Posted on 09/08/2005 8:02:47 PM PDT by Safety
Red Cross: State rebuffed relief efforts Aid organization never got into New Orleans, officials say BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (CNN) -- Louisiana officials rebuffed American Red Cross requests to enter New Orleans with relief supplies last week because of concerns over logistical difficulties, Red Cross and state officials said Thursday. The Red Cross never launched its relief effort in the city. The national president of the American Red Cross, Marsha Evans, first made the request to undertake the operation during a visit to the state on September 1, three days after Hurricane Katrina struck, a local Red Cross chapter official said. p>
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Exactly. I saw Red Cross President Marsha Evans herself say on camera that they were ready to go in literally after the storm blew through. But state officials refused the Red Cross permission to enter the city. See my Post No. 80 below.
It won't work.
In today's interview (Thursday, Sept. 8th), Major Garrett says that they were blocked right after the storm, too early for the thugs to mount security problems:
HH: Now Major Garrett, on what day did they block the delivery? Do you know specifically?
MG: I am told by the Red Cross, immediately after the storm passed.
HH: Okay, so that would be on Monday afternoon.
I got the exact words from the interview in Post 82.
You are exactly right. I have the exact words from the interview in Post 82.
Welcome to the party, CNN. Glad you could make it.
Your version is more accurate. We know from their rantings and ravings it was in their political calculus.
The worm is starting to turn and before this is all over the Democrats are going to be speaking in one voice saying we don't need to have a commission to blame anyone because we know it's the government's fault. We all just need to vote them out and vote Democrats in office so we can control things and never let this happen again. I know that's coming very soon. They can't handle the facts coming out and they are just going to push them all under the rug.
A blip on cnn screen ping.
I disagree. I heard yesterday, 09/08 that Salvation Army donations are 100% distributed to victims. But for God's sake, do NOT contribute to United way- they are "rebuilding their own offices with the contributions".
Could there be a plausible explanation for the Red Cross being turned back early on? And was it actually a good thing?
All the relief agencies were in stages of preparation, especially the Red Cross, who was ready to go into NO right after the hurricane passed, but BEFORE the flooding.
The state said don't go in, because we're evacuating all the people, and you'd just be in the way. (There is some logic to this, IMO.)
So the Red Cross backed off, helped where it could, like SuperDome and other outlying gathering points.
Then the floodwaters came in and drowned NO. And it was fast....five foot walls of water down some streets.
Whatever Red Cross that was in NO at that time would have had to be evacuated along with the residents. It's better that they weren't in NO.
If this is a nutty view of this, maybe I missed something along the way. But if it makes sense, then it seems to me that squawking about LA delaying the Red Cross makes about as much sense as the Dims blaming W for everything.
The Gov did stop the Red Cross. That's a fact! But maybe it wasn't as stupid or political as is being suggested here.
The Gov has stiffer issues than the Red Cross thing. Not signing the proper documents for fed assistance, if that caused a delay (I think it did, but I'm just not sure) that caused deaths, she is toast, for sure, hopefully, for prison breakfasts.
I thought I saw and heard either Jessie Jackson or Al Sharpton today state that Red Cross was told to back off by Homeland Security. I wonder if they had the story wrongNO they did not have it right...technically or otherwise.Technically, they had the story right. The Louisiana Department of Homeland Security kept the Red Cross and Salvation Army out of the city.
http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/ <- LA Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness Home
Ahh - adding in "it was the feds" makes all the difference. I was going by the post I replied to, which said "told to back off by Homeland Security."
* bump * to repeat that an unqualified 'Homeland Security' is indefinite. The phrase 'Homeland Security' can refer to either a state or federal agency, or maybe to both working in harmony. ;-)
According to Garrett It was the La Dept of Homeland Security which is completely under the direction and control of the Governor....period.
Donate to the Salvation Army!
I agree. My point was that saying "Homeland Security kept us out" is an accurate but indefinite statement.
Why doesn't somebody name the "Louisiana official" who denied the Red Cross and Salvation Army permission to come in?
To which MG replied "Monday or Tuesday." The President of the Red Cross said they were ready "literally after the storm blew through." Those were her exact words on camera in MG's second interview. Sure sounds like Monday afternoon to me as well.
Wonder how long it will be before they remove the story, having done their 'duty' to report the news before burying it.......
Thousands Remain To Be Evacuated -- 9/3/2005.
Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state’s emergency operations center said Saturday.
The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. “Quite frankly, if they’d been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals,” said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.
A senior administration official said that Bush has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and the New Orleans mayor.
Louisiana did not reach out to a multi-state mutual aid compact for assistance until Wednesday, three state and federal officials said. As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.
“The federal government stands ready to work with state and local officials to secure New Orleans and the state of Louisiana,” White House spokesman Dan Bartlett said. “The president will not let any form of bureaucracy get in the way of protecting the citizens of Louisiana.”
Blanco made two moves Saturday that protected her independence from the federal government: She created a philanthropic fund for the state’s victims and hired James Lee Witt, Federal Emergency Management Agency director in the Clinton administration, to advise her on the relief effort.
This woman played politics with people's lives; she berated the Federal government for not sending help while refusing to let the Red Cross in, refusing to allow the Federalization of the relief effort, not calling into effect the multi-State accord, and not declaring a state of emergency for days after Katrina's impact.
Babies were dying of exposure while she fiddled.
Her negligence and ineptitude are of criminal proportions.
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