I think all of Mayor Nagin's pomp and posturing is going to bite him
hard in the near future as the lies and distortions of his interviews
are coming to light.
On Friday night before the storm hit Max Mayfield of the National
Hurricane Center took the unprecedented action of calling Mayor Nagin
and Governor 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 Gov. Blanco
and Mayor 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, 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 area 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 the 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.
This is a sad time for all of us to see that a major city has all but
been destroyed and thousands of people have died with hundreds of
thousands more suffering, but it's certainly not a time for people to
be pointing fingers and trying to find a bigger dog to blame for
local corruption and incompetence. Pray to God for the survivors that
they can start their lives anew as fast as possible and we learn from
all the mistakes to avoid them in
the future.
Why is my text all messed up? Hey BTW.....Hey Mayor, Governor.....:finger:
