Tape: Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina AP - 45 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage. Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."
[:@]Why in the heck didn't he stop that storm? Or could it be that he just didn't care? I mean heck ,he probably didn't have anything else to do and should have gone there himself with dads boat.
Hey James I agree he could do nothing to stop it. I hobestly believe Bush was told everything was in place. My point is the feds were aware of the danger, and blew it costing many people their lives, and millions in property damage. There were poor appointments, and some need to be held accountable for the break down but all we see other than the head of fema resigning is passing of the buck.
Yep, and he is warned everyday of shortcomings of cities around the country from bridges that need repair to damns in need of work, to forest fires, to the overwelming herion addiction in baltimore, to the oil pipeline, power issue out west, lack of police on the streets.A presidentsadministration is bombarded around the clock with people coming with concerns andsome of them serious. But an administration can only pick battles, and make a gamble. This president insn't the first to gamble with New Orleans levies. Its high stakes poker, and he lost that hand. But if every president took on every "concern" of every major city, talk about deficit.
I lived around the coal mines my entire childhood up until I moved away at 25. And there was always alot of injuries and deaths. But nobody cared, until it was a hot topic this year. Goodness, I would hate to know all the funerals I went too when I was a kid for coal miners. Now the president and lawmakers actual take interest.
ORIGINAL: gobbler afflicted
I hobestly believe Bush was told everything was in place. My point is the feds were aware of the danger, and blew it costing many people their lives, and millions in property damage.
I'm sorry gobbler- what cost people their lives was STAYINGthey were told to LEAVE.
Another example: I live in the midwest- tornado country. If they told us 5 days in advance an F5 tornado is coming- everyone leave, and I chose to stay and died- that would NOT be because the Feds were aware of the danger but did nothing.
Big Storm + Call to Evacuate + Leave = Stay alive
Big Storm+ Call to Evacuate + Stay where you are = Get hurt or die
The thing about common sense is it's not so common.
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Member of Team "REAPERS OF THE HARVEST"
How about the state and local government? As I understand it, they have had funds allocated for work on the levee for years and years, but for some reason the work was never done? How about all those buses that sat there and got flooded along with everything else because local government wouldn't use them to get people out? And of course the knuckleheads that could have gotten out, but just wouldn't. Plenty of blame to spread around.
I particularly liked Morgan Freeman's comments at a fundraiser here in MS not too long after the storm. He said something along the lines of "while others were standing in line waiting for a handout, we went to work; friends, neighbors, and strangers all working together to help themselves". (that is not a word for word quote--but the message is pretty much the same) He was proud to be from a state (he is a MS native) that wasn't on the news because of rioting and waiting for the government to dig them out--they took up their own shovels and went to work themselves instead of sitting on their butts waiting for a handout and complaining that they weren't getting their benefits fast enough. Even though the MS and AL Gulf Coast weredemolished by the storm itself, not because they were built below sea-level and had ignored warnings about a faulty levee for the last 40 or so years, they didn't seem to get nearly as much news coverage. Guess it was because they weren't crying and whining about the lack of government response. Maybe it was because EVERYONE--black, white, red, yellow, whatever--had their homes and businesses wiped out and it just didn't make for a good racist conspiracystory. Maybe the media didn't think a story of folks actually trying to do something for themselves was newsworthy enough. Who knows.
I reserve my pity for those who truly were helpless, such as the victims in the nursing home in NOthat the owners left to drown.
Chad
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"We can have no '50-50' allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all."-- Theodore Roosevelt
A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left. Ecclesiasties 10:2
The last four letters in American..........I Can
The last four letters in Republican........I Can
The last four letters in Democrats.........Rats
I am so sick of the liberal cry babies. New Orleans was destine for disaster. It was no secret either. The local, state, and federal government knew it as well as every person that lived there. So why is Bushgetting all the blame? Maybe he should have been down there with a shovel before the storm.
People had ample time to get out but many did not. If they were going to stay they were told to have plenty of food and water. Well the day after the storm people were out searching for food and water. If a nuclear bomb was going to be dropped how many people would have stayed?
People expect the government to save them every time something happens. What did they do years ago when bad things happened? They helped each other and themselves. When Chicago burned to the ground the government didn't build it back the people did and the same goes for all the other natural disasters.
Now people are like the bears at Yellowstone. They are just standing there waiting for handouts. I think you can point fingers in every direction but there comes a time when you need to stand up take care of yourself and stop blaming the government for every bad thing that happens.
Maybe mistakes were made. As long as humans are involved there will be mistakes and miscalculation. I am sick of the blame game. Many people dropped the ball. Mostly the people who ignored the warnings and the many who stayed to loot the place. How many times have they talked to people who said before hand that they were going to stay put no matter what. A lot of the poor people got out. People who live in those areas owe themselves and their families a way out if worse comes to worse. Its a tradgedy for sure but I can't see where anyone group or person is responsible. When you get that many people crammed into a small area, there will be trouble sooner or later.
Just a quick point, many people did leave, most of who stayed were the poor who couldnt afford to leave, and had no place to go.
Right- I agree that many people did leave.
But many did not- even after the Call for Evacuation. Did they not know what "Evacuate" means?
I don't believe the "they had no place to go" argument.Thereare places to the North,West, and Eastthey could've went. Pick ANYWHERE. If I wasgiven a "Call to Evacuate" and didn't have family/friends elsewhere- I would rather sleep in my pickup on the side of the road than stay somewhere I was told to evacuate. Especially if I was evacuating a home below sea level and a hurricane was coming. Again-the thing about common sense is it's not very common.
"Couldn't afford to leave" ?? Uuummmmm. What? Are you saying that they didn't have jobs and were getting handouts to begin with?? Well then we agree on two points.
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Member of Team "REAPERS OF THE HARVEST"
Tape proves Bush warned before Katrina
