[Q]"We were ready from literally the time the storm blew through," American Red Cross president Marty Evans told Fox News Channel's Major Garrett last Thursday. "We were ready to go. We just were not given permission to go in."
"The state Homeland Security Department had requested — and continues to request — that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane," a statement on the Red Cross' website explains. "Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city."
"Acess [sic] to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders," the statement also notes.
Salvation Army Major George Hood told FNC's Garrett that his group was ready to help, too. "We were prepared," Hood said. "The intent and the will was definitely there."
The Red Cross's Evans added: "We understood that the thinking was that, if we were to come in, that, one, it would impede the evacuation. They were trying to get everybody out. And, secondly, that it could possibly suggest that it was going to be OK to stay."
So, while the Red Cross and Salvation Army were able and eager to deliver water, food, medicine, and other relief supplies to those suffering at the Superdome and convention center, Louisiana officials rebuffed them, for fear that hydrating and feeding these individuals would chill an already glacial evacuation while encouraging others to get cozy and settle in for the long haul. In short, Louisiana officials starved their citizens out of town.[/Q]
.
[Q]Early on, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco should have requested federal troops to quell or at least deter the chaos in New Orleans as flood damage took its toll, looters stole electronic gear and luxury items as well as groceries, and rifle-wielding sociopaths fired on rescue boats and medical helicopters. Not until Thursday, September 1 did Blanco say, "I've actually asked for uniformed troops of any sort," either National Guard or active-duty GIs. The White House apparently hesitated, as federal troops are prohibited from conducting domestic policing under the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act.
"At a meeting on Air Force One outside Baton Rouge," the next day, "Mr. Bush offered her [Blanco] the full force of every federal relief agency including the military, he claims," the Times of London reports. "Fearful of losing control of the relief effort and of being blamed later for doing so, she asked for another 24 hours to think about it."[/Q]
[Q]"I need 500 buses, man," Mayor Nagin bellowed the evening of September 1 on local radio station WWL-AM. "We ain't talking about — you know, one of the briefings we had, they were talking about getting public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out here. I'm like, 'You got to be kidding me. This is a national disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans.'"
While Nagin awaited the relative comfort of Greyhound motor coaches, he could have filled at least 80 percent of his expressed transit needs simply by employing buses already in his control.
At least 146 municipal mass-transit buses, plus 255 school buses, could have been deployed to whisk car-less evacuees to Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Houston, or any number of places more appealing than the Superdome. Assuming a fairly comfortable 50 people each, these buses alone could have evacuated 20,050 New Orleanians per trip.[/Q]
http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock200509130839.asp
"The state Homeland Security Department had requested — and continues to request — that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane," a statement on the Red Cross' website explains. "Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city."
"Acess [sic] to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders," the statement also notes.
Salvation Army Major George Hood told FNC's Garrett that his group was ready to help, too. "We were prepared," Hood said. "The intent and the will was definitely there."
The Red Cross's Evans added: "We understood that the thinking was that, if we were to come in, that, one, it would impede the evacuation. They were trying to get everybody out. And, secondly, that it could possibly suggest that it was going to be OK to stay."
So, while the Red Cross and Salvation Army were able and eager to deliver water, food, medicine, and other relief supplies to those suffering at the Superdome and convention center, Louisiana officials rebuffed them, for fear that hydrating and feeding these individuals would chill an already glacial evacuation while encouraging others to get cozy and settle in for the long haul. In short, Louisiana officials starved their citizens out of town.[/Q]
.
[Q]Early on, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco should have requested federal troops to quell or at least deter the chaos in New Orleans as flood damage took its toll, looters stole electronic gear and luxury items as well as groceries, and rifle-wielding sociopaths fired on rescue boats and medical helicopters. Not until Thursday, September 1 did Blanco say, "I've actually asked for uniformed troops of any sort," either National Guard or active-duty GIs. The White House apparently hesitated, as federal troops are prohibited from conducting domestic policing under the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act.
"At a meeting on Air Force One outside Baton Rouge," the next day, "Mr. Bush offered her [Blanco] the full force of every federal relief agency including the military, he claims," the Times of London reports. "Fearful of losing control of the relief effort and of being blamed later for doing so, she asked for another 24 hours to think about it."[/Q]
[Q]"I need 500 buses, man," Mayor Nagin bellowed the evening of September 1 on local radio station WWL-AM. "We ain't talking about — you know, one of the briefings we had, they were talking about getting public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out here. I'm like, 'You got to be kidding me. This is a national disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans.'"
While Nagin awaited the relative comfort of Greyhound motor coaches, he could have filled at least 80 percent of his expressed transit needs simply by employing buses already in his control.
At least 146 municipal mass-transit buses, plus 255 school buses, could have been deployed to whisk car-less evacuees to Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Houston, or any number of places more appealing than the Superdome. Assuming a fairly comfortable 50 people each, these buses alone could have evacuated 20,050 New Orleanians per trip.[/Q]
http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock200509130839.asp