Blame Amid the Tragedy

Wall Street Journal ^ | 9-6-05 | Bob Williams

[truth49]

As the devastation of Hurricane Katrina continues to shock and sadden the nation, the question on many lips is, Who is to blame for the inadequate response? As a former state legislator who represented the legislative district most impacted by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, I can fully understand and empathize with the people and public officials over the loss of life and property. Many in the media are turning their eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability of city and state officials. I am fully aware of the challenges of having a quick and responsive emergency response to a major disaster. And there is definitely a time for accountability; but what isn't fair is to dump on the federal officials and avoid those most responsible -- local and state officials who failed to do their job as the first responders. The plain fact is, lives were needlessly lost in New Orleans due to the failure of Louisiana's governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin. The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his/her emergency operations center. The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city.

[frogjerk]

We need to keep pressing the truth that the local and state officials failed miserably.

[Travis McGee]

I hope that sooner or later the MSM discovers that New Orleans did have a written emergency plan to cover the evacuation of the poor, but that the idiot mayor of New Orleans ignored it, and allowed the evacuation buses to be ruined by the flood, forgotten.

The city leaders had at least two full days to use these hundreds of buses to evac the poor, exactly as their own emergency management plan called for.

This is the equivalent of the media blaming the Titanic disaster on the slow arrival of the rescue ships, while totally ignoring the Titanic's lifeboat issue.

Here's the southeast Louisiana evac plan supplement, most recently revised in 2000. Go to page 13, read paragraph 5. It states:

5. The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating.

[ClaireSolt]

Excellent

[siunevada]

I think many in the media and their political cohorts long ago lost the concept that the states which make up the USA have any real meaning. They have different colors on a map but no one remembers why.

That might be Bush's fault, too. Let me tune into CNN and see what I think.

[siunevada]

The city leaders had at least two full days to use these hundreds of buses to evac the poor, exactly as their own emergency management plan called for.

Or at least get as many as possible to high ground "just in case" there was a levee break and they would need them.

[Cicero]

The congenital liars at the New York Times, the Washington ComPost, the LA Times, the TV networks, the leftist wire services, etc., etc., will NEVER willingly let these facts be known. So it is incumbent on us to get the word out.

Drudge has helped in the past, and he deserves great credit for posting that picture of the school buses on his front page for a couple of days. But regretably Drudge has always hated George W. Bush, for whatever reason, so he has not really done as much as he could have done to present a fair and balanced picture. Instead, he is mainly helping the MSM trumpet their lies, by linking to story after story spouting vicious slander and hatred from our corrupt press.

We need to get the word out as widely as possible right NOW, before the media succeed in setting their lies in concrete, as they have so often done in the past.

[Fido969]

Many in the media are turning their eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability of city and state officials.

And that's blatantly obvious when you read the New York Times or watch CNN. The MSM doesn't even have the appearance of independence anymore.

[marblehead17]

ping

[XHogPilot]

Posted earlier here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1478359/posts