Posted on 09/08/2005 6:57:07 PM PDT by sissyjane
Edited on 09/08/2005 11:37:58 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
>> WHITE HOUSE MULLED SEIZING RELIEF MISSION // Invoke the Insurrection Act? Bush's senior advisers debated last week whether the president should seize control of the chaotic hurricane relief mission from the governor so that active-duty combat troops could be sent to enforce order... Developing
Update******
Political Issues Snarled Plans for Troop Aid
"WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 - As New Orleans descended into chaos last week and Louisiana's governor asked for 40,000 soldiers, President Bush's senior advisers debated whether the president should speed the arrival of active-duty troops by seizing control of the hurricane relief mission from the governor.
For reasons of practicality and politics, officials at the Justice Department and Pentagon, and then at the White House, decided not to urge Mr. Bush to take command of the effort.
Instead, the Washington officials decided to rely on the growing number of National Guard personnel flowing into Louisiana, who were under Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco's control. The debate was triggered as officials began to realize that Hurricane Katrina exposed a critical flaw in the national disaster response plans created after the Sept. 11 attacks. According to the administration's senior homeland security officials, the hurricane showed the failure of their plan to recognize that local police, fire and medical personnel might be incapacitated and unable to act quickly until reinforcements arrive on the scene..."
".. To seize control of the mission, Mr. Bush would have had to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows the president in times of unrest to command active-duty forces into the states to perform law enforcement duties. But decision makers in Washington felt certain that Governor Blanco would have resisted surrendering control of the military relief mission as Bush Administration officials believe would have been required to deploy active-duty combat forces before law and order had been re-established. While troops can conduct relief missions without the legal authority of the Insurrection Act, Pentagon and military officials say that no active-duty forces could have been sent into the chaos of New Orleans on Wednesday or Thursday without confronting law-and-order challenges......."
You're doing fine Fred. I appreciate the documents and pertinent data that you have posted. Taken all together, the entire government of the state of Louisiana should go to prison. AAMF, so should the State Legislature of California.
After the storm, when the city was filled with water, to get people out of the Superdome/Convention Center and all the way to Houston.
The press briefing is being rebroadcast NOW on C-SPAN.
"Taken all together, the entire government of the state of Louisiana should go to prison."
I'll come to Louisiana for a visit if that happens!
ok.. thxs
Had that wrong.
Yes, you're right of course, but... I'm sorry, an order to refuse to allow anyone to bring drinking water to people suffering in NO's heat should have triggered some people's brains to kick in! Think about it. If they felt the need to keep the civilian aide workers out, fine, they should have taken it upon themselves to bring those suppies in themselves.
And yet, President Eisenhower did just that when he sent the 101st. Airborne Division into Little Rock, AK, in September of 1957 to enforce the US Constitution.
Still after reading this thread, I understand why the President is having the investigation and not the former
9/11 Commission, like Pelosi suggested ... barf.
Some Aussie was picked up right before the hurrican for being drunk & disorderly. His family hadn't heard from him & were rightly worried, til they learned he was safe & in jail.
Anyway, the Amtrack, bus station was set up as a temporary jail:
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=ne-main-9-l1&flok=FF-APO-1110&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20050906%2F1247785942.htm&sc=1110
Still after reading this thread, I understand why the President is having the investigation and not the former
9/11 Commission, like Pelosi suggested ... barf.
Mary Landrieu promised to punch Bush in the nose if he did something or did something *again*, but for the life of me, I can't remember what she didn't want him to do.
After reading another post in this thread, I'm not sure the guy in the picture is her brother though.
Ok. That's one.
Where were the other volunteer drivers?
I hope the Pelosi mouth doesn't stop, because it will give us plenty of ammo when her term is up. Nagen and Blanco have already been seen for the incompetent politicians they are and have made it easy for ANY conservative to take over. That is unless the idiots in NO pull a DC on us all and re-elect them. (think: Marion Barry, AKA: Crackhead and Mayor)
I don't think President Bush did anything wrong. He has been playing it very cool this whole time, which is more than I could have done. I'd have been all over the place with detailed timelines of what I did to get in to help NO. I'm sure if someone put together of list of actions taken by President Bush, Nagen, and Blank-o, there would two really short lists and one REALLY LONG list.
I could help Pelosi get that gnat on her face....
The people of Louisiana VOTED for this INCOMPETENT woman and the people of NO elected NAgin. Maybe they will think twice the next time. And Maybe, just maybe some of the corruption in this state will be swept away with all the other crud.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1477460/posts
Posted on 09/04/2005 6:52:12 PM PDT by Lorianne
AUSTRALIAN survivors of Hurricane Katrina told last night of their dramatic escape from New Orleans and the unfolding civil disaster in city.
The group, joyful at fleeing the nightmare of the Louisiana city, lauded one of its members as a hero. Bud Hopes, of Brisbane, was praised for saving dozens of tourists as the supposed safe haven of the city's Superdome became a hellhole.
"I would have to say that Bud is solely responsible for our evacuation," Vanessa Cullington, 22, of Sydney, told the Sunday Herald Sun by mobile phone from a bus carrying 10 Australians to safety in Dallas, Texas.
"I dread to think what would have happened if we hadn't got out. It's so great to be free."
News of the group's escape came as reports said as many as 10,000 people might have been killed by the hurricane and its aftermath, and President George Bush ordered more troops and an increased aid effort for the stricken Gulf of Mexico states.
As the Australians left the Superdome, food and water were almost non-existent and the stiflingly hot arena was filled with 25,000 people and the stench of human waste. Gangs stalked the tourists and women were threatened with rape.
"Bud took control. He was calm and kept it together the whole time," Ms Cullington said.
Mr Hopes, 32, said: "That was the worst place in the universe. Ninety-eight per cent of the people around the world are good. In that place, 98 per cent of the people were bad.
"Everyone brought their drugs, they brought guns, they brought knives. Soldiers were shot.
"It was like a refugee camp within a prison.
"It was full on. It was the worst thing I have seen in my life. I have never been so frightened."
Realising that foreigners were a target, Mr Hopes and the other Aussies gathered tourists from Europe, South America and elsewhere into one part of the building.
"There were 65 of us, so we were able to look after each other -- especially the girls who were being grabbed and threatened." Mr Hopes said.
He said they had organised escorts for the women when they had gone for food or to the toilet, and rosters to keep guard while others slept.
"We sat through the night just watching each other, not knowing if we would be alive in the morning."
John McNeil, 20, of Brisbane, said the worst point had come after two days when soldiers had told them the power in the dome was failing and there was only 10 minutes worth of gas left.
"I looked at Bud and said, 'That will be the end of us'," Mr McNeil said.
"The gangs . . . knew where we were. If the lights had gone out we would have been in deep trouble. We prayed for a miracle and the lights stayed on."
Mr Hopes said the Australians owed their lives to a National Guard Staff Sgt Garland Ogden, who had broken the rules to get the tourists out of the dome, with 60 people being evacuated to a medical centre.
"We did some shifts at the hospital to help nurse the sick to say thank you. It was a real Aussie thing," he said.
As the bus carrying the Australians crossed the Texan border, spirits were high.
"We've had hotdogs and chips and everyone is laughing," Mr Hopes said.
Later, the bus arrived at Dallas Convention Centre, where the Australians were processed.
Family and friends gathered at the Brisbane home of Mr McNeil's parents, Peter and Mary, where they were joined by Mr Hopes's sister, Debbie Browne.
Mrs McNeil broke down when she saw images of her son leaving New Orleans.
"There have been times during this past week when we didn't know if we would see him again," she said.
Mr McNeil said he could see a change in his son.
"They've been traumatised," he said. "I think they've witnessed several atrocities."
The other Australians on the bus were Emma Hardwick, of Sydney; Simon Wood, of Wyalkatchem, WA; Michael Ryan, of Lithgow, NSW; Yasmin Bright, of Newcastle; Michelle and Lisa van Grinsven, of Sydney; and Elise Sims, Tea Tree Gully, Adelaide.
Meanwhile, three Australian couples were safe in Los Angeles, awaiting flights home after being rescued from New Orleans by a Channel 7 news crew.
Tim and Joanne Miller, of Rockhampton, Garry and Cynthia Jones, of Brisbane, and Jack and Gloria Slinger, of Perth, crammed into a four-wheel-drive vehicle with reporter Mike Amor and two colleagues for the early morning dash.
The crew had arranged to pick up two couples from the building where they were holed up and found the Slingers on the streets.
"They were very wary about about coming out of the building. It was a pretty frightening scene -- bodies, shootings, looters," Amor said.
A phone call in the middle of the night gave hope to relatives of Brisbane's Fiona Seidel and her sister-in-law, Katie Maclean.
Mrs Maclean's husband, Andrew, was contacted by a New Orleans police officer who said he had seen the pair get on a bus.
(So, NO disaster plans are not only a disaster for the citizens of NO the visitors and tourists get to suffer as well. Australians returning all report the same - it was like trying to survive a hurricane in a gang-fight in a third world country.)
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