We need confirmation of this!
1) Just before midnight on August 26, three days before Katrina was to make landfall, Kathleen Blanco received a phone call from George Bush. The president had been through a series of briefings from Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin and knew the potential dangers to New Orleans and the surrounding area from a storm the size of Katrina. Now he was attempting to convince the Governor of Louisiana that she needed to take immediate action.
2) The next day, August 27, Bush called Blanco again and urged her to order a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, she refuses.
3)By August 28, with Katrina less than 24 hours away, Governor Blanco had not made the decision to allow FEMA workers to assist with relief efforts.
4) Federal officials were on standby, ready to move, but Governor Blanco had still mot made a decision to ask for federal help.
That evening, Blanco watched as reports of rapes and looting poured into the command center. National news agencies began to run video of looters breaking into stores and making off with garbage bags of goods. One policeman was shot in the head.
She will certainly be sued. She is probably going to be charged with criminal negligence since citizens died needlessly in hospitals and public housing, since evacuation was not ordered, since police did not do the job, since the plan was not activated....Doubtful that she can avoid jail.
Blanco = Edith Bunker
Have you seen this video? CNN camera catches her admitting she should have requested federal troops sooner.
September 12, 2005
Blanco Screws Up With Troops - Proof on Camera! (VIDEO)
Hat tip: Reader LadyCop
There is a shot where Blanco is being set up several days ago for a TV interview, and her press secretary is helping her adjust her mic. Theyre having a personal conversation, but the cameraman catches it!! In it, she kinda jokes to her press secretary something like yeah, well I guess I really need to ask for troops, and a couple more things she says.
A bit later in the segment she gets into a semi-argument with Miles OBrien, and hes pointedly asking her exactly WHEN she asked the President for troops.
She gets frustrated and says she didnt even know what day it was the, she was confused, but Miles presses her.
DOWNLOAD and view video here.
http://thepoliticalteen.net/2005/09/12/blancocnndaybreak/