Posted on 03/02/2006 6:10:47 AM PST by slowhand520
March 02, 2006
Katrina Tape Transcripts Show Media Hack Job For those who want to see the transcripts themselves of the video conferences, the New York Times has them for the August 28th and August 29th briefings. The transcript for the 29th makes one garbled mention of the levees around New Orleans (page 6). After making the point that the storm surge would cause the greatest devastation in the Gulfport area of Mississippi, going as high as 21 feet, Max Mayfield then turns to New Orleans:
MAX MAYFIELD: ... The rest of the track we have 10 to 15 feet, in a few areas up to 16 feet. At least glimpsed it out, and Louisiana can talk a little bit more about this than I can, but it looks like the Federal levies [sic] around the City of New Orleans will not have been (incomprehensible) any breaches to. That certainly doesn't sound like a warning -- and this was on the day the levees broke. That transcript clearly shows that the conference considered the storm surge and precipitation runoff to be the major threats of flooding in New Orleans. The possibility of breaches, even on the 29th, had been discounted.
The transcript from the August 28th meeting talked more about levees, but in the same vein, and this time no one mentions the word "breach". Starting on page 5, Max Mayfield again talks about the dangers of Lake Pontchartrain, but only in the context of the winds created a surge that could overtop the levees:
One of the valleys here in Lake Pontchartrain, we've got on our forecast track, if it maintains its intensity: about 12 1/2 feet of storm surge in the lake. The big question is going to be: will that top some of the levies? And the currrent track and the forecast we have now suggests there will be minimal flooding in the city of New Orleans itself, but we're -- we've always said that the storm surge model is only accurate within 20 percent. If that track were to deviate just a little bit to the west, it would -- it makes all the difference in the world. I do expect that there will be some of the levies over top even out here in the western portions where the airport is. We've got valleys that can't overtop some of the levies.
The problem we're going to have here -- remember, the winds go counterclockwise around the center of the hurricane. So if the really strong winds clip Lake Pontchartrain, that's going to pile some of that water from Lake Pontchartrain over on the south side of the lake. I don't think any model can tell you with any confidence right now whether the levies will be topped or not, but that's obviously a very, very grave concern.
Again, the entire briefing that related to levees only focused on the effects of the wind on Lake Pontchartrain and its effect in pushing water over the top of the levees. Mayfield never even addressed the possibility of breaches in the levee walls. And in fact, the storm track shifted eastward in the final hours before Katrina hit, which eliminated much of the predicate for even the worries Mayfield expresses in this transcript.
The media got it wrong yet again on Katrina. The notion that the experts warned of levee breaches is nothing more than a hack job initiated by the AP and continued by the rest of the Exempt Media even after the source material has proven it false.
But they used the word "levee"...this proves they knew about it! In the same manner that use of the words "Al Qaeda" and "Bin Laden" by members of the bush adminstration (including Condoleeza Rice!) prior to 9/11 proves that they knew an attack was coming on that very day!
How many re-treads on this story now?
The drive by media doing their usual.
These AP reports and katrinagate tapes etc etc are so stupid that what intelligent, thinking, individual would consider those tapes a scandal?
Much to do as usual about NOTHING!
"That certainly doesn't sound like a warning..."
Let's be honest here -- that second sentence really doesn't sound like anything. "Will not have been..." -- what?
Was the words "dynamite the levees" in the tapes?
Pray for W and Our Troops
I saw the Headline story on Drudge this morning...I Knew right away the MSM was up to their usual tricks and that Tony Snow would have to " clean up the potty mess they left"
To be Honest I am "Sick To Death" of the Katrina Story - the Media has played this sideways, backwards and insideout. GET OVER IT MEDIA!! Let New Orleans & Mississippi rebuild and get on. You would think this was the only hurricane this country ever had that was devastating!
The morning rag here in Maryland is playing this to the hilt. The big line is that "Bush didn't ask any questions" when told of the situation in NO.
So what! So they talked about the possibility of the levee's being breached. What was Bush supposed to do - go down there and physically hold them up himself.
Bush's mistake was in assuming that Blanco and Nagin had made adequate plans for the safety of their own people. The Feds are never going to be first responders to something like this
How long did it take Fema to get to New York after 9-11?
Bloggers are now doing the work of journalists.
"Journalists" are doing the work of Democrat party brochure and press release writers.
Democrat party press release writers are doing the work of sucking up to the leftwingnuts of the party.
And the circle of life continues.
I totally agree! Yesterday on Fox all they talked about was N.O.! Get over it! Or at least tell the truth about how the lazy bums that live there are just sitting around and waiting for government money! I've read so many stories that business's can't hire anyone because the "poor" are getting so much in government money they don't want to work!
This is exactly what I said when I saw the first report about this! Good God, the MSM are really freaking desperate to bash the President, aren't they?? They out and out LIED about the breaching of levees!!
well said
I have a manufacturing plant and have found it difficult to fill the occasional opening. A gent who works with me explained that between Aid for Dependent Children, Welfare, and Food Stamps, I'd have to start off a new employee at $10/hr to compete.
No they DIDN'T. They talked about the possibility of the levees being TOPPED. To illustrate the difference: Imagine you are running water in your bathtub and the phone rings so you step out to answer the phone. When you return to the bathroom you find the water is starting to run over the edge of the tub onto the floor, so you turn off the water and perhaps you open the drain. Then the water is no longer running over the edge of the tub. This is an example of your tub being TOPPED. On the other hand, imagine that the side of your tub splits apart so that all the water pours out onto the floor. Now, even if you turn the water off, the water continues to pour out until the level is below the lowest point of the split or possibly until the tub is completely empty. This is an example of your tub being BREACHED. Now, when you went to answer the phone with the water still running, you should have anticipated the possibility that your tub would be topped if you talked on the phone too long. But there is absolutely no reason that you would have anticipated that your tub would split in two and be breached. See the difference? If you do, you are smarter than the average MSM reporter.
First the media destroyed Brownie, now they've resurrected him for their own end.
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