BREAKING CNN: Boat rescue operation suspended

Here is the Link Thanks to Rose Siding....

<snip>

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- As police and National Guard troops struggled to restore order Thursday in New Orleans, federal emergency teams suspended boat rescue operations because conditions in the flooded city were too dangerous, officials said.

Troops and police have been working to evacuate tens of thousands of people, who are growing weaker and more desperate each hour.

Thousands of people have been sleeping on streets, interstate access ramps, bridges or any dry spot they can find.

<snip>

Outside the New Orleans Convention Center, a huge crowd waited on the sidewalks for aid that could be a long time coming. The building was used as a secondary shelter when the Louisiana Superdome was overwhelmed. (Watch report on the desperate conditions at the convention center -- 2:54 )




http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/01/katrina.impact/index.html



:argh:

It can't be so. It can't!

Boat rescue operation suspended

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- As police and National Guard troops struggled to restore order Thursday in New Orleans, federal emergency teams suspended boat rescue operations because conditions in the flooded city were too dangerous, officials said.

Troops and police have been working to evacuate tens of thousands of people, who are growing weaker and more desperate each hour.
...
CNN's Chris Lawrence reported that conditions inside the building were appalling -- a number of bodies were visible, including a baby.

"We are out here like pure animals. We don't have any help," Rev. Issac Clark told the Associated Press.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/01/katrina.impact/index.html

They still haven't collected the corpses from outside the building.

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:eyes:

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I don't think that's being 'pussies.' Sheesh.

http://philadelphia.comcastsportsnet.com/view_content_0p.asp?ID=14681

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The evacuation of the Superdome was temporarily disrupted Thursday after shots were reported fired at a military helicopter and arson fires broke out outside the arena. No injuries were immediately reported.

An air ambulance service official said that helicopter transfers of the sick and injured were suspended, but the National Guard said Thursday that able-bodied evacuees were still being moved by bus to Houston's Astrodome.

and our soldiers keep on dying because Bush wants to kill all the Iraqi people to steal their oil.

People "become violent" because they're desperate...

Sanchez implies that FEMA is overreacting "the deeds of a few are affecting many." Some people are indeed threatening rescuers, but most are gracious, he said.

resulting in more violence. This would keep the rescue workers away so people get more angry. It's a shame that people have to behave this way.

People are desperate ... this couldn't have been anticipated and prepared for :wtf:

edit: to add wtf

This topic has been moved by the moderator of this forum.
It can be found at:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4549867

took me a moment to figure it out.

Please--what's the gist of it? They're leaving people stranded? What's happening?

either. It is dry land and people have heard the the SuperDome is NOT the place to do. No buses at convention center! Buses for guests from hotels surrounding Center only.

Let them eat cake - is that the answer from FEMA?

them to start walking out of New Orleans.

when they are being rescued.

The longer they wait the more desperate people will become

Impeach.

...this is NOT the time for private charity (only) but for CIVIC collective action. (THIS is why we pay taxes). No more faith-based excuses.

fuck!

:cry:

:cry:

My first thought is someone deliberately wants this situation to degenerate to such a point that they can test out some extreme measures, to get the US public one step closer to accepting the inevitable

thanks Molly!

...who took the money and spent it in Iraq? There ARE people with culpability for the magnitude of this "natural" disaster.

I have thought this for the last couple of days. There is no way that help cannot be coordinated. I just don't believe it. It is so incompetent it has to be on purpose. Save me some foil.

to make us feel less sympathetic towards those they have now left to die.

They were going to suspend rescue operations all along.

:cry:
rocknation

Seriously, why not just dropping giant bails of food and water from helicopters?

Sure, there'd be bedlam on the ground, but it's better than what they're doing now....

how "drastic" the "Looting" is. Well, duh..BUT the emphasis being put on "lawlessness" is a distraction from what the REAL PROBLEM IS: DYING PEOPLE with NO rescue organized. Not even water and food drops.

I suspect the feds really do not care if those folks die.

I mean how OBVIOUS DOES IT HAVE TO BE before the rest of us SEE what is taking place???? It's RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF OUR EYES TO SEE!

The crowds are out of control??? WELL NOT SHIT! It's like that movie escape from New york.

Now, the RAIN. Women about to give birth in filth right on the street. DEAD disabled people sitting on the street in their wheelchairs. Nurses and overwhelmed police stranded and STILL TRYING LIKE HELL to help others. I saw a policeman break down in tears. Even THEY have had to loot their own food and water because NO ONE IS COMING WITH ORGANIZATION OR BASIC HELP.

One white woman said that the buses came for the "tourists" and those tourists that had vehicles, loaded their cars and refused to take anyone else OUT of New Orleans. People are asking WHY the rest of us haven't come down in convoys to get those folks out, as good citizens do for each other.

THE DELAY IN FORTHCOMING RESCUE OPERATIONS IS SUSPICIOUS AT BEST--FUCK BUSH!

if they have any containers to catch it in!!!!

four days later?..and this kind of response?...this is genocide...even if they get rescued, they can only sit in the sun without food or water and wait to die of dehydration....the world should come to our aid because we are not doing a very good job...

No One has seen any National Guard!

Forgive my sketchy details as I was half watching/listening and cleaning up my kitchen. So perhaps someone else has more specifics. He was interviewing the Senator - a woman Dem - and saying he hadn't seen any guardsman and in a rather demanding way asking where help was. I have heard him doing this yesterday too. She was ridiculously condescending saying she was well aware of the situation as was the Congress and the President. They were taking care of things -"Trust Me". Then my husband said "What's with her, she's a democrat?" So I guess I got at least the gist of that story.

They are assessing, helo-ing, delivering goods by boat, surveying, doing diving and recovery ops...but THERE ARE NO REPORTERS WITH THEM.

No reporters, no story. Those assclowns only report what they can see, and they are not digging or asking or looking.

Check the USA, USAF, USN, USCG websites and look at the Public Affairs news releases. Bataan has been providing support and materials since the wind died down, but no one is reporting it.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Edit to add this story:
WASHINGTON (AP) - An additional 10,000 National Guard troops from across the country began pouring into the Gulf Coast on Wednesday, adding new soldiers and airmen to shore up security, rescue and relief operations in the region ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

The new units brought the number of troops dedicated to the effort to more than 28,000, in what may be the largest military response to a national disaster.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5246969,00.html

nothing has been delivered there..and the national guard in those numbers have not arrived....

Go to Bataan's website, there's eight pages of helo, LCAC and LCU ops into NOLA. Army has set up a staging area in the SUPERDOME parking garage. Up until some asshole started shooting, military helos were pulling nonambulatory personnel out of the dome via air.

The reporters are not embedded, they are not seeing shit.

Those kids are equipped to do HUMREL ops--humanitarian relief. They don not show up in riot gear or body armor. Most are UNARMED. A shitload are computer, communication, administration, payroll and that sort of types, who do not, as a rule, play infantry.

Sad day when these kids have to suit up for battle to help their fellow citizens.

It is an even sadder day when I see people on this board blaming the junior enlisted personnel who are trying to COPE with this shit for the mistakes of their commander in chief.

work. Better yet, hop on a plane, get down there, and put your shoulder to the wheel.

People are dieing. This is no time to reassure the country by making sure a reporter can see your work. Every time I see an overhead shot of NO or a rescue, I wonder if the helicopter could be used to save lives instead.

Take time next week to report on what the National Guard is doing, let them do it today.

stranded people.

- as I saw video of a military vehicle dispensing food and water and that was yesterday or the day before. People keep posting that no one is there but that's simply not the case.

I don't think that the reporters can really navigate through the area since rescue operations are having a difficult time getting through the mess.

this morning, he doesn't know if any other countries have offered any support because "THEY HAVEN"T BEEN ASKED".


ARGHHHHHHHHHH

some sense, they would commandeer airline pilots and cargo plans to replace the airdrop procedures our military would otherwise be doing.

We've STILL got military equipment ALL OVER this country...We've got offers of assistance from OTHER COUNTRIES whose militaries ARE NOT in Iraq.

This whole situation is a DISGRACE.

BTW, Where is the United Nations in all of this??? I guess the Vacation Prez just isn't interested in helping our citizens. Let 'em die.....?

That infers that they had one to begin with, which, from FEMA's behavior, it does not sound like FEMA had.

and he's mucking up on this disaster, too. One really has to wonder WTF would happen if we were attacked by terrorists. I'm at a loss for words. :banghead:

Where the fuck are you when we need you?

Multiple people are dying at the convention center. "How much longer can we last?"

"Where are the officials" No one in charge....

This is America?

that was the most heartbreaking report I have listened to since Sept. 11. :cry:

500 buses, 41 adults in each.

25,000 people originally there - with 10 hours round trip for the convoy, (refueling, rest, load/unload) -

Add to that, many thousands more arriving at the Dome each hour.

FEMA is obviously overwhelmed. They are losing control, and they do not want to risk their own. I can understand their move. But thousands of people have no water. It has been days. that is death.

Where in the world is Carmen San Bushista?

below 10k. 20500 go per trip. But some have already arrived, being brought overnight to Houston. And that assumes no lap-riding children.

24 hours after the first bus leaves, the Superdome should be empty.

Surely there has to be a dry spot closer to New Orleans than Houston, Texas. Get NG and Regular Army troops to establish a tent city -- cause God knows we don't have refugee camps in the United States -- somewhere closer so that the busses can make round trips faster.

those waiting instead of returning empty-handed? In brings supplies food, medical etc out citizens and some garbage attached to the outside somewhere.

This is soooo disturbing. It's almost like this administration wants them to all die because for the most part... they are poor, black people.

It's like some freaky test going on for future reference.

:cry:

...it's easier to fish corpses out of the soup tomorrow than rescue live, dangerous bodies today.

FEMA has the power of God over the hapless folks in New Orleans and FEMA just condemed thousands of them to a horrible, slow death.

The heat, dehydration, shock, lack of medical care problems are compounding every minute. People will start dropping like flies soon.

...to take over peacekeeping duties, everything will be fine.


Dammit. My head just exploded again. I need to get a towel.

but I did laugh just now.

Thanks.

So they have catapulted the 'looter' propaganda in order to mitigate the damage from thousands dying a slow death in front of our eyes.

Not to worry, it is mostly just poor black people.
:sarcasm:

Posted this less than an hour ago:
That's why it's so important for the press to keep calling them "looters"--the "good" poor residents went straight to the Superdome and are now on their way to Houston!

:headbang:
rocknation

and proudly SING God Bless AmeriKA

They're the feds, aren't they? They work for Bush, don't they? Guns suppress the needy, don't they?

Don't worry about the fact that these are increasingly desperate people trying to survive yet succumbing to the foibles of human nature .... one of which is unbridled rage.

Just use guns and blast the perps outta the water (literally).

Note: This is complete sarcasm .... in case that wasn't obvious

:cry:

Someone on CNN made a very good point about this earlier this morning. If it were EASY to go in their and rescue folks, then WE could go in their and rescue folks. It's FEMA's and the Guard's job to get their asses in there, DEAL with the danger, and get those people out.

I have never in my life been so disgusted with my own government.

operations. Guess what they are NOT wearing? Helmets, BODY ARMOR...guess what many were NOT carrying?? GUNS. They are not equipped to do battle, they were prepared to help little kids and old ladies.

This is a suspension, not a cancellation. These kids are in uniform to protect their fellow citizens, not be fired on by them. I will bet that they will resume ops shortly, as soon as they put on their fucking battle gear. Now THAT is a sad day for America, frankly.

These kids, mostly junior enlisted, get paid shit for what they do, and all I have seen on this discussion board is insults toward them. I find it disheartening. Why is it so easy to "support the troops, bring them home" when everyone is rooting for Cindy's worthy cause, and those troops are in Iraq, but then turn around and insult them, denigrate them, and question their motives while they are doing a HUMREL op? A lot of these kids JUST CAME BACK from the sandbox, or will DEPLOY THERE shortly!!!

You can despise their commander for his shitferbrains choices, but I find this smartass, cavalier attitude towards these youngsters doing a shitty and thankless job in the worst possible circumstances to the best of their ability very troubling. I find it shameful, frankly.

Please do not think I am directing my ire solely at you, your remarks are more temperate than some of the shit I have read here today. But I must say, some of what I have read absolutely disgusts me.

Edit, clarity...

And they've been ordered not to do their job. That's what it gets down to. I'm not blaming them, I'm blaming our commander in chief (and his minions who've called a halt, temporary or not, to rescue operations).

bring their battle gear with them when the mission was getting MRE's distributed, or fresh water delivered...

And if you expect a payroll or admin clerk to be Rambo, it ain't happening. Those desk jockeys are usually the first tapped for this kind of stuff. Not the only ones, but they are well represented.

Who would think that you would get fired on in your own country? This sure as shit did not happen after Andrew...it didn't happen after the tsunami, either. Sad day for our nation...

When they sent the Guard into Pensacola after Ivan last summer, they all had automatic rifles (AK-47s or whatever the hell they're issued these days) strapped to them.

These guys are fully outfitted (and armed) before they're deployed into an area. They don't just get up and leave their desks at the accounting firm and mosey on down there. And you cannot tell me that NOBODY foresaw the chaos that's now unfolding. When 10,000 people showed up at the superdome on Sunday morning (which was supposed to be just a "special needs" shelter), they should have known at that moment that they were looking at a potential meltdown.

They are enroute but not there yet. The ones who are there now are desk jockeys, who were tapped to hand out food and water and do a little crowd control by presence, not trained MPs. Coasties and USN were running boats with the same mission, humanitarian relief.

Indict.Impeach.Imprison.

Now our rifles were kept in a 2 1/2 ton trucks in locked racks (and the Truck was one of the few trucks we had that had "hard top" as opposed to the canvas tops of most army trucks. The armorer lived in the truck (Unless we had unloaded the weapons into a building than he lived in the building). Thus we always had our weapons with us, no ammunition but we had weapons.

The rest of our equipment came with us in the back of our 2 1/2 ton trucks. Our "personal gear", sleeping bags, back backs, entrenching tools. canteen, first aid kits, we took with us and wore when we were mobilized. Thus we were ready, willing and able to get to work (Except no ammunition). We could provide food and water if need be.

The problem in New Orleans is two fold, first the limited access to the city (The Airport is closed and access by road is limited by the flooding) thus hard for the National Guard to do much (I have heard reports of "Armored Vehicles" in use, probably M113s, which float, but can not be used in a surging river like the Mississippi on a normal day let alone in flood stage. One of the better vehicles in this type of situation (Unless they are like my old Texas Unit removed the side guards to the tracks which made it impossible to steer the M113 with its tracks, the M113s still float buy you have no control where it will float to).

The second problem is Bush refusal to call the Guard into Federal Service. He did it after 9/11 and it hurt him in Iraq. If the Guard is called up on STATE service, that time is NOT counted as active duty . But if Bush calls them or, or "Nationalizes them" then the time on duty is FEDERAL TIME and applies to any time such guardsmen can perform in Iraq (Plus the cost of the Guard shift to Bush's budget from Louisiana's Budget).

The ones on the ground now ARE payroll clerks and admin types, by and large. Several governors (MI, KY, a few others) are sending elements of their Guard units down who have the policing skills/MOS to augment the cops. They are being deputized and will work with the police.

Also, several states are sending state troopers (TX is one) to provide support and additional supervisory capability.

I am a typical whishy washy liberal and I can usually manage to see every point of view, but you really do have a point here.

toilet, electricity and food for 5 days.

been 5 days.

Monday a.m. ... Tuesday a.m. ... Wednesday a.m. ... part of Thursday.

resume. When the guy told me to calm down, I went off of him. the number to call is:
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

The areas of the looters are in the dryer sections...The people who need to be rescues are in the flooded areas.

Lt. Col. Pete Schneider of the Louisiana National Guard said other evacuations were continuing and were not affected by trash fires burning outside the Superdome. Law enforcement officers will ride with the school buses, he said.

"At the Superdome, we have a report that one shot was fired at a Chinook helicopter," Schneider said, adding that the Chinook is "an extremely large aircraft."

Laura Brown, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman in Washington, said she had no such report.

"We're controlling every single aircraft in that airspace and none of them reported being fired on," she said, adding that the FAA was in contact with the military as well as civilian aircraft.

(I don't know how to do links, so I hope this works: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1087205 )

Too many damn rumors getting in the way!


:thumbsup:

This is how Bush treats cities and states that didn't vote for him.

If a big earthquake hits L.A. or San Francisco, do you think he'll even visit?

People are literally dropping dead. No food, no water, no official presence at all. CNN reporter on the scene says "many, many bodies inside and outside the convention center."

I am livid. Impeach. Impeach. Impeach.

and the comment lines they want to transfer you to don't work. I conclude they simply do not want to be told that people are dying on the sidewalks of new Orleans for want of water! To The Hague with them all and the horses they rode in on!

The stategy has changed from rescuing these poor souls to letting dehydration, disease, and competition for resources kill off enough of them so that the rescue becomes "manageble".

what will be the flimsy excuse for THIS?! There's gotta be more than THIRTY goddamn dinghies in the South, or whatever number that makes them so irreplacable

stopping rescues on flimsiest pretenses (no guns, rumors of a single shot fired, none whatsoever) as people drop dead and the looters (of various degrees of thuggishness) are blamed for food and meds not reaching the babies and elderly—no buses at the Superdome, and it’s out of the water now! rescue operations suspended! It's their JOB to do this in the face of danger!! No food, no water, no official presence at all. CNN reporter on the scene says "many, many bodies inside and outside the convention center." looters stealing from victims gets reperpetuated to give a (*#$ing convenient point of blame, “warlords” who pro-vide convenient scapegoats for the abolition of aid and for its insufficiency

Why? Why?

From the photo's, the worst hit areas are mostly underwater. Simply pushing pallets of supplies and water isn't going to make sure it is distributed in a fair and safe manner.

There are large portions of that area that are simply unaccessable until the water starts going away.

Also on the freeways where people are camping.

And I've seen pictures of people staying in parking garages.

The president urged a crackdown on the lawlessness.

"I think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this -- whether it be looting, or price gouging at the gasoline pump, or taking advantage of charitable giving or insurance fraud," Bush said. "And I've made that clear to our attorney general. The citizens ought to be working together."

He simply cannot put 2 and 2 together can he? There wouldn't be this level of LAWLESSNESS of there was an organized relief effort put into action within 24 hours of the hurricane.

Just like Iraq, Bushit had no plan, no concern about a "worst case scenario". He's a knee-jerk reactionary kind of guy.

with a capital "I".

Send Bush and his genocidal friends into the Superdome..a one way ticket. This delay is criminally intentional.

:cry:

Get it! That's why they have 'suspended' the search mission! :grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr:

The military should be in there rescuing our fellow citizens!

:wow:

C-130s have good delivery systems for this sort of airdrop--food, water, medicine. NO airport is closed, but Keesler AFB in Biloxi is open...at least the runways and concrete buildings are.

No one is thinking or planning...just the feds running around like chickens(appropriate)with their heads cut off.

Convoys from Keesler could head for NO within a few hours...and could even distribute water/food along the way to NO.

This is just failure at the very highest level.

Heard a few minutes ago on KGO San Francisco(Ward)that Condi was taking a minivacation and shopping for shoes at Ferrogamos in NYC. Protester yelled at her for spending thousands for shoes while people in NO are homeless and without resources. Kindasleezy had the protester taken out by her security staff.