Poor Leadership in Louisiana & New Orleans

[Supreme Cmdr]

A SAD STATE OF CORRUPT LOCAL GOVERNMENT LOOKING FOR A HAND OUT

Politics over duty

This is a post from a fellow over in Merritt Is, FL, a reporter who's

been researching what went on before the storm hit

I think all of Nagin's pomp and posturing is going to bite him hard in

the near future as the lies and distortions of his interviews are coming

to light.

On Friday night before the storm hit Max Mayfield of the National

Hurricane Center took the unprecedented action of calling Nagin and Blanco

personally to plead with them to begin MANDATORY evacuation of New Orleans

and they said they'd take it under consideration. This was after the NOAA

buoy 240 miles south had recorded 68' waves before it was destroyed.

President Bush spent Friday afternoon and evening in meetings with his

advisors and administrators drafting all of the paperwork required for a

state to request federal assistance (and not be in violation of the Posse

Comitatus Act or having to enact the Insurgency Act).

Just before midnight

Friday evening the President called Governor Blanco and pleaded with her

to sign the request papers so the federal government and the military

could legally begin mobilization and call up.

He was told that they didn't think

it necessary for the federal government to be involved yet. After the

President's final call to the governor she held meetings with her staff to

discuss the political ramifications of bringing federal forces. It was

decided that if they allowed federal assistance it would make it look as

if they had failed so it was agreed upon that the feds would not be

invited in.

Saturday before the storm hit the President again called Blanco and

Nagin requesting they please sign the papers requesting federal assistance

, that they declare the state an emergency area, and begin mandatory

evacuation.

After a personal plea from the President, Mayor Nagin agreed to

order an

evacuation, but it would not be a full mandatory evacuation, and the

governor still refused to sign the papers requesting and authorizing

federal action.

In frustration the President declared the area a national disaster

area before the state of Louisiana did so he could legally begin some

advanced preparations. Rumor has it that the President's legal advisers

were looking into the ramifications of using the insurgency act to bypass

the Constitutional requirement that a state request federal aid before the

federal government can move into state with troops - but that had not been

done since 1906 and the Constitutionality of it was called into question

to use before the disaster.

Throw in that over half the federal aid of the past decade to New

Orleans for levee construction, maintenance, and repair was diverted to

fund a marina and support the gambling ships.

Toss in the investigation that will look into why the emergency

preparedness plan submitted to the federal government for funding and

published on the city's website was never implemented and in fact may have

been bogus for the purpose of gaining additional federal funding as we now

learn that the organizations identified in the plan were never contacted

or coordinating into any planning - though the document implies that they

were.

The suffering people of New Orleans need to be asking some hard

questions as do we all, but they better start with why Blanco refused to

even sign the multi-state mutual aid pack activation documents until

Wednesday which further delayed the legal deployment of National Guard

from adjoining states.

Or maybe ask why Nagin keeps harping that the President should

have commandeered 500 Greyhound busses to help him when according to his

own emergency plan and documents he claimed to have over 500 busses at his

disposal to use between the local school busses and the city

transportation busses - but he never raised a finger to prepare them or

activate them.

This is a sad time for all of us to see that a major city has all but

been destroyed and thousands of people have died with hundreds of

thousands more suffering, but it's certainly not a time for people to be

pointing fingers and trying to find a bigger dog to blame for local

corruption and incompetence. Pray to God for the survivors that they can

start their lives anew as fast as possible and we learn from all the

mistakes to avoid them in the future.

[Guest]

Good timeline SC and exactly right.

The local and state played politics, and THOUSANDS of people died because of it....

[Charles Lindsey]

Ahhh, a relatively empty thread. Seems there was another one that talked about the rebuilding, housing, evacuees, etc. If you find it feel free to link to it.

Anyway, someone has a "grand plan" for New Orleans

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10802902/

wherein if your neighborhood doesn't reach critical mass it's razed and turned into flood control.

[Wolferz]

Blanco and Nagin should be placed right behind the levies during the next hurricane season.

Give them a taste of their own ignorance.

[Guest Grayfox]

i preached about their ineptness in the other topic on these forums... and i still stand by it.

they hemmed and hauled around until it was too late... i still have a personal issue with that that needs resolving.