As the days pass without an adequate response to the disaster,
BushCo is more interested in covering their ass and shifting the blame
than in saving peoples lives!
... Last week, Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told CNN his agency had recently planned for a Category 5 hurricane hitting New Orleans.
Speaking to "Larry King Live" on August 31, in the wake of Katrina, Brown said, "That Category 4 hurricane caused the same kind of damage that we anticipated. So we planned for it two years ago. Last year, we exercised it. And unfortunately this year, we're implementing it."
Brown suggested FEMA -- part of the Department of Homeland Security -- was carrying out a prepared plan, rather than having to suddenly create a new one. ...
... But Chertoff seemed unaware of all the warnings.
"This is really one which I think was breathtaking in its surprise," Chertoff said. "There has been, over the last few years, some specific planning for the possibility of a significant hurricane in New Orleans with a lot of rainfall, with water rising in the levees and water overflowing the levees," he told reporters Saturday. ...
... Chertoff also argued that authorities did not have much notice that the storm would be so powerful and could make a direct hit on New Orleans. ...
... As far back as Friday, August 26, the National Hurricane Center was predicting the storm could be a Category 4 hurricane at landfall, with New Orleans directly in its path. Still, storms do change paths, so the possibility existed that it might not hit the city.
But the National Weather Service prediction proved almost perfect.
Katrina made landfall on Monday, August 29. ...http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.chertoff/
And as if that isn't damning enough!
From: Politics
The provocative title is intentional. Why did the Bush Administration fail to act according to the National Response Plan they created in December of 2004 to deal with an incident like Katrina? ...
...
The current effort by the Bush Administration to blame the victims in Louisiana and Mississippi is bad enough, but they are in big trouble once Americans take the time to understand that they the Administration ignored it's own plan for dealing with a threat like Katrina. Why did they fail to implement the plan until it was too late to save lives along the Gulf Coast?
Don't take my word for it, read the plan yourself. You can download it at http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/NRPbaseplan.pdf
...
But it isn't just what wasn't done, BushCo's Homeland Security representatives have blocked the most basic help for hurricane survivors!
Reporter's notebook: Treating those left behind
By Robert Davis, USA TODAY
... I headed to City Hall, where Jullette Saussy, the city's director of emergency medical services, is based. This involved another walk through blocks of waist-high, waste-filled water. I found her and her colleagues in the midst of intense discussions about the situation at the convention center.
At that point, the plight of the citizens at the Superdome had gotten the most media attention, but the 20,000 people at the convention center had even fewer supplies and emergency medical officials had been unable to reach them because of the lack of medical supplies, the absence of any means of evacuation and security concerns.
Saussy's desire to set up a mobile hospital at the convention center had been blocked by Homeland Security representatives who wanted people to be shipped out, not treated there. But she finally found an ally in Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, commander of the 1st Army, who is coordinating the military rescue operation. He issued a "make it so" type declaration and loaded Saussy, her associates and me into a military truck bound for the center. ... (emphasis added by me)
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