Posted on 09/06/2005 8:15:54 AM PDT by wagglebee
Helicopters from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were conducting rescue operations in New Orleans less than a day after breaks in local levees began flooding the city.
But the lightning quick fly-out mission had to be abandoned that same night because local marauders were shooting at the FEMA choppers. "We first got in on Tuesday night," a FEMA pilot, who identified himself only as "Randy," told Fox News Radio's Tony Snow this morning.
The 17th Street levee had begun to give way late in the evening Monday. Well into Tuesday, city officials were celebrating reports that the brunt of Hurricane Kartrina had missed the Big Easy.
By the time the scope of the impending tragedy became known, however, FEMA rescue operations were already well underway.
"We were one of two helicopters with night vision goggles," Snow's caller explained. "They wanted to start evacuating Tulane Hospital, which is right next to Charity [Hospital]."
Shortly thereafter, however, the mission ground to a halt. "We were being shot at by various snipers around the city," chopper pilot Randy said. "So the military, Eagles Nest 1, basically called all helicopters out about 10 o'clock that night."
Within hours, however, reinforcements had arrived.
"They sent in the Blackhawks first to survey all the rooftops with a gunship. Then they started flying all their C-130's in . . . the Chinooks went in and the Blackhawks went in to evacuate."
Asked about allegations that the federal response was "sluggish," the chopper pilot told Snow: "I think they're wrong. They had C-130s on the tarmac [in New Orleans] Wednesday morning, which came in sometime during the evening on Tuesday."
"They had the Chinooks on the tarmac Wednesday morning. They had the Blackhawks Wednesday morning. Everything was there."
If there was any delay at all, the FEMA pilot said, it was because operations planners needed time to coordinate the mission.
"If all of them just started doing their own thing, there would have been total chaos," he told Snow. "And [the flood victims] would have been a lot worse off than they are now."
Bump for the good guys...
The left has their agenda..
"FEMA Pilot: Rescue Began Just Hours After Flood"
You KNEW this
"Let the Celebratory drinking begin in the French Quarter! We dodged yet another bullet! The Voodoo worked!"
ping
So FEMA was saving lives instead of serving hot meals to those idiots befowling themselves in the Superdome. Shame.
befouling perhaps?
This is the part of the story that is so quickly and conveniently forgotten by those whose only objective is to "bash Bush".
The first rescue helicopters (apparently the only conveyance that could have been able to arrive in the very short span of time after the levees burst) were driven off by shots fired from the ground, PREVENTING any serious rescue effort until the reinforcements arrived.
LOL!
Were they perhaps throwing chickens at each other? :=)
Why doesn't the left put the blame where it really belongs, France.
Yes. But this time they really did have the assistance, and the wholesale, blind and unconditional assistance of the MSM which has pandered to the Liberal speakers and officials and which has perpetuated unofficial and spurious reports in the most shameful and irresponsible way. No Liberal mis statements or groundless conjecture has been challenged in my hearing. The MSM has actually outdone itself in the storm reporting compared to its reporting of the last national election in the US. If you thought the MSM could not outdo itself in its blatant bias reporting the last major political campaigns and national election you were wrong. These guys now have NO credibility are completely and I think, permanently unaccountable.
wonder why this report only appears on NEWSMAX... not AP, not Reuters, not CNN, and not even on the all mighty, FauxNews
The USCG was working once the winds went down enough to do so. By the first 24 hours, they'd worked literally around the clock, day and night, rescuing over 2,000 people, one person at a time. I'm just furious about the complaints of delay. Those Coasties risked their lives--hovering a helicopter in the dark in an area where there are powerlines and all manner of possible hazards can only be described as "heroic." And many of the pilots INSISTED on working round the clock.
I really, truly, despise the race-baiting, lying, conniving, dishonest pieces of scum that pass for the Democrat party.
They are "no accounts" in many people's eyes..
Voodoo,
Voodoo,
Voodoo you think you're foolin'?
I remember watching live last Tuesday when they were rescuing people from rooftops, etc. But it's funny that the media isn't showing any of that footage anymore.
Those weren't the "first" rescuers. The first ones were out there once the winds died down enough to fly a helicopter. The snipers didn't start until almost a day later. Nevertheless, the malice was just stunning--shooting at one's own rescuers? What madness. I would have forgiven the rescuers, all of them, had they just said, "Ok, it's all yours then." And left them to rot in the disease and filth.
Hey....apologists for Bush can't have it both ways. First, they tell us that FEMA is not a first responder. Now, they tell us that was on the job from the beginning.
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