Just for the record, I am a Canadaian.
The press up here has been just horrible in slamming Bush43 over this incident. CTV news last night was disgusting to say the least in slamming FEMA and the Red Cross at the Houston Astrodome. Both of which are false.
I agree that this story is as you say just another biased piece of ....
Anyone with half of a brain would know the coast guard et. al. was there.
It's great we are there helping but the stories should not be biased ...
I suppose Boasso could be lying , maybe . Does it really matter?
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (Reuters) - A Canadian search-and-rescue team reached a flooded New Orleans suburb to help save trapped residents five days
before the U.S. military, a Louisiana state senator said on Wednesday.
The Canadians beat both the Army and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. disaster response department, to St. Bernard Parish east of New
Orleans, where flood waters are still 8 feet deep in places, Sen. Walter Boasso said.
"Fabulous, fabulous guys," Boasso said. "They started rolling with us and got in boats to save people."
"We've got Canadian flags flying everywhere."
The stricken parish of 68,000 people was largely ignored by U.S. authorities who scrambled to get aid to New Orleans, a few miles (km) away. Boasso said
residents of the outlying parishes had to mount their own rescue and relief efforts when Hurricane Katrina roared ashore on August 29.
The U.S. government response to the disaster has been widely criticized. Politicians and editorial writers have called for the resignation of top Bush administration
officials.
Boasso said U.S. authorities began airdropping relief supplies to St. Bernard last Wednesday, the same day the Canadian rescue team of about 50 members arrived
from Vancouver, nearly 2,200 miles away.
"They chartered a plane and flew down," he said.
Two FEMA officials reached the parish on Sunday and the U.S. Army arrived on Monday, he said.
"Why does it take them seven days to get the Army in?" Boasso asked.
He speculated that the smaller parishes suffered because the focus was on New Orleans, the famous home of jazz and Mardi Gras.
As for the Canadians, Boasso gave thanks for their quick work.
"They were so glad to be here," he said. "They're still here. They are actually going door-to-door looking in the attics" for people to rescue, he said.