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Last updated on July 24th, 2017 at 10:49 am
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports:
Following days of internationally reported killings, rapes and gang violence inside the Dome, the doctor from FEMA – Beron doesn’t remember his name – came prepared for a grisly scene: He brought a refrigerated 18-wheeler and three doctors to process bodies.
“I’ve got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome,” Beron recalls the doctor saying.
The real total was six, Beron said.
Of those, four died of natural causes, one overdosed and another jumped to his death in an apparent suicide …
Four weeks after the storm, few of the widely reported atrocities have been backed with evidence. The piles of bodies never materialized, and soldiers, police officers and rescue personnel on the front lines say that although anarchy reigned at times and people suffered unimaginable indignities, most of the worst crimes reported at the time never happened.
I blame George W. Bush.
UPDATE. Mike G in comments: “BUSH-HATERS LIED! PEOPLE UN-DIED!”
It’s a good thing I only read reliable papers, like the New York Times.
Posted by Aaron – Freewill on 2005 09 26 at 04:44 AM • permalink
They were all eaten tim; everyone knows that.
Posted by Mr. Bingley on 2005 09 26 at 08:07 AM • permalink
- Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 09 26 at 08:50 AM • permalink
- Posted by Jim Treacher on 2005 09 26 at 08:54 AM • permalink
You know they actually slowed down rescue efforts by some groups with their sensationalizing of the violence.
I guess that’s their idea of success.
Posted by madawaskan on 2005 09 26 at 09:13 AM • permalink
the mass graves in east timor are not large mass graves (8-25 bodies each), but they are mass graves all the same
difficult choice there – support murderous hangers on of the indonesian occupiers or the commo thugs in fretilin – probably one of the few instances where supporting the left was the right thing to do
That BlameBush site is great. 🙂
I was horrified to learn of the “New Bush Hurricane Targeting Gay Community”…
Thousands of frightened citizens have already pranced to higher ground, with thousands more certain to flounce, flit, or sashay away in the coming hours.
At this point in time only three facts seem indisputable:
A hurricane named Katrina came ashore a little east of New Orleans.
The evacuation was a clusterfuck mismanaged by local authorities.
Some levees broke and local flooding occurred.
The stuck on stupid, fake but accurate, MSM has pretty much provided a misleading, biased, spin filled, finger pointing, hysterical, chicken little account aimed at blaming Bush for everything. Even Fox news joined in. Whatta bunch of crap.
Them Loosianner Demmycrats is so incompetent, they’uns must liked to lose all them corpses…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 09 26 at 08:22 PM • permalink
I think you misundertand the maths involved:
(200 bodies / 18-wheeler truck) / 3 doctors = 3.7 bodies.
Then take this number and inflate it by 38.4% as outlined in the chapter entitled “Using numbers to make Bush look bad” in the NYT Style Guide and there you have it: 6 deaths.
I don’t see what all the fuss is about.
First and third points are indisputable, certainly. The second is not. It was apparent before Katrina came ashore that the logistics of moving so many people out of harm’s way was beyond the resources of state governments, yet the US Federal Govt did nothing of any substance. When Katrina struck, and the resources of local authorities wre devestated, it took the Federal Gov’t far too long to provide effective assistance.
Bush’s initial pronouncements to the media were pathetic. He simply did not take charge of the situation. (Compare his slowness to act with the reaction of the Australian Gov’t in 1974 when Cyclone Tracy completely destroyed Darwin. Within 24 hours, the man appointed by the Australian gov’t to head the relief effort, Maj-Gen Stretton had arrived in Darwin.)
In such a dire emergency, the Federal gov’t should (in my opinion) have stepped in and overridden the authority of local governments, with their agreement preferably, but without if necessary. They should have done that within 48 hours maximum of Katrina devestating New Orleans.
I have friends who lived between Gulfport and New Orleans. Their homes have been destroyed completely. Fortunately they’re fully insured, are reasonably self-sufficient and evacuated in good time. They were able to do so because they had the resources to do it. They tell me however that Federal assistance to their area is still (TODAY) almost non-existent.
Bush is often accused wrongly of numerous acts or omissions. In the case of Katrina and its aftermath, however, he deserves strong criticism. Any Prime Minsiter who, in similar circumstances, failed to act in the way Bush has failed to act would not survive the next election.
- kywong73 must want Bush illegally to have flown in drivers for all those school buses in the pictures, which the local authorities just left to drown in their parking lots, thinking ‘Oh, they won’t be needed while the schools are closed’. Some planning!
Why on earth hadn’t the incompetent N.O. mayor arranged for all willing poor people to be picked up along with their kids on their regular routes the day before?
There would have been plenty of room for them by Sunday.
Sounds just too simple in a city always going to be threatened by just what happened.let’s hope the local investigation is not as corrupt and politically correct as the MSM reporting.Naah, BLAME BUSH instead.
Naw sorry kywong, you’re dead kywrong there mate. Now I’m no US constitutionalist but as I understand it, something called posse commitatus applies here. The US president simply cannot overrule local authorities unless in a case of national peril, I think the last time it was done was during the Civil War.
Now you can just imagine the howls of outrage from the left if he had used a mere hurricane which left fewer than a thousand dead to take control of a largely black Democrat run state?
There would be demands for his impeachment, and I would support them, the US constitution has worked admirably this past two centuries or more and you just can’t go around monkeying with it.
Posted by Harry Flashman on 2005 09 27 at 02:19 AM • permalink
I can’t see that Bush and the Feds did anything wrong. They had choppers flying in (in unprecedented numbers) and road clearing had begun before the winds had even died down.
Not only that, when W said ‘Brownie you’re doing a great job’, Brownie was doing a great job. After all, he was sacked for ‘not being aware’ of the situation in the Convention Centre, when he was for more aware than the journalists who were standing outside!
This is all part of the ‘throw enough sh#t and some of it will stick’ strategy.
As if Jenin-Jenin, Pallywood (Google that one!), Superscriptgate, Swift Vets, Lathamania, and the innumerable other examples weren’t enough (and appallingly, exactly as it was in the Soviet Union):
Everything they say is always a lie.
Barrie, I don’t know. My criticsm of Bush does not imply local authorities were blameless.
Re #30
Harry Flashman, I’m neither lawyer nor constitutionalist, but the JAG probably is. This opinion from the JAG’s office suggests strongly that posse commitatus does NOT apply to an emergency relief situation and, even if it did, according to JAG, “reality bears little resemblance to the myth for homeland defense planners. Through a gradual erosion of the act’s prohibitions over the past 20 years, posse comitatus today is more of a procedural formality than an actual impediment to the use of U.S. military forces in homeland defense”. That is, JAG’s opinion is that the Act can safely be ignored in times of peril.
Re #31
kipwatson, I saw a TV interview with Brown where he said words to the effect “I’ve now obtained a clear picture of what’s occurred in new Orleans”. This was 6 days after Katrina hit. That’s not doing “a great job” – that’s incompetence. He deserved to be fired.
The Bush administration cops a lot of undeserved flak, in my opinion, but in the case of Katrina and the relief effort, the criticism seems to me to be mostly well deserved.
In such a dire emergency, the Federal gov’t should (in my opinion) have stepped in and overridden the authority of local governments, with their agreement preferably, but without if necessary. They should have done that within 48 hours maximum of Katrina devestating New Orleans.
kywong73, this is flat out against the Constitution and Federal law. PERIOD. The Posse Comitatus Act prevents the military from engaging in law enforcement of any sort. President Bush would have invoke the Insurrection Act to do what you suggest….and that would have dire consequences indeed.
The Judge Advocate General, by the way, is in the military. Guess what? His opinion doesn’t count where it matters, because he is not in the civil government.
Deploying Federal troops into a disaster area to enforce laws will only bring them head on with civil law enforcement. This same problem occurs when the FBI and local police butt heads. Sometimes the Feds win, sometimes they don’t.
This has been debated almost to death in the blogosphere. The Pentagon is reviewing the Posse Comitatus Act for possible revisions. Politicians are screaming for “Federal response reform” (which is a load of crap, by the way, but another story).
But the bottom line is that, BY FEDERAL LAW AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, the States and local leadership are responsible for governing inside their respective borders. The Federal government is supposed to deal with (1) inter-state affairs; (2) international affairs; and (3) lend a helping hand to the states when requested by a State Governor.
According to current law and policies, any disaster response is first a local responsibility, as backed up by the states. The Feds step in if and only if requested by the Governor. That may sound bureaucratic, but it based on law.
President Bush spoke with Governor Blanco about an early Federal response. It didn’t happen because Blanco didn’t want it. President Bush obeyed the law. If he had been pre-emptive and ignored standing law, the screams of outrage would be even louder than with the “unilateral” invasion of Iraq. There would have justifiable grounds been impeachment. Would the impeachment be successful? I don’t know.
Since you aren’t an American citizen, and are CLEARLY out of touch with how the government works in American (hint: it’s nothing like Australia), either listen to people who do know, or just STFU. We have enough of this crap from our own (ignorant) citizens.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 09 27 at 04:28 AM • permalink
I just don’t believe it, mate.
The hugest disaster the developed world has ever seen.
Relatively tiny death toll.
Within days things are back under control, thanks to the Feds.MSM—the liars who’ve never stopped lying since I was lying in my baby cot—tell us Bush is incompetent.
The same Bush who was slandered so many other times and—surprise!—those all turned out to be lies…
Why oh why oh why should I believe it this time??
—-
Ans as for Brownie – “I’ve now obtained a clear picture of what’s occurred in new Orleans”. There was every justification in diverting resources to areas that were far worse affected by the hurricane and not by their own lawlessness and corruption.
Have you seen the pictures of Mississippi – it looked very much like Banda Acheh after the Tsunami. Have you seen the slideshow of New Orleans? It gives a very different picture to the MSM – relatively mildly affected by the storm. The flooding was bad, but occurred slowly. They should have been able to look after themselves for a few days, and if anyone should be ashamed it’s the benighted savages that lived there.
- well i was really shocked by those MSM shots of the white folk in their SUVS and limos leaving town drinking champagne and scoffing smoked salmon sandwiches, whilst those poor wretched black folk were left strnnded.
Still unlike the Hermes store in Paris which refused to reopen its doors after hours to Oprah and lay on a plethora of grovelling assistants for her, the New Orleans stores remained open after hours and provided self service facilities for all, including free credit facilites.
Your comments about my lack of knowledge of the US Constitution and Law are fair enough, but perhaps you might explain:
* Katrina affected multiple states, so was clearly an interstate issue. Hence there is scope within the US Constitution for it to be argued that relief is a Federal issue. Is this not so?
* the preface to Posse Comitatus makes clear that the Act applies to the role of the military in addressing “external perils”. I’ve now obtained and read the Act. (Have you?) It goes on to make clear that it is attack or the threat of attack that is its subject. Use of the military for civil relief efforts is simply not contemplated by the Act (so all discussion of it is a red herring, as far as I can see). Is this the case?Even if you disagree with each of the above, the real issue, as far as I can see, with the Katrina relief effort has been lack of leadership from Bush. You state “Bush spoke with Governor Blanco about an early Federal response”. I do hope that’s true, though I have not seen that reported anywhere else. (Got a reference?) If Blanco refused Federal assistance, is he being crucified by the media in the US right now? (And if not, why not?)
I have followed the whole Katrina story very closely because we have friends who were evacuated and who have lost their homes. The sources of some of my information are, therefore, Americans who have been affected most severely. They’re also Republicans, but they certainly are not impressed by the Federal response to Katrina.
“The hugest disaster the developed world has ever seen” ???? Hardly. In size, damage and numbers of lives lost, Katrina was not even close to the Asian tsunami, the eruption of Krakatoa, the Black Death, the siege of Leningrad or even the great fire of London. Unlike most of those events, Katrina gave plenty of warning. There was ample time for contingency plans for relief efforts to be put in place and agreed between ALL relevant authorities.
The Thai relief effort around Phuket following the tsunami was much faster and more effective than relief efforts around New Orleans after Katrina. (Relief efforts in Aceh and Sri Lanka were less effective, but lack of resources in these areas was a huge issue.)
Ok, and YES, I do have photos from the coastal strip near Gulfport. That’s where my friends lost their homes.
Which of those was a natural disaster in the developed world?
The Chicago Fire. There’s a lot less reason to believe it had anything to do with a stupid cow and a lantern a lot more reason to believe it involved an exploding asteroid.
Posted by Aaron – Freewill on 2005 09 27 at 08:33 PM • permalink
kywong73, if you believe that the US Federal Government should be a “nanny state” when it comes to Federal disasters, by all means, yes, Bush is a failure. Personally, I think you are full of crap. But that’s my only my opinion.
On the other hand, do you really think that this is the first multiple state natural disaster we’ve ever had? Do you?
You followed Katrina closely. Good! Did you follow the four hurricanes last year? Did you following the Mississippi flooding in 1993? How about about the Pacific Northwest floods in 1992? Hurricane Andrew? Hmmmmm!! That was in 1989. Am I going back too far for your attention span?
Contrast that with the hurricanes going back as far as 1935. Was the response better or worse?
Did you ever bother reading the National Response Plan? Probably not. If you had, you’d know that FEMA met their committments….and then some.
The Posse Comitatus Act is intended to keep the US military from enforcing civil law. That was pounded into my head during my time in the National Guard. Did you ever read any pertinent DoD or Guard regulations? Check up on appropriate legal opinions and executive orders? Serve in the US military, perhaps?
[crickets chirping]
Thought so.
So you likely never participated in any joint contingency planning between State and Federal agencies, including the US military, that included application of the Posse Comitatus Act.
Well, I have. I watched a 3 star general (Federal service, not Guard) get jerked up short in the process, because he and his staff simply couldn’t get around that act. For the reasons that I have cited. It wasn’t pretty, but it was enlightening.
During the Hurricane Andrew response, armed Florida National Guard soldiers (non military police types) had to escort active duty military personnel because the active duty troops weren’t authorized to use their weapons (although some did carry those weapons—loaded). Because of the Act.
Now, the Pentagon is reviewing the Act for possible changes. The law might be changed. I disagree with that, but it’s only my opinion (like the JAG that you quoted, y’know). Congress might think otherwise.
But as it stands now, you are simply second guessing a system that you really don’t understand. It would be like me criticizing some aspect of the Australian government, whether I understand it or not.
As far as leadership goes…….y’know, I think you miss my point. Completely. If you “followed Katrina closely” (and I think you just watched CNN with a bowl of popcorn close at hand), you would realize that Bush did everything he possibly could under existing law. Without breaking any laws.
I am certain that if Bush had stepped over the line, and pissed off a lot of people by using Federal authorities in the manner that you think he should have, impeachment hearings would be underway now.
It’s an American thing. I know that you wouldn’t understand, so I won’t argue the point.
But if you want to sit there and babble about what Bush should have done, based on reading a few passages of law and a sense of personal anguish and outrage, go right ahead. Because if you won’t STFU, I’ll just sit here on the sidelines and laugh.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 09 28 at 01:32 AM • permalink
Pity your idea of debate is to be abusive, but I’ll try to respond rationally to the issues you’ve raised and overlook your gross impoliteness:
* No, I haven’t followed every national disaster in the US since the year dot all that closely. I have been involved in one (a blizzard/hurricane that flattened much of the Boston foreshore in the late 1970s) and I’ve followed Katrina because I have friends affected. As far as I recall, this is the only such disaster in which there has been such widespread and trenchant criticism of the relief effort.
* did FEMA meet their commitments? Surely this is yet to be demonstrated?
* Posse Commitatus (or its current application) may well prevent the US Military from using weapons to provide law and order. My reading of the Act found nothing to prevent the use of troops for relief purposes, rather than law enforcement purposes. Relief purposes include moving people, erecting emergency shelter (ie tents), running field kitchens and field hospitals, providing emergency engineering services to create temporary levees, repair bridges etc. Use of the military in this way is not uncommon with disasters in this country.
* I’m not second guessing the US system, just questioning it. Sometimes an external view does see the forest, rather than the trees.
* I don’t receive CNN – and I hate popcorn!!
* I have not served in the US military, just the Australian Army. I have served alongside the US military (in Vietnam).
As far as leadership goes, I’m afraid you’ve missed my point. Bush is the leader of the US. The Katrina relief effort was a stuff-up. If Bush had done everything a president of the US might do (given this is often said to be the most powerful position in the world), then the relief effort could not possibly have been such a stuff-up.
As for the argument that “it’s an American thing” and hence I wouldn’t understand – that’s possible. However, I’ve visited the US over 30 times and have lived and worked there. Some small understanding of the US system may have penetrated my thick skull!! I work for a US company at the moment, and converse with Americans (in the US) almost every day. Whilst the majority are staunchly Republican, there is very wide disquiet amongst them over Bush’s mis-handling of the Katrina relief effort.
In general, the first step to correcting a situation is to recognise your own shortcomings. It certainly appears that the Federal Gov’t needs to do this with disaster relief arrangements in the US.
OK, having checked, you’re right I didn’t put ‘natural disaster’ I just put ‘disaster’, and yes WWII was ‘disastrous’. But I hardly think the accepted meaning of ‘disaster’, in the context of a hurricane, includes the siege of Leningrad!!
Otherwise, why not just include the Holocaust, and since no ‘disaster’ (Act of God or otherwise), could conceivably be as bad as the Holocaust, words have indeed lost all meaning.
And hence ‘Bush’ must indeed be ‘Hitler’ (or ‘avocado’ or ‘pencil’ or…)
My reading of the Act found nothing to prevent the use of troops for relief purposes.
[snip]
* I’m not second guessing the US system, just questioning it. Sometimes an external view does see the forest, rather than the trees.
Again, you miss the point. Federal troops are being used for relief effort….after requested by the State Governor. They can’t enter the State (except to report at existing Federal military installations) otherwise.
That’s how LTG Honore (an active duty officer) is getting soundbytes of “You’re stuck on stupid!” in joint press conferences with city and State officials.
Read the Constitution. Better yet, understand the nature of “Federalism” before spouting off about sending Federal agencies to do a State’s job uninvited.
This division of government may confuse you, but it’s the government that we have here in the states. Uncle Sam is not around to take over for the states, even when they are clearly incompetent. It is against the Constitution.
If you can’t accept that simple fact, then you deserve to be abused. Don’t like the Constitution? Emigrate to America, earn your citizenship, run for office (excepting President – check the Constitution), and campaign to rewrite the Constitution.
And by the way, your point is being debated in Congress as we speak. That alone should tell you that your understanding is incomplete.
* No, I haven’t followed every national disaster in the US since the year dot all that closely. I have been involved in one (a blizzard/hurricane that flattened much of the Boston foreshore in the late 1970s) and I’ve followed Katrina because I have friends affected. As far as I recall, this is the only such disaster in which there has been such widespread and trenchant criticism of the relief effort.
Not correct. The Federal response for Andrew was criticized, heavily; that’s one reason why Clinton appointed the first FEMA director who had any emergency management experience (James Lee Witt). The 1993 floods brought an equal amount of complaints, at a wide range of agencies. Hurricane Camille was nasty, but that pre-dated FEMA.
This is hardly the first category four hurricane to ravage any part of America, and hurricanes really don’t pay attention to human drawn political boundaries. This is not even the first time in recent history where a major America city was impacted by a disaster—check out the Los Angeles and San Franciso earthquakes.
Might I suggest that you are sensitive to this topic because of the plight of your friends? I have friends touched by this as well, who lost much. I am not indifferent to human suffering, I am simply not interested in a nanny state. A government that has much to give you can take much away from you.
BTW….did I mention that I deal with disaster response professionally? On a small scale, to be sure, but I am somewhat familiar with this topic.
* I have not served in the US military, just the Australian Army. I have served alongside the US military (in Vietnam).
Thank you for your time in ‘Nam; I missed that war by a couple years myself.
I’ve served with Australians and Germans, although not in combat. But I don’t openly question their forms of government, nor complain about their leaders because they follow their own Constitutions; that’s their system. I accept it as is, and try to understand it. Oh, I get antsy when the antics of those leaders (or leader wannabes) start intruding on American national interests, but I don’t question the system. I’m just trying to figure out how the Katrina response impinges on Australian national interests.
Look, kywong73, I’m getting pissed at this sniping of the American system of government, no matter how well intentioned. It’s bad enough when people who should know better (specifically, State Governors and US Senators) are clueless about the small piece of parchment that set up the system that gave them their own jobs.
When someone from another country is “just questioning” American leadership based on a cursory knowledge of our system of government, well, that frosts me.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been so abusive….but you touched a sore point with me. I dislike uninformed criticism of our system of government. Informed criticism is something else, but most of what I see these days is, “God, I don’t understand how you Americans work, would you please fix things?” In essence, that’s what you did.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 09 28 at 04:59 AM • permalink
- Memo to kywong73.
Governor Blanco is a woman! Just how closely DID you follow all that went on? She did delay Bush’s offered federal intervention, for unaccountable political reasons.The obvious reason the MSM haven’t majored on the slowness and unpreparedness of the major Louisiana local authorities is that they are far more interested in bashing Bush, who unlike them is a Republican.
The N.O. police commissioner has just resigned. Why, I wonder?
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Look, if these guys aren’t careful I’ll have to stop believing what I see in the media.