The Real Katrina
The Real Katrina
Many lives are needlessly lost, an entire US city is missing in action, Americans in dire need don’t get the help they expect, and a $100 billion bill suddenly appears at the table of the taxpayer – we need hard questions and truthful answers.
What really happened? Who did a good job? Who failed?
We are getting only half the story. A biased media prefers lies and half-truths to all the facts; if our media is predominately liberal or conservative, then we get their slant. Politicians with the same slant as a biased media feel free to ignore facts, forget basic US civics, pretend ignorance, and re-write history on the fly. Meanwhile, local officials need more than two hands for all their finger-pointing. We need the rest of the story.
The facts:
Q Who is primarily responsible for the New Orleans levees?
A Local landowners and their local levee board (not the federal government).
Q Who knew the levees would not protect against a strong hurricane?
A Everyone. All studies agree; any strong hurricane catastrophically floods New Orleans.
Q Why didn’t the locals start strengthening the levees long ago, even if only a little each year?
A Unknown.
Q Why didn’t the locals ask for Federal help to strengthen the levees?
A They did. After the last big study, Louisiana asked the federal government for help rebuilding the levees. That administration did not include any New Orleans levee money in its budget proposal. (Civics note: The President proposes the federal budget, not the Congress.) President at the time: a southerner, very familiar with hurricanes and New Orlean’s vulnerability; Bill Clinton.
OK, we know that the flooding of New Orleans was predicted for decades, and that nothing was done to strengthen the levees. So, a cataclysmic flood is certain; just a matter of time. Knowing that, what legal protocols are in place before Katrina hit?
Q Who is responsible for emergency flood response?
A As with all emergencies anywhere in the USA, the order of responsibility for emergencies (hurricane, flood, tornado, earthquake, wildfire, etc.) is:
1. City mayor (and other elected officials and boards appointed by the mayor),
2. State department of homeland security (appointed by the governor),
3. State National Guard (directed by the governor),
4. State governor,
5. Federal department of homeland security (specifically, FEMA),
6. President.
Q Do you mean to tell me that the primary first response to natural disasters is all local-planned and local-controlled?
A Yes. It’s always been this way. Who do you call for a house fire, a tornado, a bridge collapse, a flood, or a hurricane? 911; your local emergency folks.
Q When and how does the federal government get involved?
A Local and state forces are first responders and “in charge”. Three to four days after an emergency, federal forces assist local and state forces. This relationship is written into federal and state statutes; it’s clear and upfront in Louisiana’s own written hurricane plans.
Q Are there restrictions to federal involvement?
A Yes. States’ rights include the authority to prohibit or to allow federal involvement in local affairs. Louisiana is in charge.
Q What about military forces, like the National Guard or the active military?
A Unless the President activates the National Guard for foreign duty, the Guard remains a state force, controlled by the governor, especially in an emergency. The federal government pays, equips, and trains the National Guard, but the state enjoys the use of the Guard; quite a good deal if properly used. The Guard can be used in police functions, or any other way the governor commands. On the other hand, the active duty military forces can not normally be used domestically, and not for police action. This division is called “posse comitatus”.
Q Can the state streamline the introduction of federal forces in anticipation of an emergency?
A Yes, and most states do. For example, state and federal agencies have operating agreements to fight forest fires in the west, and it works well.
Q In an urgent need, can the federal agencies simply go in and take over for overwhelmed state forces?
A If asked by the state, yes. If not asked by the state, the federal forces can take over only if the Insurrection Act applies. A natural disaster like a hurricane is not an insurrection.
Q What is FEMA?
A Contrary to what some politicians are telling you, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is not a huge team of helicopters, ships, doctors, SWAT teams, and so on. FEMA is one of the few truly tiny federal agencies, with only 2500 full time people, and another 2000 part time people who may be able to help. These FEMA people are professional expediters and coordinators. Their job is to coordinate the action of other groups in an emergency. They’re desk jockeys with telephones. For example, they coordinate what state or local buildings would be best suitable for the use of Red Cross or insurance adjustors. They relay local agencies’ needs to the private relief organizations, to other states’ agencies, and to federal agencies. FEMA does not have the men and equipment for emergency evacuations, fighting fires, controlling looting, or plugging levees. They have telephones and computers. FEMA can free up millions of dollars of federal assistance money, and can coordinate the use of the National Guard, if the governor will allow professionals to do their jobs. Note: The same biased media heads and politicians who know FEMA’s mission so well when “their side” is in power pretend to forget it when the “other side’ is in power, to score political points with the ignorant.
So, the New Orleans mayor and Louisiana governor know the inevitability and severity of New Orleans flooding. They know their local plans are the key to saving lives. They know the federal forces can help, if asked. What did they do, and when did they do it?
5 days prior – The national hurricane center predicts that Katrina might become a strong hurricane and strike near New Orleans.
2 days prior – The President declares a state of emergency for the gulf coast, including New Orleans. This lets the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) pre-position resources to be deployed three to four days after the hurricane strikes, and frees up millions of dollars in anticipation of disaster. At this point, that’s all the President can do.
1 day prior – The mayor of New Orleans declares an evacuation of the city on Saturday morning, at the urging of the president and FEMA. Why not the day before?
Q Did the state and city hurricane plan call for the local authorities to take pro-active steps to make the evacuation happen?
A Yes. Their own plan calls for using all civic busses and school busses, and encourages use of private vans (airport, hotel). Over 600 vans/busses could have evacuated the 100,000 people who did not leave on their own, making only three trips each to safe ground. Meanwhile, their own plan calls for all law enforcement and even state national guardsmen to then move shelter and water to those evacuees, which would be easy, compared to getting the same support to a flooded city center.
Q Did Louisiana pre-coordinate a streamlined federal plan, in view of the inevitability of a strong hurricane?
A Evidently not.
Q What did the board governing the levees do?
A Unknown. When they couldn’t strengthen the levees, why didn’t they place each of those big pumps on their own separate generator power, automated and elevated 25’?
Q Did the mayor or governor actually use any of their own plan for the New Orleans people who did evacuate on their own?
A No.
Q What did the mayor do?
A He blamed the governor and the President.
Q What did the governor do?
A She blamed the mayor and the President.
Q What did the President do?
A He had already declared the emergency, placed FEMA on alert to help, started coordinating private agencies, and moved federal and military assets nearby – all awaiting the governor’s approval of federal assistance. Then, before the hurricane hit, he personally called the mayor and the governor, strongly suggesting they activate their own New Orleans evacuation plan. They did nothing but talk. He asked for their approval for federal action. They declined. Still, he did not place blame.
Q What do you mean “approval”?
A FEMA needs local approval to move in and take over coordination of relief activities. FEMA asked the governor before the hurricane; she declined. FEMA asked the governor after the flood of New Orleans and news reports of terrible conditions; she declined. Three days after the hurricane, and two days after the flood, the President took the governor aside on Air Force One and told her he was more than ready to send in all manner of federal agencies to help solve a continuing disaster. He gave her two different options of how and what he could do, and said with his hand on the phone, “Pick one and let’s go!” She said “No, I need another day to decide.”
Q Why were all those peopled in such terrible conditions at the dome and convention center?
A The mayor told them to go there. When it became overcrowded, the governor withheld food and water and sanitation supplies, to avoid attracting even more people. The mayor would not allow the evacuees to simply walk across the bridge and find a better place. In short, the locals corralled the poor people into a hell-hole, cut off any help, and then took pot shots at each other.
Q What happened when the governor finally gave federal agencies permission to do their jobs?
A Within 24 hours, the hyper-critical news media hailed the federal forces as life savers and everyone’s only hope. Within 48 hours, the area was safe again, most emergency evacuations had occurred, and food, water, shelter, and sanitation improvements were well under way. A miraculous turn-around. If only the mayor and governor had made the correct call and allowed the federal professionals to do their jobs when the President declared the emergency and offered federal help. How much misery and how many lives would have been spared?
Q What did FEMA do wrong?
A The director of FEMA failed to grab the governor by the lapels, shake vigorously, and scream “People die unless you stop playing political power games with lives! Forget Democrat vs. Republican! If you don’t let me make this a federal response right now, I’ll make sure even the liberal media knows it’s your fault. Act now or I go public!”
Then, when FEMA was belatedly given the go-ahead, all the FEMA-connected organizations needed strong leadership. The director let them go their own way.
In short, the FEMA director needs to act like a general, ordering things done in spite of a spineless partisan governor, and organizing a complicated ad hoc set of helpful agencies. The FEMA director during the Katrina emergency had good intentions, but too little strong leadership.
Contrast that with the mayor and governor, who both had leadership, but with inexcusable intentions – selfishness and political games.
Q Why is the FEMA director fired?
A The liberal mayor, liberal governor, and liberal media have won the PR battle, but not the war. For the moment, they have enough ignorant people thinking it was the federal government who failed.
Q What about the race issues?
A Yes, the liberal media and liberal politicians ignore the culpability of the liberal mayor and liberal governor. They try to shed their hurricane guilt with the further guilt of ignorant racism – blaming the President for creating evacuation problems for blacks. This is the best example of why conservatives lobby for real improvements to our education system; too many voters never took good courses from good teachers in civics, logic, or debate.
We can only hope that truth wins out in the end. Impeach the mayor and governor. If corporate officers had acted that way, they would be in jail. If military personnel had acted that way, they might face treason charges. The FEMA director was far less at fault than the mayor and governor, and the President fired him quickly. Will the people of New Orleans and Louisiana do the same to their leaders?
Morals of the story:
· When you know an emergency is likely, either get out of the way or prepare good defenses.
· When the emergency is upon you, get out of the way and let the professionals do their job.
· Never rely on a biased media or biased politicos for the facts. Instead, know all you can about natural disasters. Know all you can about how government really works.
· Elect people of action, not people of words and promises.
Many lives are needlessly lost, an entire US city is missing in action, Americans in dire need don’t get the help they expect, and a $100 billion bill suddenly appears at the table of the taxpayer – we need hard questions and truthful answers.
What really happened? Who did a good job? Who failed?
We are getting only half the story. A biased media prefers lies and half-truths to all the facts; if our media is predominately liberal or conservative, then we get their slant. Politicians with the same slant as a biased media feel free to ignore facts, forget basic US civics, pretend ignorance, and re-write history on the fly. Meanwhile, local officials need more than two hands for all their finger-pointing. We need the rest of the story.
The facts:
Q Who is primarily responsible for the New Orleans levees?
A Local landowners and their local levee board (not the federal government).
Q Who knew the levees would not protect against a strong hurricane?
A Everyone. All studies agree; any strong hurricane catastrophically floods New Orleans.
Q Why didn’t the locals start strengthening the levees long ago, even if only a little each year?
A Unknown.
Q Why didn’t the locals ask for Federal help to strengthen the levees?
A They did. After the last big study, Louisiana asked the federal government for help rebuilding the levees. That administration did not include any New Orleans levee money in its budget proposal. (Civics note: The President proposes the federal budget, not the Congress.) President at the time: a southerner, very familiar with hurricanes and New Orlean’s vulnerability; Bill Clinton.
OK, we know that the flooding of New Orleans was predicted for decades, and that nothing was done to strengthen the levees. So, a cataclysmic flood is certain; just a matter of time. Knowing that, what legal protocols are in place before Katrina hit?
Q Who is responsible for emergency flood response?
A As with all emergencies anywhere in the USA, the order of responsibility for emergencies (hurricane, flood, tornado, earthquake, wildfire, etc.) is:
1. City mayor (and other elected officials and boards appointed by the mayor),
2. State department of homeland security (appointed by the governor),
3. State National Guard (directed by the governor),
4. State governor,
5. Federal department of homeland security (specifically, FEMA),
6. President.
Q Do you mean to tell me that the primary first response to natural disasters is all local-planned and local-controlled?
A Yes. It’s always been this way. Who do you call for a house fire, a tornado, a bridge collapse, a flood, or a hurricane? 911; your local emergency folks.
Q When and how does the federal government get involved?
A Local and state forces are first responders and “in charge”. Three to four days after an emergency, federal forces assist local and state forces. This relationship is written into federal and state statutes; it’s clear and upfront in Louisiana’s own written hurricane plans.
Q Are there restrictions to federal involvement?
A Yes. States’ rights include the authority to prohibit or to allow federal involvement in local affairs. Louisiana is in charge.
Q What about military forces, like the National Guard or the active military?
A Unless the President activates the National Guard for foreign duty, the Guard remains a state force, controlled by the governor, especially in an emergency. The federal government pays, equips, and trains the National Guard, but the state enjoys the use of the Guard; quite a good deal if properly used. The Guard can be used in police functions, or any other way the governor commands. On the other hand, the active duty military forces can not normally be used domestically, and not for police action. This division is called “posse comitatus”.
Q Can the state streamline the introduction of federal forces in anticipation of an emergency?
A Yes, and most states do. For example, state and federal agencies have operating agreements to fight forest fires in the west, and it works well.
Q In an urgent need, can the federal agencies simply go in and take over for overwhelmed state forces?
A If asked by the state, yes. If not asked by the state, the federal forces can take over only if the Insurrection Act applies. A natural disaster like a hurricane is not an insurrection.
Q What is FEMA?
A Contrary to what some politicians are telling you, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is not a huge team of helicopters, ships, doctors, SWAT teams, and so on. FEMA is one of the few truly tiny federal agencies, with only 2500 full time people, and another 2000 part time people who may be able to help. These FEMA people are professional expediters and coordinators. Their job is to coordinate the action of other groups in an emergency. They’re desk jockeys with telephones. For example, they coordinate what state or local buildings would be best suitable for the use of Red Cross or insurance adjustors. They relay local agencies’ needs to the private relief organizations, to other states’ agencies, and to federal agencies. FEMA does not have the men and equipment for emergency evacuations, fighting fires, controlling looting, or plugging levees. They have telephones and computers. FEMA can free up millions of dollars of federal assistance money, and can coordinate the use of the National Guard, if the governor will allow professionals to do their jobs. Note: The same biased media heads and politicians who know FEMA’s mission so well when “their side” is in power pretend to forget it when the “other side’ is in power, to score political points with the ignorant.
So, the New Orleans mayor and Louisiana governor know the inevitability and severity of New Orleans flooding. They know their local plans are the key to saving lives. They know the federal forces can help, if asked. What did they do, and when did they do it?
5 days prior – The national hurricane center predicts that Katrina might become a strong hurricane and strike near New Orleans.
2 days prior – The President declares a state of emergency for the gulf coast, including New Orleans. This lets the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) pre-position resources to be deployed three to four days after the hurricane strikes, and frees up millions of dollars in anticipation of disaster. At this point, that’s all the President can do.
1 day prior – The mayor of New Orleans declares an evacuation of the city on Saturday morning, at the urging of the president and FEMA. Why not the day before?
Q Did the state and city hurricane plan call for the local authorities to take pro-active steps to make the evacuation happen?
A Yes. Their own plan calls for using all civic busses and school busses, and encourages use of private vans (airport, hotel). Over 600 vans/busses could have evacuated the 100,000 people who did not leave on their own, making only three trips each to safe ground. Meanwhile, their own plan calls for all law enforcement and even state national guardsmen to then move shelter and water to those evacuees, which would be easy, compared to getting the same support to a flooded city center.
Q Did Louisiana pre-coordinate a streamlined federal plan, in view of the inevitability of a strong hurricane?
A Evidently not.
Q What did the board governing the levees do?
A Unknown. When they couldn’t strengthen the levees, why didn’t they place each of those big pumps on their own separate generator power, automated and elevated 25’?
Q Did the mayor or governor actually use any of their own plan for the New Orleans people who did evacuate on their own?
A No.
Q What did the mayor do?
A He blamed the governor and the President.
Q What did the governor do?
A She blamed the mayor and the President.
Q What did the President do?
A He had already declared the emergency, placed FEMA on alert to help, started coordinating private agencies, and moved federal and military assets nearby – all awaiting the governor’s approval of federal assistance. Then, before the hurricane hit, he personally called the mayor and the governor, strongly suggesting they activate their own New Orleans evacuation plan. They did nothing but talk. He asked for their approval for federal action. They declined. Still, he did not place blame.
Q What do you mean “approval”?
A FEMA needs local approval to move in and take over coordination of relief activities. FEMA asked the governor before the hurricane; she declined. FEMA asked the governor after the flood of New Orleans and news reports of terrible conditions; she declined. Three days after the hurricane, and two days after the flood, the President took the governor aside on Air Force One and told her he was more than ready to send in all manner of federal agencies to help solve a continuing disaster. He gave her two different options of how and what he could do, and said with his hand on the phone, “Pick one and let’s go!” She said “No, I need another day to decide.”
Q Why were all those peopled in such terrible conditions at the dome and convention center?
A The mayor told them to go there. When it became overcrowded, the governor withheld food and water and sanitation supplies, to avoid attracting even more people. The mayor would not allow the evacuees to simply walk across the bridge and find a better place. In short, the locals corralled the poor people into a hell-hole, cut off any help, and then took pot shots at each other.
Q What happened when the governor finally gave federal agencies permission to do their jobs?
A Within 24 hours, the hyper-critical news media hailed the federal forces as life savers and everyone’s only hope. Within 48 hours, the area was safe again, most emergency evacuations had occurred, and food, water, shelter, and sanitation improvements were well under way. A miraculous turn-around. If only the mayor and governor had made the correct call and allowed the federal professionals to do their jobs when the President declared the emergency and offered federal help. How much misery and how many lives would have been spared?
Q What did FEMA do wrong?
A The director of FEMA failed to grab the governor by the lapels, shake vigorously, and scream “People die unless you stop playing political power games with lives! Forget Democrat vs. Republican! If you don’t let me make this a federal response right now, I’ll make sure even the liberal media knows it’s your fault. Act now or I go public!”
Then, when FEMA was belatedly given the go-ahead, all the FEMA-connected organizations needed strong leadership. The director let them go their own way.
In short, the FEMA director needs to act like a general, ordering things done in spite of a spineless partisan governor, and organizing a complicated ad hoc set of helpful agencies. The FEMA director during the Katrina emergency had good intentions, but too little strong leadership.
Contrast that with the mayor and governor, who both had leadership, but with inexcusable intentions – selfishness and political games.
Q Why is the FEMA director fired?
A The liberal mayor, liberal governor, and liberal media have won the PR battle, but not the war. For the moment, they have enough ignorant people thinking it was the federal government who failed.
Q What about the race issues?
A Yes, the liberal media and liberal politicians ignore the culpability of the liberal mayor and liberal governor. They try to shed their hurricane guilt with the further guilt of ignorant racism – blaming the President for creating evacuation problems for blacks. This is the best example of why conservatives lobby for real improvements to our education system; too many voters never took good courses from good teachers in civics, logic, or debate.
We can only hope that truth wins out in the end. Impeach the mayor and governor. If corporate officers had acted that way, they would be in jail. If military personnel had acted that way, they might face treason charges. The FEMA director was far less at fault than the mayor and governor, and the President fired him quickly. Will the people of New Orleans and Louisiana do the same to their leaders?
Morals of the story:
· When you know an emergency is likely, either get out of the way or prepare good defenses.
· When the emergency is upon you, get out of the way and let the professionals do their job.
· Never rely on a biased media or biased politicos for the facts. Instead, know all you can about natural disasters. Know all you can about how government really works.
· Elect people of action, not people of words and promises.
posted by Robiewan | 2:59 PM
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