Letters Show FEMA Knew Response 'Broken' (Expected Rioting Mississippi)

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/12/05/national/w155616S87.DTL

FEMA realized its response to Hurricane Katrina was "broken" and braced for rioting over woefully low supplies in Mississippi in the days just after the storm, according to new documents released Monday.

The correspondence among Federal Emergency Management Agency officials, provided by a special House committee investigating the government response to the storm, follows the release last week of more than 100,000 documents by Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Taken together, the details from both states provide evidence that FEMA was unable to provide fast help at disaster sites — even when the needs were obvious.

"This is unlike what we have seen before," William Carwile, FEMA's former top responder in Mississippi, said in a Sept. 1 e-mail to officials at the agency's headquarters. He was describing difficulties in getting body bags and refrigerated trucks to Hancock County, Miss., which was badly damaged by the Aug. 29 storm.

"I personally authorized Hancock County to buy refer (sic) trucks that had been carrying ice becasue (sic) the coroner was going to have to start putting bodies out in the parking lot as his cooler was getting full," wrote Carwile, who has since retired from FEMA. "Still lots and lots of bodies out there."

The next day, in another e-mail to headquarters about substandard levels of food, water and ice being distributed in Mississippi, Carwile reported: "System appears broken."

so they could blame poor black folks for their own situation AGAIN. That rioting never happened was as much a tribute to the strength and dignity of the people in NO and other cities as it was an indictment of the bigotry at the heart of every organization burdened with Bush appointees.

That wouldn't have been just poor blacks in this case.

they were trying to provoke a riot. They wanted people to die.

for Bush to declare martial law and federalize the National Guard - see the links in my post downthread (Reply #14). The groundwork has been laid over the years of the Bush Administrations and they have been waiting for an "enabling act." They thought this was it, and to a certain extent it was - Louisiana became an armed camp despite Blanco's refusal to give them what they wanted.

when the late 90's version would have saved so many lives. I'm so angry at 51% of America, I could cry.

Please don't perpetuate the myth that George Bush ever won the popular vote in the United States.


Thanks.

After the way the people of the Gulf Coast (particularly the people of New Orleans) were abandoned, I'm amazed that riots didn't pop up all over the country.

Chertoff says, "we have learned is that our logistic resources weren't
up to the task." Could that be because FEMA contracted it out
to companies that had no vehicles or drivers of their own?
Or is it because he could not get off his rear end
when Brownie obiously wasn't getting the job done?

BushCo and DHS broke FEMA.

that he didn't think the government should be supplying ice to cool the beer and soda of the victims.
I just thought that was the most outragious thing I'd ever heard.
He thought they were having a big party down there.
After hearing him testify, I don't believe he ever intended to send the ice trucks.

cover up is that the problems in MS and New Orleans happened because of privatization. If you look at everything that happened, trucks driving around endlessly with ice, firefighter sitting around in classes, no food or water being delivered, etc. etc. etc. it was because they had "contracts" to provide those services. When their contractors could not deliver, they did not have backups. That is what they don't want anyone to know.

I'm certain that the whole of Homeland Security has been contracted out. Sure, there are government "coordinators" but all of the actual supplies and services have been awarded privately.

I keep writing to Collins and Lieberman asking them to provide the information to the public about who actually holds those contracts. We need to force them to reveal the information. They have been able to avoid scrutiny by placing FEMA under Homeland Security but those are out tax dollars and we have a right to know how the money is being spent. How those contracts were awarded, who failed to deliver.

As far as I know, not one major media outlet has investigated who those contracts went to and why they failed to deliver. What's wrong with our press? Where are the investigative journalists?

citizens. Democrats better hold onto copies of all these e-mails. They clearly show how "empty" this administration is. They clearly broke one of most effective Federal agencies, responsible for helping people in time of a great emergency. Bush talks about the "blame game", well he is too blame along with cronyism he promotes. Clinton, would say he could feel our pain, * feels nothing.

reco'd

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5459944,00.html?gusrc=ticker-103704

<snip>

Tuesday December 6, 2005 6:46 AM

AP Photo LACS112

By LARA JAKES JORDAN

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - FEMA realized its response to Hurricane Katrina was ``broken'' and braced for rioting over woefully low supplies in Mississippi in the days just after the storm, according to new documents released Monday.

The correspondence among Federal Emergency Management Agency officials, provided by a special House committee investigating the government response to the storm, follows the release last week of more than 100,000 documents by Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Taken together, the details from both states provide evidence that FEMA was unable to provide fast help at disaster sites - even when the needs were obvious.

...

In a Sept. 1 exchange, FEMA regional response official Robert Fenton warned headquarters that the expected levels of water and ice being sent were far below what was needed.

``If we get the quantities in your report tomorrow we will have serious riots,'' Fenton wrote.

.../more

:kick:

declaring martial law. Remember those hyped and faked stories about the hordes of "looters" - the same video loop seen over and over on TV. Yes, there was some looting, but nothing like the relentless "news" force-fed to the US people.

Yes, I think they wanted rioting, or even enough local violence to fabricate a case for widespread rioting, so Bush could declare martial law. With a stroke of a pen, he can activate an executive order and make this declaration at any time and then Congress can't even review the decision for six months. I gave the backgkround for this plus documentation in the OP and replies in this Sept 16 thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4790112
thread title (GD Sept 16): Missing A KEY POINT in *'s speech: POWER GRAB FOR POTUS AND MILITARY

(I also posted an earlier thread about my suspicions that the Bushies WANTED rioting, but it was locked and "disappeared" as soon as it hit the Greatest page. "Some kind of social experiment," commented the moderator, who didn't want even the suggestion to be made.)

The recent documents released by Blanco make it very clear that Rove was trying to force Blanco to allow federalization of LA's National Guard and to allow martial law:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5518358
thread title (12/4 GD): WP:Documents Highlight Bush-Blanco Standoff(Vitter carried Rove's message)

Finally, we must realize that absolute, permanent power is something the Bush cartel wants very much, and they are looking for "enabling acts." Why is everyone so comfortable about the Bushies relinquishing power in Congress in 2006? Or in 2008? They've been systematically destroying checks and balances and of course they still have the election fraud network in place too - read this important DU editorial:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/05/12/03_splash.html
DU editorial title (12/3): "A Splash of Cold Water"

Documents prove that even in the state controlled by the repug governorn, Barbour, FEMA failed and the system was broken.

Why is it the democratic party won't seize on these failings and use this as a rallying cry?

Why is this being ignored?

Plant stories of looting and violence! Then abandon ship. Then ignore the situation. Pfft.

We must continue to let our representatives in DC know that we demand that our government attend to the needs of our citizens, that the issue must be kept on the FRONT BURNER, we cannot walk away from the need to rebuild OUR country.

:kick: