Bush to 'investigate' whose fault the slow Federal Response was.

[Borscht]

Fuck it.

My mistake in the past year has been in expecting America to be a modern Western Democracy rather than just one more tin pot banana Republic.

Not that 'El Presidente' won't be fair and balanced, of course.

Bush takes charge of inquiry into slow hurricane response

GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN
CHIEF NEWS CORRESPONDENT


GEORGE Bush risked further antagonising his critics yesterday by rejecting calls for an independent commission to examine what went wrong in the handling of Hurricane Katrina and announced instead that he would personally lead an investigation.

Mr Bush said he was not in the business of finger-pointing and insisted it was important to establish whether the United States could respond to another major storm or an attack with weapons of mass destruction. But the US Congress, apparently unprepared to accept a single presidential inquiry, said it would hold its own hearings.


"Government at all levels failed," the Republican senator Susan Collins said after meeting the president. Announcing that the Senate governmental affairs committee would hold its own investigation, she added: "It is difficult to understand the lack of preparedness and the ineffective initial response to a disaster that had been predicted for years and for which specific dire warnings had been given for days."

On another difficult day for the president, his mother, Barbara Bush, ventured on to dangerous ground after meeting evacuees, suggesting that some of the poor who had been victims of the hurricane were benefiting from their evacuation. "So many of the people here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them," she chuckled after a tour of the Houston Astrodome in Texas. "What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality."

She later reiterated her views. "Look what's happened. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated and are in comfortable shelters."

Mrs Bush, who was accompanying her husband, the former president George Bush snr, as he and his successor, Bill Clinton, launched a national fund-raising campaign, went on: "Almost everyone I've talked to says 'We're going to move to Houston'."

Her son has faced intense criticism of his and the federal government's handling of the crisis in New Orleans and the failure to respond sooner when the scale of the disaster became clear.

Yesterday, as efforts continued to repair the breached levees which let in the floodwater and preparations were made at a giant morgue to receive the thousands of bodies expected to be recovered when the water recedes, Mr Bush called congressional leaders to the White House for their first meeting since Katrina struck.

Stung by the criticism he has faced, he said later: "What I intend to do is lead an investigation to find out what went right and what went wrong.

"We still live in an unsettled world. We want to make sure we can respond properly if there is a WMD attack or another major storm."

But he rejected calls for a commission to investigate the response to the hurricane, insisting it was not the time to point fingers. "One of the things people want us to do here is play the blame game," he said. "We got to solve problems. There will be ample time to figure out what went right and what went wrong."

Mr Bush also announced he was sending Dick Cheney, the vice-president, to the Gulf coast area on Thursday to help determine whether the government was doing all it could. "Bureaucracy is not going to stand in the way of getting the job done for the people," he said.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan rejected suggestions that the poor, and particularly black residents, had been abandoned when New Orleans was evacuated.

"I think most Americans dismiss that and know that there's just no basis for making such suggestions," he said. "We are focused on saving and sustaining lives of all those who have been affected."

Congress returned from a five-week summer break yesterday, signalling the hurricane would take top billing on the agenda in the coming weeks.

A total of £8.4 billion has been approved as a downpayment for hurricane relief, but Democrats indicated that they would request up to £40 billion as a next instalment.

Rebecca Kirszner, an aide to the Democratic leader Harry Reid, said that "from what we know right now, the relief efforts could reach or exceed £120 billion, money targeted largely to health care, housing assistance and education".

A total of 96 Britons were still unaccounted for, although the Foreign Office said there had been no confirmed casualties.

British survivors continued to arrive back in the UK yesterday, many to emotional reunions. Michelle Andrews' parents, Stephen, 46, a college lecturer, and Sharon, 44, a hairdresser, ran through the arrivals hall at Gatwick Airport to greet her.

The 20-year-old student said police in New Orleans had told her to "fend for herself" among dead bodies and men toting guns in the hours after the disaster. "It was absolutely terrifying and I feared for my life", said Ms Andrews, from Pontyclun in South Wales.

Meanwhile, US military helicopters dropped 16,000lb sandbags into the gaps in New Orleans' levees in an attempt to re-seal them.

With one major levee break finally plugged, engineers struggled to pump out the flooded city as authorities braced for the horrors the receding water would reveal.

The city's mayor, Ray Nagin, has warned of as many as 10,000 deaths. He said it would take three weeks to remove the water and another few weeks to clear the debris. It could also take up to eight weeks to get the electricity back on. "I've gone from anger to despair to seeing us turn the corner," he said.

Efforts to evacuate those people still trapped were stepped up, with boat rescue crews and a convoy of law enforcement vehicles from around the country searching for people to rescue. "In some cases, it's real easy. They're sitting on the porch with their bags packed," said Joe Youdell of the Kentucky Air National Guard. "But some don't want to leave and we can't force them."

The mayor said those who did not want to go would have to be convinced to do so. "It's not safe here," he said. "There is toxic waste in the water and dead bodies and mosquitoes and gas. Fires have been started and we don't have running water."

At the same time, the effort to get the evacuees back on their feet continued on several fronts. Patrick Rhode, the deputy director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that evacuees would receive debit cards so that they could begin buying necessary personal items.

He said his agency was going from shelter to shelter to make sure that the evacuees received their cards quickly and that the paperwork would be reduced or eliminated.

However, local officials continued to express their bitter frustration with the federal government's sluggish response as the tragedy unfolded.

Aaron Broussard, the president of suburban Jefferson Parish, said: "Bureaucracy has murdered people in the greater New Orleans area. And bureaucracy needs to stand trial before Congress today. So I'm asking Congress, please investigate this now. Take whatever idiot they have at the top of whatever agency and give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don't give me the same idiot."

As the heartbreaking relief work continues on the Gulf coast, insurers are bracing themselves for massive payouts. Yesterday, Dane Douetil, the chief executive of one large US firm, Brit Insurance, said the cost could be as high as $50 billion.

"Be in no doubt this is the largest insured loss that has ever occurred," he said. "It would be more prudent to work on an industry loss of nearer $50 billion than $35 billion." But a senior executive at Lloyd's of London sought to play down talk of such a big industry loss.

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1901312005

You boys ain't even worth mocking anymore.

Well, alright.

Maybe you are.

 

[ChauvanistPig]

Quite a precedent for the president to set. I expect all criminals and indicted people will now want to be able to investigate their own cases.

 

[Borscht]

Quite a precedent for the president to set. I expect all criminals and indicted people will now want to be able to investigate their own cases.

Think of the funds the state will save !

Not only can it do away with trials, but with prisons too.

Pretty soon the whole country will be just as free and liberated as Iraq.

 

[ChauvanistPig]

Think of the funds the state will save !

Not only can it do away with trials, but with prisons too.

Pretty soon the whole country will be just as free and liberated as Iraq.

Maybe with more criminals on our streets, George will have more in common with citizens.

 

[Gringao]

Bush knows where the complete collapse in governance was, and it ain't at the federal level. That's why he's eager, boys.

 

[Borscht]

Bush knows where the complete collapse in governance was, and it ain't at the federal level. That's why he's eager, boys.

It was in NO.

That ain't got shit to do with the slowness of the Federal response, though.

Unless you believe all the racial stuff, which sounded ridiculous until the blubbery version of Marie Antoinette started babbling on about what a 'good deal' the 'underpriveleged' got out of the disaster.

 

[Gringao]

It was in NO.

That ain't got shit to do with the slowness of the Federal response, though.

Unless you believe all the racial stuff, which sounded ridiculous until the blubbery version of Marie Antoinette started babbling on about what a 'good deal' the 'underpriveleged' got out of the disaster.

Granted, there's always room for improvement in the federal government, but the reason there are 10,000 dead people in New Orleans isn't because George Bush doesn't care about black people.

 

[Borscht]

Granted, there's always room for improvement in the federal government, but the reason there are 10,000 dead people in New Orleans isn't because George Bush doesn't care about black people.

That's true.

Just heard there's gonna be two investigations, anyway.

It'll be interesting to compare and contrast.

 

[overthebow]

Jeez!

Not one reference to OJ yet?

Having Bush investigate the slow Federal response is like OJ investigating who killed his ex-wife.

 

[TBKahuna123]

Granted, there's always room for improvement in the federal government, but the reason there are 10,000 dead people in New Orleans isn't because George Bush doesn't care about black people.

Youknow, I'm a card carrying anti-Bush man myself, but I've been saying all along that the President is not to blame for this fiasco. There were massive problems at the federal level, FEMA really dropped the ball, federal budget cuts are partially to blame for the inaddequate levies, I could go on, but that is not his fault personally. Too much beauracracy, too much red tape, too many stuffed shirts in positions of responsibility; that's what cause these problems.

There's plenty of blame to go around here, at all levels, nto just federally. There is one thing though that does concern me. Bush's last two appointees to the directorship of FEMA have NO experience in disaster management. THAT is a major concern for me and seems just ridiculously short-sighted.

All that said though, race and poverty did play a part in this disaster, but only in so much as it placed those people in the worst hit areas and denied them the ability to leave prior to the hurricane's ladnfall. I don't believe for a second that it has anything to do with the response after the fact.

 

[Paendragon]

Where's Ken Starr when you need him?

 

[overthebow]

Where's Ken Starr when you need him?

He's having a cigar.

Or at least writing about it.

With one hand.

 

[Paendragon]

He's having a cigar.

Or at least writing about it.

With one hand.

Heh.

Probably right.




Although, I do have to say, I dislike the Independent Counsel thing, completely. Well, let me rephrase . . . I dislike the unchecked power.

But Bush investigating this is absurd. Whether he's completely at fault is one thing, but there is no doubt he was part of the problem (him and his wonderful appointees).

 

[Avery_Chisholm]

maybe it was osama

 

[Fae_Girl]

Bush knows where the complete collapse in governance was, and it ain't at the federal level. That's why he's eager, boys.

You should correct that to;

"and it wasn't just at the federal level"

Bush is as guilty as all the rest of them.

*

FEMA is federal level, isn't it?


FEMA won't accept Amtrak's help in evacuations
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/84aa35cc-1da8-11da-b40b-00000e..

FEMA turns away experienced firefighters
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/5/105538/7048

FEMA turns back Wal-Mart supply trucks
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspec..

FEMA prevents Coast Guard from delivering diesel fuel
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspec..

FEMA won't let Red Cross deliver food
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05246/565143.stm

FEMA bars morticians from entering New Orleans
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15147862&BRD=...

FEMA blocks 500-boat citizen flotilla from delivering aid
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/3/171718/0826

FEMA fails to utilize Navy ship with 600-bed hospital on board
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509..

FEMA to Chicago: Send just one truck
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-050902dale..

FEMA turns away generators
http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWLBLOG.ac3fcea.html

FEMA: "First Responders Urged Not To Respond"
http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=18470



The Salt Lake Tribune tells the story of about a thousand firefighters from around the country who volunteered to serve in the Katrina devastation areas. But when they arrived in Atlanta to be shipped out to various disaster zones in the region, they found out that they were going to be used as FEMA community relations specialists. And they were to spend a day in Atlanta getting training on community relations, sexual harassment awareness, et al. This of course while life and death situations were still the order of the day along a whole stretch of the Gulf Coast.

The paper reported that one team finally was sent to the region ...

As specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he toured devastated areas.
http://whatreallyhappened.com/IMAGES/OhPuhleeze.jpg

Performing photo ops like that do not save lives. Which is what those firemen should've been doing, instead of being told to make Bush look good.



Then there's this;
http://www.bobharris.com/images/stories/Katrina/bushincompetencemap.gif

The areas that were at risk due to Hurricane Katrina were quite remarkably the areas NOT included in Bush's declaration of emergency.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html
http://www.bobharris.com/content/view/637/1/

 

[JokerWild]

maybe it was osama

If you ask me, it's the midgets that live underground...who work for Osama

 

[ruminator]

If you ask me, it's the midgets that live underground...who work for Osama

Funny you should say that...


Some politicians and lobbyists names came up in the Abramoff investigation when their interests were fined by the SEC.

It involved illegal expenses for a party. One of the expenses was an entertainment expenditure for dwarf-tossing at a party, possibly a special request.

How can we be proud of people who do this knid of shit?

 

[dgnerate_gamblr]

One of the expenses was an entertainment expenditure for dwarf-tossing at a party, possibly a special request.

How can we be proud of people who do this knid of shit?

Well they thought about cow tipping at first. But if PETA caught wind of that, there'd be hell to pay.

 

[ruminator]

Well they thought about cow tipping at first. But if PETA caught wind of that, there'd be hell to pay.

They know where their bread is buttered.

 

[~ Kit ~]

There is more then enough blame to go around. All the fighting and mud slinging does nothing to help the situation, in fact it keeps the pot boiling and what is needed is some real relief - of mind, body and environment. Firsts things first is a phrase that might work here, only with this situation there are a thousand things that need to be priority one. Blame is not on the list yet, there will be time, eons of time and plently of wrong or ineffective decisions and plans.

If we don't stop all this damn fighting over everything (e.g. the last two elections being paramount) then the self-fulfilling prophecy will happen - WE, the citizens will destroy our own country. The fight that began November, 2000 has done so much damage, it was created and continued by us (and a dangling chad or two), the American people, and what has been the result? Both sides say they love their country and are fighting for the right or benefit of all of us but nothing has changed - well, except more hate.

(IMHO)