This is a request for after-the-fact money. Note that there is no request for immediate evacuation help.
Yes, President Bush call Governor Blanco the Friday before the hurricane hit and begged her to evacuate New Orleans and formally request assistance as he couldn't send in FEMA help until she did. So, yes, there definitely is the request for FEMA assistance that Bush urged her to send him.
Bush then declared the States of Emergency and prepositioned FEMA supplies in her state. They also dropped supplies for 15,000 people for 3 days at the Superdome before the hurricane hit.
However, there is no request for assistance with law enforcement, for supplementing her National Guard with forces from other states, or for armed forces of the U.S. to come and assist.
The problem was that FEMA depends on the National Guard to provide security and assist them in getting the supplies to the center of a disaster. Governor Blanco was in charge of her Louisiana National Guard and lost communication with them during the hurricane. It's one thing to ask for help from FEMA, it's another thing to ask for security forces.
(FEMA helicopter pilots trying to do relief and rescue were shot at when they flew into New Orleans right after the hurricane.)
As for Governor Blanco's troops, without communications they didn't know where to go for a long time, and when they did know, there were downed power lines, broken highways, bridges down, trees down, incredible debris blocking their way which delayed them further.
Your question deserves attention.
Don't you think it's interesting that Blanco was facing a disaster, and her response was to beg for money. The only direct aid request was for cleanup. And note that no money was requested for 'Distribution of emergency supplies'.
Go down a few pages and read starting around the phrase "Oak Leaf." Very good summary of the relationship between active-military, National Guard, and P.C.
Quick observation: There is mention of 10 special needs shelters and 6 general population shelters for all the parishes. It is well established that neither Nagin nor Blanco designated the Convention Center as a "general population shelter".
Posse Comitatus prohibits the use of armed forces for domestic law enforcement, but there are exceptions: The Insurrection Act allows the president to send in troops, but only at the request of the governor or a state legislature; Nuclear materials situations do not require a request from a governor; and issues with chemical or biological weapons also do not require a request from the affected states.
Posse Comitatus does not apply to National Guard activities within the state.
http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf
It leads to a document purporting to be Blanco's request to FEMA for help. It is dated Sunday the 28th, and they are saying that it was faxed in. Has anyone else seen this?
I have had a liberal friend mention this and I looked it up on her website a few days ago.
However, the link you provided to a PDF has different text compared to what is on her website as an offical press release. Here is the first part from the Press release...
BATON ROUGE -- Today Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco forwarded a letter to President Bush requesting that he declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina. The full text of the letter follows:
August 27, 2005
The President
The White House
Washington, D. C.
Through:
Regional Director
FEMA Region VI
800 North Loop 288
Denton, Texas 76209
Dear Mr. President:
Under the provisions of Section 501 (a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5121-5206 (Stafford Act), and implemented by 44 CFR § 206.35, I request that you declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina for the time period beginning August 26, 2005, and continuing. The affected areas are all the southeastern parishes including the New Orleans Metropolitan area and the mid state Interstate I-49 corridor and northern parishes along the I-20 corridor that are accepting the thousands of citizens evacuating from the areas expecting to be flooded as a result of Hurricane Katrina. This is similar, but different from the text of yourlink.
Something seems pretty fishy to me, why would her "official" press release be different from what is said to have been faxed in?
The press release says " I request that you declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina for the time period beginning August 26, 2005,"
Whereas the PDF says " I request that you declare an expedited major disaster for the State of Louisiana as Hurricane Katrina, a Category V Hurricane approaches our coast south of New Orleans; beginning August 28, 2005"
Why would they put the one up on August 27, but not the one up from the 28th? Seems like something is rotten in Denmark (or Baton Rouge) here.
bttt