Posted on 09/03/2005 9:02:07 PM PDT by wildwood
Who’s Responsible For New Orleans?
by D.C. Thornton @ 11:58 pm. Filed under Commentary, Blogosphere
If critics of the Hurricane Katrina disaster are going to play the blame game, they should at least play according to Hoyle.
A comment to a Blogs for Bush posting sums up my thoughts on the issue clearly. I’m reposting it here in its entirety:
In case you aren’t familiar with how our government is SUPPOSED to work:
The chain of responsiblity for the protection of the citizens in New Orleans is:
1. The Mayor
2. The New Orleans director of Homeland Security (a political appointee of the Governor who reports to the Governor)
3. The Governor
4. The Head of Homeland Security
5. The President
What did each do?
1. The mayor, with 5 days advance, waited until 2 days before he announced a mandatory evacuation (at the behest of the President). The he failed to provide transportation for those without transport even though he had hundreds of buses at his disposal.
2. The New Orleans director of Homeland Security failed to have any plan for a contingency that has been talked about for 50 years. Then he blames the Feds for not doing what he should have done. (So much for political appointees)
3. The Governor, despite a declaration of disaster by the President 2 DAYS BEFORE the storm hit, failed to take advantage of the offer of Federal troops and aid. Until 2 DAYS AFTER the storm hit.
4. The Director of Homeland Security positioned assets in the area to be ready when the Governor called for them
5. The President urged a mandatory evacuation, and even declared a disaster State of Emergency, freeing up millions of dollars of federal assistance, should the Governor decide to use it.
Oh and by the way, the levees that broke were the responsibility of the local landowners and the local levee board to maintain, NOT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
The disaster in New Orleans is what you get after decades of corrupt (democrat) government going all the way back to Huey Long.
Funds for disaster protection and relief have been flowing into this city for decades, and where has it gone, but into the pockets of the politicos and their friends.
Decades of socialist government in New Orleans has sapped all self reliance from the community, and made them dependent upon government for every little thing.
Political correctness and a lack of will to fight crime have created the single most corrupt police force in the country, and has permitted gang violence to flourish.
The sad thing is that there are many poor folks who have suffered and died needlessly because those that they voted into office failed them. For those who missed item 5 (where the President’s level of accountability is discussed), it is made more clear in a New Orleans Times-Picayune article dated August 28:
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In the face of a catastrophic Hurricane Katrina, a mandatory evacuation was ordered Sunday for New Orleans by Mayor Ray Nagin.
Acknowledging that large numbers of people, many of them stranded tourists, would be unable to leave, the city set up 10 places of last resort for people to go, including the Superdome.
The mayor called the order unprecedented and said anyone who could leave the city should. He exempted hotels from the evacuation order because airlines had already cancelled all flights.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding. (emphasis mine)
The ball was placed in Mayor Nagin’s court to carry out the evacuation order. With a 5-day heads-up, he had the authority to use any and all services to evacuate all residents from the city, as documented in a city emergency preparedness plan. By waiting until the last minute, and failing to make full use of resources available within city limits, Nagin and his administration f**ked up.
Mayor Nagin and his emergency sidekick Terry Ebbert have displayed lethal, mind boggling incompetence before, during and after Katrina. […]
As for Mayor Nagin, he and his profile in pathetic leadership police chief should resign as well. That city’s government is incompetent from one end to the other. The people of New Orleans deserve better than this crowd of clowns is capable of giving them.
If you’re keeping track, these boobs let 569 buses that could have carried 33,350 people out of New Orleans–in one trip–get ruined in the floods. Whatever plan these guys had, it was a dud. Or it probably would have been if they’d bothered to follow it.
As for all the race-baiting rhetoric and Bush-bashing coming from prominent blacks on the left, don’t expect Ray Nagin to be called out on the carpet for falling short. You want to know why? Here’s why:
It’s more convenient to blame a white president for what went wrong than to hold a black mayor and his administration accountable for gross negligence and failing to fully carry out an established emergency preparedness plan.
To hold Nagin and his administration accountable for dropping the ball amounts to letting loose the shouts and cries of “Racism!”. It’s sad, it’s wrong, but it’s standard operating procedure for the media and left-wing black leadership.
Mark my words: you will not hear a word of criticism from Jesse Jackson Sr., Randall Robinson, the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP, or Kanye West being directed toward Raymond Nagin. Why? Because he is a mere black politician instead of an effective elected official who happens to be black. In the mindset of more-blacker-than-thou blacks, black politicians who are on their side can do no wrong.
(links via Sister Toldjah, Balloon Juice, and Ramblings’ Journal)
Update: JunkYardBlog points out more evacuation plans at the state level which weren’t implemented.
Moderators do delete posts all the time. This forum isn't about informed debate. This forum is about people with the same point of view who do not tolerate dissent. If you go to so called liberal sites you will see numerous people jump in with conservative points of view. Here you are gone and your priviledges revoked. Just like 1950's Russia. The word commie is tossed around quite a bit too.
They do too :-P
Oh, please. Give it a rest newbie.
The mods are far more tolerant here than any liberal site I have ever visited.
Boy, the tolls are wandering on in tonight.
Trollies that is!
There were multiple threads on FR during the 2004 hurricane season opining that if a Cat 4 hits NO, it's over. The truth was out, but people didn't act on it in ways to prevent/minimize the catastrophic aspects of a Cat 4 hit...
What has Howard Dean told Blanco?
That sir is highly debatable, considering their behavior and the way they treated those risking their lives to help them. The people were simply wretched, far worse than any of the pols now slinging mud at each other. Indeed, if the American people last a thousand years, no one will ever say, "this was their finest hour".
" Here you are gone and your priviledges revoked. Just like 1950's Russia. "
I didn't know that 1950's Russia had computers and political forums!
They must have been VERY advanceed!
Getting back to point of the original thread, it bears repeating over and over until the MSM and America understands.
Three key issues being missed by the MSM that are the true cause of the mishandling of this adventure:
1. The National Guard does not fall under federal control. Municipal and state authorities control them, and for apparently political reasons they passed up opportunities to mobilize them.
2. The federal government does not control buses or handle evacuations. Local authorities do. Again, apparently for political reasons, they declined to order a full on mandatory evacuation, probably because they feared an "unnecessary" panic.
2. The NO breech did not occur until 2am Monday Morning, and the press and apparently the local authorities did not recognize it as horrid disaster that it was, and failed to respond to it as strongly as they could. National resources were not requested by local authorities until after the city was fully lost and the disaster was well underway.
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.
If you've got something to add to the debate, say it.
Nam Vet
this was the perfect storm. no one (bwa ha ha) could have anticipated the breach of the levee in addition to a cat 5 hurricane. NO was only prepared for a cat 3 or 4 at the most, so it's the federal response that is at fault, because everyone knew NO wasn't prepared for it.
it was a flash on fox news. can't believe they just said it.
In the evacuation of New Orleans every second counts, every hour is needed to get people to get out of harms way. There is simply no time for 'negotiations'.
I find it inexcusable that Governor Blanco frittered away hours on the phone posturing to stop the very thing she was begging for 2 days later.
Wow. Thanks for that link. Why are the Feds not getting this story out?? It would really help counter the negative ink the Bushies are getting.
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.
Holy cats.
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