Blanco's Blockade: Governor Refuses Red Cross Access to Superdome, Convention Center
"Access to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.
"The (Louisiana) State Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request-- that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city."
-- American Red Cross
"The Red Cross was ready. I just got off the phone with one of their officials. They had a vanguard... of trucks with water, food, hygiene equipment, all sorts of things ready to go, where? To the Superdome and the convention center.
"Why weren’t they there? The Louisiana Department of Homeland Security told them they could not go.
"FEMA works with the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and other organizations, but it has no direct control to order them to go one place or the other. The state’s own agency devoted to the state’s homeland security told them, 'You cannot go there.'
"Why? The Red Cross tells me that state agency in Louisiana said, 'Look, we do not want to create a magnet for more to come to the Superdome or the convention center. We want to get them out.'
So at the same time local officials were screaming, 'Where is the food? Where is the water?' The Red Cross was standing by ready. The Louisiana Department of Homeland Security said, 'You can’t go.'
"The governor... did use the Louisiana National Guard for some purposes, (but) did not deploy them in massive numbers initially. And they were not used to move any of these relief organizations in. And they could have been... The state decided they didn’t want the relief organizations where the people needed it most, because they wanted those people to get out."
-- Major Garrett, FOX News Correspondent
Then why did they lock them in?