LAT: "Families Lose Loved Ones Again- in a Bureaucratic Mire" BODIES TAKEN

The official policy with the dead victims of Katrina in New Orleans has been the subject of outrage since the beginning, and that has only intensified as weeks went by with bodies left to rot in the streets and homes not checked for possible trapped survivors. (For example: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/14/12516/3649) There have been many threads discussing the possibility that the true death toll from Katrina, especially those dying due to the delays and blocks in aid AFTER the storm had passed, was being suppressed.

Now we learn in this LAT report, written over a MONTH after the storm, that even the bodies of victims who were discovered and unambiguously identified by their own families have been taken away to inaccessible morgues where they are kept without release, without explanation, without even admission that the bodies are there. Once again comes the question: callous incompetence or something more deliberate? What is going on with the refusal to even admit identified bodies exist in the morgues? What possible reason can the authorities have for confiscating the bodies of such family members and then refusing to release them for burials or even admit they have them?

I cannot begin to imagine the trauma this policy is causing the grieving families who have lost loved ones. Even worse, if possible, is the horror for the families who have members who have disappeared. With the apparent official policy to leave bodies rotting for WEEKS (for example: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4832252 - caution, graphic), identification would become impossible for those not previously identified and without dental records. Their families may well NEVER know for sure what happened to them.

To call this policy inhumane does not begin to express the degree of callousness. What possible reason is there for refusing to release bodies whose identities are known and whose families want to give them their final rites? Or to even admit that the bodies are being held?

According to this article, the official death toll in New Orleans is only 932 (and still rising). How many thousands are there in New Orleans and throughout the areas heavily damaged by Katrina and Rita, and how many of those died due to the murderous "negligence" of authorities who were responsible for their aid and rescue? The steps being taken with the bodies ensure that we will never know.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=161223

I don't even know how to voice my disgust anymore.

Like trying to keep ppl from collecting on insurance policies and also trying to keep them from the means that they can use in order to get their life back on track.

as usual.

this way. Disperse the bodies, and disperse the survivors. Drop the story in the memory hole, it never happened.

This is starting to feel like the Soviet Union.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4942295
Thread title: Read and share: Wash Post GRAPHIC comparing KATRINA & CHERNOBYL:

It's eye-opening and well worth sharing with people who still need some convincing.

What feels Soviet is the concealment of information. That was a regular feature of disasters there. The state didn't want any information getting out that might make it look bad. That even extended to the war in Afghanistan, where families were told to conceal the cause of their son's deaths.

It just seems like our country is headed in that direction. There's never going to be any remotely accurate count of the dead from Katrina, and hundreds, maybe thousands of friends and family members will never find their loved ones and never find closure, while the government tries to make itself look not quite so incompetent by minimizing the numbers of dead.

My blood pressure rises when I think about it. I think we should be doing more to ensure that the bodies are accounted for. First they let them die, then they act like they never lived at all.

to see if they report this.

There is absolutely a reason, it is to minimize the "death toll" because the truth is so outrageous, and everyone not in high Repub circles knows it - just watching the coverage, you would know it. This is the issue that would turn even the non-political couch potato type Americans into anti-Bush activists, it the truth were fully told.

of the people of New Orleans.

It's also a great way to keep the death toll underwraps.

or FEMA will have killed more Americans than Osama bin Laden.

Ok, that's a stretch. Some died out of their own stupid refusal to leave, what they call the "Camille syndrome" on the Gulf Coast. Some died because not enough thought was put into how to organize volunteer drivers for those left behind.

But it would make a convincing ad. Sticklers for the truth are losers in this uncivil war.

...of the body count.

Seriously.

Screw the government. They think they can lie to us. They think they're over in Iraq, where revolting lies and propaganda are dished daily. They're not going to spin this crap over here. No way.

I think someone should start a registry--where survivors of the missing and killed can register their loved ones who have passed. If enough people participated in this--at least we could see that the government is lying about the death toll.

People could search the registry for neighbors, friends, coworkers and relatives--making sure that the dead and the missing are included on it.

Possibly, the names could be gathered for a memorial. This may encourage people to get their lost loved ones on the list.

I am so offended by our sick leaders, who think they can lie to us about everything. The people must take these matters into their own hands, demonstrate that the government is lying--and then leave them exposed and twisting in the wind.

Enough! They can't do this!

Something modeled after the icasualties site. I would try to set up something, but I don't know a damn thing about web sites or computers, and I just don't have the time. I would donate to help with the operating expenses of such a site.

I find it significant that the body count got stuck at around 900 at about the same time as the Ninth Ward became drained enough to search. This is where people went to bed at night thinking the worst was over only to get flooded in the middle of the night and there were next to no casualties? Not bloody likely.

When you read this type of crap it's to even find words to describe what you're thinking and feeling.


Is the tea still in the harbor? We really need to start standing up and demanding better treatment from our government. OUR government. We are the employers of these idiots. We should be able to fire them. Perhaps the next bill drafted by our reps should be one that allows us to initiate a review process for these incompetant gov. employees who refuse to do their jobs properly or who have forgotten who their real employers are! We pay taxes , we are the employers, we should have the right to fire these idiots!!!

This is a quickie, partial timeline to remind us all that from the beginning witnesses have been barred from factual reporting on body counts (as civilian rescuers have been systematically blocked from saving lives until they could end-run the block). Further, the company given the contract to deal with the bodies has a history of scandal. The large numbers of body bags and the numbers morticians were told to expect disagree with the very low official death toll numbers. In part this is because the bodies have been left to first die and then rot for weeks, but I suspect that there is a deliberate effort to also manipulate the numbers - just as in elections.

I think there will be three or four parts. Please feel more than welcome to post additional articles to fill it out. When I'm all done, I'll put them together in a new thread with dates and try to set up a framework so we can post more articles and tie this together more clearly.

From the start, media groups reported that FEMA was censoring body counts and blocking their access to facts:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1761374
Thread title: Media groups say FEMA censors search for bodies

This was so blatant, so crippling to factual reporting, and so contrary to any concept of press freedom, that CNN filed suit:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4716036
Thread title: OMG!! CNN has filed suit! They've filed suit!

And received a LEGAL RESTRAINING ORDER to allow them to do this vital reporting despite FEMA's blockade of their access:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4717640
Thread title: CNN has restraining order from Federal Court

But in DIRECT CONTRAVENTION OF THIS LEGAL ORDER, reporters were told that they COULD NOT USE THEIR CAMERAS OR WRITE STORIES:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1776901
Thread title: As bodies recovered, reporters are told 'no photos, no stories'

We need to DO something about this. Anyone with any ideas? I emailed nola.com and Michael Moore as an FYI, but what else can be done? We can NOT allow this to happen! :grr:

LBN link:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1821386

in the official death toll numbers:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4953733
Thread title: The numbers are not in the "dead' but the "missing'

The numbers of "missing" are huge, but they aren't official death toll numbers and probably never will be. The deliberate allowing bodies to rot for weeks, the confiscation even of identified bodies as discussed in the current thread, and the giving of the contract to handle the bodies to a company notorious for earlier scandals will see to it that the official death toll stays low and especially that no one ever has a number for the thousands upon thousands of people killed by the murderous "negligence" of the federal government, which not only failed to give aid and rescue, but consistently and repeatedly BLOCKED the attempts by civilians and foreign governments to do so.

Mass murder, with the bodies never accounted for.

nobody will give a shit, or even believe the real numbers. Just another conspiracy theory, doncha know.

evacuees as opposed to the hog trough boondoggle given to GOP crony contractors.

Lower numbers = lower social aid.

Two NYT editorials today on these two issues:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4955950&mesg_id=4955950
Thread title: NYT/Krugman: “Miserable by Design” – Bad aid policies for Katrina evacuees

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4956069&mesg_id=4956069
Thread title: NYT Editorial: "Exploiting Katrina" - Neocons using excuse to wreak havoc

They even mention that some people see this as a way to hide embarrassing facts. It is also, of course, outrageously, horribly, massively callous. You can bet the rich white victims were not handled this way.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1827484
thread title: NYT: Weeks Later, Most Storm Victims Lie Unnamed
Pirate Smile LBN Forum Tue Oct-04-05 11:27 PM

excerpt:from this NYT news (not op/ed) article:



It is also outrageous that they are claiming such a very small death toll. I do not believe it. Even early on the morticians were told by DMort to expect up to 40,000 bodies:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4674804

that reporters where assaulted by the law enforcement (NOPD ? don't want to finger the wrong agency but that is my memory) and had their equipment destroyed. Do you remember that?

If this is true, and I believe it is, there has been an effort to intimidate the press.

the morgue - of which only 32 were identified?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4969508

The very low death toll has to be bogus. Remember, morticians were officially told to expect up to 40,000 bodies:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4674804

Ward houses:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4967951
thread title: CNN's Jean Meserve pointing out section of NO not searched for bodies