Originally posted by Derek Flint
Doing so afterwards was/is next to impossible, yet the critics are wondering why the Feds weren't able to do so and rescue the tens of thousands of people left stranded by their local government(s)
No offense, but I'm going to quote a part of an open letter written to the president by a New Orleans paper:
Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It’s accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718.
How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.
Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.
Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for the Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.
Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.
Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.
Originally posted by Derek Flint
Mayor Nagin has a lot to answer for, yet nobody seems to be even bothering asking the question at this point.
http://tinypic.com/ddc2df
http://utools.com/DomeBuses.jpg
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http://home.comcast.net/~phildragoo/wsb/media/440736/site1564.jpg
You're right, nobody even noticed.
Why weren't those buses mobilized?
I don't think it's going to be called "Lake Nagin" and "Blanco's Armada" for nothing...
Why wasn't the Emergency plan implemented?
Since this keeps coming up, look at what the Department of Homeland security has responsibility for:
From the DHS website:
"In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort. The Department will also prioritize the important issue of citizen preparedness. Educating America's families on how best to prepare their homes for a disaster and tips for citizens on how to respond in a crisis will be given special attention at DHS." http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/theme_home2.jsp
Also worth noting is the following article:
Louisiana Develops Improved Hurricane Evacuation Plan
April 13, 2005 -- According to today's FEMA National Situation Update, a new hurricane evacuation plan was demanded by Governor Kathleen Blanco after Hurricane Ivan when a traffic snarl that stretched from New Orleans to Baton Rouge lasted upward of 12 hours. The plan was put together by state police and the DOTD and includes evacuation routes for not only New Orleans and points south, but Lake Charles, Lafayette and the Houma-Thibodaux area. Under the new plan preparing for evacuations would begin at least 72 hours in advance. One of the problems during Ivan was the time required to get barriers, people and other material in place to allow lane reversal on highways.
Beginning 50 hours in advance, evacuations south of New Orleans would be ordered, public offices and schools would be closed, but traffic would remain along normal routes.
At 40 hours, evacuation south of the Mississippi River, including the West Bank of New Orleans, would be ordered.
In Phase 3, if the storm is a category 3 storm or higher, contraflow would be triggered.
Problems that slowed traffic last time ran the gamut from signs that were too hard to read, forcing drivers to slow excessively, to breakdowns. Under the new system tow trucks will be stationed along the routes and new signs will be installed. The new hurricane evacuation plan also requires a number of new ramps to be added or widened, new crossovers and other items at a cost of $7.5 million.
As a Baton Rouge resident, I can tell you that they have been adding and widening ramps and interstates between several of the cities from Baton Rouge to New Orleans for some months now. As the plan stated, contraflow
was activated. I'm not going to take the rest of the plan apart piece by piece simply because I don't have the time or inclination to - it's a lot easier to ask questions other people thought of than try to find answers for yourself.
Why wasn't the Super Dome set up in advance for evacuee's and stocked with food, water and medicine and security before hand, and not after when 90% of the city was flooded and impassible?
From what I've found out, the Super Dome wasn't intended initially to be an evacuation center - it was supposed to be a location where people went in order to
be evacuated to evacuation centers. Obviously whoever thought up that brilliant idea probably wasn't very bright, but that answers your question - according to the "plan", the Super Dome never should have been used in the first place to harbor refugees.
Originally posted by Derek Flint
Can you Independantly source these claims
Looking up all of the answers to all of these questions is taking more time than I have; if you aren't going to believe numerous newspapers and articles from both sides of the political spectrum agreeing on, then I've got something for you. Here's the challenge - instead of you asking for other people to refute points that bring up, how about you show us something that says that Wal-Mart
was allowed to bring those 3 tractor trailers with water into the city a week prior? Show us some verification that the Coast Guard
didn't say "FEMA said you couldn't have the fuel", and that FEMA
didn't cut the emergency lines. I've looked, and I can't find a thing to back up the claim you made that these events all were figments of some man's imagination.
Rescuer's and helicopters were being shot at by the local thugs on the ground. Was anybody turned back because of that?
Isolated incodents - not as widespread as the Fox News Channel would have you believe. A group of 7 men shot at a convoy of rescue workers who were protected by Guardsmen. The Guardsmen returned fire and took out 5 of the 7. There were several scattered reports of Chinooks being shot at with small-arms (handguns), but this took place well after the Hurricane hit... the 18-wheelers were turned back before it ever happened.
Just curious, and again, can you source those claims, or do we take Brossard's word for it?
And again, I've done more than my part in answering the 8298 questions you've asked. Let's see you link to a reliable source saying that everything he said about that was made up - that none of it really happened. Hey, maybe the Hurricane was made-up too!
See my post below for more about Brossard and his credibility issue's
I could care less if the guy likes to dress up like a girl and wear lipstick when he's not at work. Attempting to cloud an issue by bringing up non-relevant information from someone's personal life is a rather weak tactic, to say the least. Address the facts - show us that the 3 things he said happened
didn't happen, don't say "Oh, he's a under investigation for something so the Coast Guard didn't really say (under direction from FEMA) that emergency workers couldn't have that fuel"..
In any event, the unarguable fact remains that there were many things done wrong by many individuals and organizations. It's too early to figure out many of the specifics, however I believe that there will be many changes brought about as a direct result of these actions and inactions.
