticipated the breach of the levees."

BUllSHit!
The simple truth is that the breach of the levees had been a prime
concern as Katrina approached. This statement proves beyond doubt that
George W. Bush doesn’t know what the **** is happening. This ignorance
is worthy of impeachment.

Sure, I could go on and on for a lengthy article, but I’m not. Have you heard the phrase, "Stop the Presses!"

Now
is the Time. This ’slip up’ is the reason. STOP THE PRESSES. Bush must
be removed- immediately- his criminal ignorance is putting us all in
danger.

Video of Bush on GMA:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/09/01.html#a4738

The Levees were a prime concern:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200509030001

http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8038


RELATED:

Bush is responsible for cutting levee funding


But the skimping has
worsened since President Bush’s election, particularly after September
11. Federal spending on flood control in south-east Louisiana has been
cut by almost half since 2001, from $69 million per year to $36.5
million. Funds for work at Lake Pontchartrain, the source of the
flooding, have fallen by nearly two-thirds over three years, from
$14.25 million to $5.7 million. As a result, work on New Orleans’ east bank hurricane levees stopped last summer for the first time in 37 years.

http://tinyurl.com/amkv7


source:
http://tinyurl.com/afb7f