Doesn't Anybody Get It?

The rescue effort is still on-going and is still criminally inadequate!  We are now at 11 days after Katrina hit and there are still vast expanses where rescuers have not been, including even in New Orleans.  The rescue should have been complete days ago.  Even a healthy survivor cannot be expected to live much more than 3 days, in a hot climate, without clean water.  

Yesterday I was watching Anderson Cooper on CNN showing video from earlier when they found a building with about 25 people needing rescue, within sight of where they were filming.  Down the street was a group of armed military.  They reported the needed rescue to FEMA and at the end of the day there was no sign of rescue.

People are still dying while experienced, organized, well supplied, and equipped rescuers are still being turned away at gunpoint.  What is the purpose in failing to use the 600 Illinois Firefighters cooling their heels in Baton Rouge!  Why turn away Houston Firefighters!  Why were citizens with 500 flat bottom boats requested to assemble and then told to go home.  Why were the Wal-Mart trucks filled with bottled water turned away?  Why hasn't the military been concentrated on rescue rather than forming an armed cordon around the effected areas!

The story, still today, is that of a failed rescue.  Bushco could have directed adequate resources to have completed the rescue long ago.  They have reached such a high level of incompetence that I am convinced they don't even have a clue there is still a problem.

The story is not that people with supplies, and in many cases, people that are on dry ground with running water and electricity don't want to leave.  The story is not that it is necessary to clamp down even more on violent criminal behavior that is almost non-existent at this point.  The real story is that most of the military and FEMA are standing around looking for someone to shoot rather than rescuing dying people.  The real story is that FEMA is turning rescuers and supplies away at gun point for no good reason.  The real story is that the President is more interested in trying to shift blame than in completing the rescue.  Everyone needs to keep the pressure on Bush or the rescue will still be on-going in October.

•  Not going away.

  No time soon will this 'crime' go away for Bush.

  This is about class; this is about poverty.

  Picture Georgetown or Downtown Houston or even NYC under water.  The response would be completely different.  ALL resources would have been thrown at any of these places immediately.  Troups would be being pulled back from Iraq, etc.

  by ssolice on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 09:45:12 AM PDT

  •  We can only hope!

    that sometime soon the media will wake up to the fact that phase I of the reponse, the rescue, is still being badly fumbled.  Saving lives should be the top priority and not the forgotten priority.

    by buckhorn okie on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 09:51:43 AM PDT

•  What Ought To Happen

  Is a bipartisan and immediate move by congress stating that anyone who abides by the law can ignore FEMA and help in the city, if they stick to traveling in groups of eight or more, including at least two persons who are a certified professional in an applicable field, be it police, EMS, rescue, physician.
  The conditions to prevent abuse.

  by NewDirection on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 09:54:37 AM PDT

  •  That's a recipie...

    for more disaster.

    Maybe you don't realize the amount of support required to put boots on the ground in a situation like this.

    Where is the logistic support, communication and command structures going to come from for all these people you want to send in there? If these volunteer rescuers run in to a situation they can't handle, or one is injured, who exactly do they call for support?

    There is an existing system that is supposed to efficiently organize response to an incident such as this. A better use of congress's time might be to investigate how the system failed or was not used.

    All that said, if you could guaruntee each group of eight you sent in was comprised of resonably competent people and at least one person who knows their stuff then they probably could have prevented a bunch of suffering. It's too late now though--now it should be mostly about logistics and communications--things the volunteers would not have.

    And of course FEMA should be ignored, they don't have any of the skills required to handle the situation.

    by BlankLiberal on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 10:38:24 AM PDT

    •   Don't Agree!

      We are talking for the most part about qualified, professional rescue organizations with their own equipment and supplies.  We have plenty of coordination in place to guard televisions; shouldn't we use some of that to save lives?

      Also, for the less professional rescuer, it should be his decision to take the risk and not the decision of the government.  You don't need government permission to affect a swimming rescue for a drowning victim, or to give CPR, or to render first aid or even to defibrillate someone.  Lifesaving should about rescuing people, not providing security cordons to keep rescuers out.
      

      by buckhorn okie on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 11:29:57 AM PDT

      •  Exactly

        I added the caveat of groups, at least containing some pros, for safety but some assuarance that they won't be up to no good or get into too much trouble.

        Of course the idea is that most would be pros and many would be in organizations with their own coordination. Why do professionals need Mr. Brown, or any organization that abides him as head, getting in their way?

        by NewDirection on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 12:51:13 PM PDT

        •  They don't need...

          Brown or FEMA's permission.

          They need the permission of the Incident Commander (or the Unified Commanders) who is actually running the show on the ground.

          So far i can't seem to find out who that actually is.

          There are a lot of professionals around which know how to do these things much better than you or i. Maybe we should concentrate on figuring out to what extent they were supported and allowed to do their job, rather than second guessing them?

          by BlankLiberal on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 12:59:36 PM PDT

          •  There Has Been A Ton Of Reporting

            On this sight, and even in the mainstream media, about FEMA blocking aid. Have you missed that? Or do you disbelieve it? Second guessing is necessary when people are dying like this.

            There are alligators roaming around a major American city with human blood coating their jaws, and you are telling me not to second guess? Gee I think that lamentable faith in American competence is kicking again.

            by NewDirection on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 01:51:18 PM PDT

      •  Qualified, Professional Rescue Organizations

        NewDirection was talking about sending in anyone who wanted to go. As for the professionals...

        Here is the definition of what constitutes a qualified, professional rescue team:

        http://www.fema.gov/pdf/nims/508-8_search_and_rescue_resources.pdf

        Here is where these teams are based:

        http://www.fema.gov/usr/usrtask.shtm

        And here is where they were at on 9/2

        http://199.134.225.50/area_command/ac3/katrina/maps/US&R_Assets.pdf

        As for the less professional rescuers, most "Good Samaritan" laws don't cover everything. If you are untrained and attempt CPR, or especially try and use a defibrillater, you are still responsible if your actions end up causing harm.

        As for the crack about guarding televisions and not saving lives, maybe you should ask the Coast Guard or those US&R teams that are working there. I can get some email addresses for you if you'd like.

        by BlankLiberal on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 12:51:36 PM PDT

        •  What Are The Odds

          That rescuers going in at this point are going to discover anyone for whom CPR would be helpful.

          This is about people sitting on rooftops, by some reports here, still.

          by NewDirection on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 01:53:00 PM PDT

        •  I Don't Really Think Letting Anyone...

          ...Who want's to go into the city in is a good idea, because the it's-a-free-countryness of that would likely result in the freedom of others being trampled; their belonging, even their bodies.

          However, at least as of a short time ago, we had fires raging but firefighters idle, handing out leaflets. Wanting to put out the fires, but being disallowed.

          My point is that groups going in would at least need to be organized around certifiably competent individuals. This would allow for, in the way of ordinary folks, people to go back to their homes and those of their loved ones without too much hassle: They'd need just a couple of people to help them, and off they go, subject to needing to prove they have this much legitimacy with an ID check. In other words, something like a reasonable honor system.

          by NewDirection on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 02:00:07 PM PDT

•  I wonder

  how different the response would have been if the Bush twins had been waiting at the Superdome or the convention center.

  by etherapy on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 10:04:21 AM PDT

•  Yes

  We all here at Dkos "get it."  I think that the majority of the American people "get it."  

  And I believe that Bush and his Minions "get it," they just don't give a damn.

  The people who are saying that this is class warfare are right, I believe.  If you're poor, these Republicans could care less whether you live or die.

  by Kevin in Long Beach on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 10:07:39 AM PDT

•  I can find a lot of things to

  complain about, but this isn't one of them.

  I agree that there seems to be an over-alertness to the possibility of a criminal element, but I also see people being rescued.

  I could be wrong.
  

  by nupstateny on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 10:17:27 AM PDT

  •  They are being rescued

    but too slowly.  This would have been completed several days ago if the Bush Administration would have mustered the resources.  People are dying.

    by buckhorn okie on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 11:32:59 AM PDT