IF! IF! IF!

"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." [GW Bush]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20050902/cm_huffpost/006604;_ylt=Ava.x5nUzV0p3nWdGcvRoS0e6sgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3YWFzYnA2BHNlYwM3NDI-

And it's not just the manpower; it's the allocation of resources. The truth is that the Army Corps of Engineers was desperately trying to get the funds to prepare for just the kind of flooding that has left 90% of the homes in New Orleans underwater. Why didn't they get this much-needed funding? As Editor and Publisher explains: "At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars." The damning article goes on:


In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness. On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, told the Times-Picayune: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

To see it boiled down even more, Thinkprogress has done the math. It's not pretty:

2004:

Army Corps request: $11 million
Bush request: $3 million
Approved by Congress: $5.5 million

2005:

Army Corps request: $22.5 million
Bush request: $3.9 million
Approved by Congress: $5.7 million

2006:

Bush request: $2.9 million

The administration's distorted priorities have deeply affected FEMA too. According to Eric Holdeman, the director of the Office of Emergency Management in King County, Washington, "the country's premier agency for dealing with such events -- FEMA -- is being, in effect, systematically downgraded and all but dismantled by the Department of Homeland Security." His "obituary" for FEMA is both sorrowful and alarming, warning that we, as a country, are "to an unconscionable degree, weakening our ability to respond" to the "tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, windstorms, mudslides, power outages, fires" that are inevitably coming our way. Don't those affect our national security, too?

Oh, and you want to know who's running FEMA? His name is Michael Brown. And you'll be relieve to know that previous to FEMA, he was an estate lawyer.

So, yes, Ken and Scottie, I can see why you don't want this "politicized." And there will no doubt be a succession of news anchors and reporters who think it's somehow inappropriate to speak of politics at a moment like this. But it's a lot more inappropriate to refuse to acknowledge what we know. Decisions were made that unequivocally affected how disastrous this disaster has become. The Bush administration will surely call into question the patriotism of anyone who dares note the obvious. But it's holding back from pointing out the consequences of catastrophic decisions that is unpatriotic.

1/2005
Even Mr. Bill Knew the Levees Wouldn't Hold:
In early 2004, lovable, crushable clay animated figure Mr. Bill from Saturday Night Live starred in an ad to alert people to the problems with the wetlands in Louisiana. On Good Morning, America today, President Bush said, "I don't think anyone could have anticipated the breach of the levees." He was wrong. Mr. Bill already had. Here's a transcript of the stunningly prescient ad, from CNN on May 27, 2004:

MR. BILL: Gee, kids, I'm not sure we can do our show today because it looks like Hurricane Sluggo is headed right for us here in America's wetlands.

WALTER WILLIAMS, MR. BILL CREATOR: That's right, Mr. Bill. And since New Orleans is below sea level, if a hurricane hit us directly, it could push the water over the levees and fill it to the top.

BILL: Well then we'd better leave.

[continued at]

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2005/09/even-mr.html

I'm not sure hands off management is wise when it's life or death.

Otherwise, I think we are on the same page, Drewdad.

Yesterday, Saturday, I was relieved to see that the government has finally taken control on the ground, largely and temporarily relieved the suffering of the people, and started the expanded scope of search and rescue that is necessary. They've also started find dead bodies, which will help avoid disease, and which will let people know what happened to their loved ones.

Looks like the government's agent leadership are now doing a good job in supporting the people on the ground who are doing the work.

Now, what do we do with all of these displaced people? Winter is coming.

BBB

... Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday.

The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals," said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.

A senior administration official said that Bush has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and the New Orleans mayor.

Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. ...

... Blanco made two moves Saturday that protected her independence from the federal government: She created a philanthropic fund for the state's victims and hired James Lee Witt, Federal Emergency Management Agency director in the Clinton administration, to advise her on the relief effort ...

... In a Washington briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said one reason federal assets were not used more quickly was "because our constitutional system really places the primary authority in each state with the governor." ...

None the less, the failure of state and local officials to do what was necessary created the conditions which permtted scores of thousands to suffer needlessly, and worse yet permitted untold thousands to die needlessly.

CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE AND KATRINA?

by Larry C Johnson

...

Efforts by Chertoff and other Administration spinmeisters to pin the blame on the delayed response on State and local authorities does not hold water. Although the NRP recognizes that State and local authorities have a responsibility to ask for help, the NRP correctly provides a provision to take proactive steps to deal with a threat. On page 43 of the NRP the section is titled, "Proactive Federal Response to Catastrophic Events" (which I have copied and pasted below:

The NRP establishes policies, procedures, and mechanisms for proactive Federal response to catastrophic events. A catastrophic event is any natural or manmade incident, including terrorism, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale, and/or government functions. A catastrophic event could result in sustained national impacts over a prolonged period of time; almost immediately exceeds resources normally available to State, local, tribal, and private-sector authorities in the impacted area; and significantly interrupts governmental operations and emergency services to such an extent that national security could be threatened. All catastrophic events are Incidents of National Significance.

[continued at]

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2005/09/criminal_neglig.html

If state elected and paid leaders are worthless, why have them?

They have jobs and there is a hierarchy --a legal framework--that must be followed. LA dropped the ball.

You'll read about it in the transcripts from the hearings that will take place.