Here's the transcript of Major Garrett's interview on Hugh Hewitt's show.
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Garrett has more details about his story on how the local authorities prevented the Red Cross and the Salvation Army from bringing in aid to those stuck in the Superdome and Convention Center after the hurricane hit.
I was very specific with the American Red Cross,
president and CEO Marty Evans, and said wait. Tell me
clearly. Were you prepared to go in before the levees
broke? Before water became an issue of any kind? She said
absolutely. Were you denied access before the levees
broke? She said we were denied access from minute one.
HH: And did they attempt to renew their request to get in
after the levees broke, Major Garrett?
MG: Yes. I am told that the timeline indicates a frequent
reasking of this question.
HH: And a frequent denial by Louisiana state Department
of Homeland Security?
MG: Right. Because as we discussed last night, their
system was this is the shelter of last resort. It is an
evacuation site, not a services site.
And when asked why other media outlets aren't covering the story, Garrett pointed out that this wasn't a difficult story for him to have reported. All he had to do was make a phone call to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.
MG: They don't even have to attribute it to Fox. They can
go to the website. They can call Marty Evans, and get her
on camera whenever they want. Look, they don't need to
talk to me. All they have to do...I mean, Hugh, I've
covered a lot of hard stories, and I've done a tremendous
amount of hard digging in my journalistic career. I've
got to be honest with you. This isn't an example of it. I
mean, it was a pretty basic story. Ask a few core questions,
get some core answers, read the state documents, add it
up.
Hugh Hewitt links to this photo pointing out satellite photography and showing all the buses in New Orleans that were unused and available to evacuate people and placing the buses on a map of the city and their dry access to highways. It is so very disheartening to see what might have been possible if the mayor had exercised more leadership.
http://www.blindmanphoto.com/images/Stop-Blaming-FEMA.jpg
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