Forgive me if this sort of thing has been posted before, but I just received a missive from an uncle who is normally free-thinking but seems to have quaffed some of the Kool-Aid on this one. He's passed around an email describing how all the state and locals failed to heed Bush's strong leadership before Katrina even hit.
He's a geologist working in Midland, Texas for Schlumberger - oil, Texas tea - and once, long ago, found himself in a jogging unit with a young scion of a prominent oil family named George W. Bush. Also undressed with him (to change, for shame!) afterwards in the locker room, so now jokes he's seen a living President naked. I don't know if that explains why he's very protective of Bush here, where he hasn't been in the past.
If you've seen this and its debunking before (in digest form), please let me know. If this has been covered copiously (in digest form) on dKos before, please ignore!
Thanks!
Here's the text:
Politics over duty
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 before the hurricane even hit, well 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 t he 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.
One of my first diaries, I hope I formatted that correctly.