Senator Landreieu on FEMA Director Michael Brown
Jason
Iraqnow
"We are fortunate to have an able and experienced
director of FEMA who has been with us on the ground for
some time."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/11/national/nationalspecial/11response.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5090&en=fb3db5ce85bd72f4&ex=1284091200&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
I'm just sayin, y'know?
Seems like their tune changed in Louisiana when it was time to start ducking for political cover. Will editors make a note of Senator Landrieu's remarks down the road? Well, the NY Times, has, to their credit. (The article doesn't mention that Nagin allowed hundreds of busses to go unused during the evacuation, and then lost them by failing to move them out of the affected area.)
Seems like people liked Brown. If relief was REALLY slow in coming, if the Federal Government was NOT meeting its standard timelines, then I doubt Sen. Landrieu and Governor Blanco would be standing shoulder to shoulder issuing statements like this in the early stages of the storm.
The same article also states that Col Terry Ebbert, the LA state Director of Homeland Security, had been on the job for two years, and had never discussed the state's disaster plan with FEMA.
Pardon me, but just what the f*** was he doing on the payroll for two years?
The article also mentions that "only a fraction of the busses promised by FEMA had arrived." But later in the article, we learn that FEMA did not recieve a request from the state for bus support until wednesday, August 31st, the day AFTER the city was flooded. FEMA contracted with Greyhound, who was able to get busses in to New Orleans on the very same day, within 2 hours of getting FEMA approval. That's pretty good response at the Federal level. Pathetic at the state level.
Governor Blanco did not sign an executive order requiring parishes to turn over their busses until sometime later, according to the article, well after the city was already flooded and most roads had become useless.
Splash, out
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