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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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 Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 10:54 am Post subject: Ex-FEMA Chief Tells of Frustration and Chaos |
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| Quote: | September 15, 2005
Ex-FEMA Chief Tells of Frustration and Chaos
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
and SCOTT SHANE
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 - Hours after Hurricane Katrina passed New Orleans on Aug. 29, as the scale of the catastrophe became clear, Michael D. Brown recalls, he placed frantic calls to his boss, Michael Chertoff, the secretary of homeland security, and to the office of the White House chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr.
Mr. Brown, then director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said he told the officials in Washington that the Louisiana governor, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, and her staff were proving incapable of organizing a coherent state effort and that his field officers in the city were reporting an "out of control" situation.
"I am having a horrible time," Mr. Brown said he told Mr. Chertoff and a White House official - either Mr. Card or his deputy, Joe Hagin - in a status report that evening. "I can't get a unified command established."
By the time of that call, he added, "I was beginning to realize things were going to hell in a handbasket" in Louisiana. A day later, Mr. Brown said, he asked the White House to take over the response effort.
He said he felt the subsequent appointment of Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré of the Army as the Pentagon's commander of active-duty forces began to turn the situation around.
In his first extensive interview since resigning as FEMA director on Monday under intense criticism, Mr. Brown declined to blame President Bush or the White House for his removal or for the flawed response.
"I truly believed the White House was not at fault here," he said.
He focused much of his criticism on Governor Blanco, contrasting what he described as her confused response with far more agile mobilizations in Mississippi and Alabama, as well as in Florida during last year's hurricanes.
But Mr. Brown's account, in which he described making "a blur of calls" all week to Mr. Chertoff, Mr. Card and Mr. Hagin, suggested that Mr. Bush, or at least his top aides, were informed early and repeatedly by the top federal official at the scene that state and local authorities were overwhelmed and that the overall response was going badly.
A senior administration official said Wednesday night that White House officials recalled the conversations with Mr. Brown but did not believe they had the urgency or desperation he described in the interview.
"There's a general recollection of him saying, 'They're going to need more help,' " said the official, who insisted on anonymity because of the delicacy of internal White House discussions.
Mr. Brown's version of events raises questions about whether the White House and Mr. Chertoff acted aggressively enough in the response. New Orleans convulsed in looting and violence after the hurricane, and troops did not arrive in force to restore order until five days later.
The account also suggests that responsibility for the failure may go well beyond Mr. Brown, ..... |
Cont'd NEW YORK TIMES
Hey, it's the NYT folks. Even though Mr. Brown cites the ineptitude and confusion of the Governor, the Times wants it to be the President's fault!!
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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Navy_Navy_Navy
Admin
Joined: 07 May 2004
Posts: 5777
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| Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 6:45 pm Post subject: |
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You got it Shawa - slant, slant, slant - good heavens, as you read this interview, you can almost imagine the insanity that was going on behind the scenes and Brown's absolute desperation to get the mayor and the governor off the freakin' dime....
But, as you said, the Times wants so badly to find a way to make this about a Bush failure that they can't see the forest for the trees.
_________________
~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother |
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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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| Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 9:54 pm Post subject: |
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Navy_Navy_Navy said
| Quote: | | But, as you said, the Times wants so badly to find a way to make this about a Bush failure that they can't see the forest for the trees. |
EJ, what has really driven me nuts the last few days is how the MSM has continuously misrepresented the President's statement:
"And to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility. I want to know what went right and what went wrong."
Over and over, I see that statement cut to three words--"I take responsibiliy" the President said.
That the president takes responsibilty at the federal level is not enough for the Left. The whole blankety mess has to be Bush's fault!!!
I did get a laugh though at this one really sad but funny statement in the article:
| Quote: | | The most responsive person he could find, Mr. Brown said, was Governor Blanco's husband, Raymond. "He would try to go find stuff out for me," Mr. Brown said. |
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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Schadow
Vice Admiral
Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 936
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
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| Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 5:47 pm Post subject: |
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| shawa wrote: |
EJ, what has really driven me nuts the last few days is how the MSM has continuously misrepresented the President's statement:
"And to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility. I want to know what went right and what went wrong."
Over and over, I see that statement cut to three words--"I take responsibiliy" the President said.
That the president takes responsibilty at the federal level is not enough for the Left. The whole blankety mess has to be Bush's fault!!! |
It's that very malicious truncating of facts that leads to polls showing the President's 'approval' ratings lowering. After all, you have to ask where the thousand or more people involved in a poll got their news on which they based their response. The MSM, of course, which by their own admission is 86-92% lib. I think you can add 20-25% to this 41% approval rating to get a more representative sentiment on the subject.
Schadow
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Capt, 8th U.S. Army, Korea '53 - '54 |
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