And More Comes Out On The Incompetence Of Bureaucracy
Major Garrett, of FOX News fame, had an interview with Hugh Hewitt this afternoon. The entire transcript is over at RadioBlogger—Generalissimo Duane’s fine site. (It is also cited in it’s entirety below.) Needless to say, Major Garrett had an interesting revelation, and one that isn’t new as the Red Cross on NPR stated the case clearly.
HH: You just broke a pretty big story. I was watching up on the corner television in my studio, and it's headlined that the Red Cross was blocked from delivering supplies to the Superdome, Major Garrett. Tell us what you found out.
MG: Well, the Red Cross, Hugh, had pre-positioned a literal vanguard of trucks with water, food, blankets and hygiene items. They're not really big into medical response items, but those are the three biggies that we saw people at the New Orleans Superdom, and the convention center, needing most accutely. And all of us in America, I think, reasonably asked ourselves, geez. You know, I watch hurricanes all the time. And I see correspondents standing among rubble and refugees and evacuaees. But I always either see that Red Cross or Salvation Army truck nearby. Why don't I see that?
HH: And the answer is?
MG: The answer is the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security, that is the state agency responsible for that state's homeland security, told the Red Cross explicitly, you cannot come.
HH: Now Major Garrett, on what day did they block the delivery? Do you know specifically?
MG: I am told by the Red Cross, immediately after the storm passed.
HH: Okay, so that would be on Monday afternoon.
MG: That would have been Monday or Tuesday. The exact time, the hour, I don't have. But clearly, they had an evacuee situation at the Superdome, and of course, people gravitated to the convention center on an ad hoc basis. They sort of invented that as another place to go, because they couldn't stand the conditions at the Superdome.
HH: Any doubt in the Red Cross' mind that they were ready to go, but they were blocked?
MG: No. Absolutely none. They are absolutely unequivocal on that point.
HH: And are they eager to get this story out there, because they are chagrined by the coverage that's been emanating from New Orleans?
MG: I think they are. I mean, and look. Every agency that is in the private sector, Salvation Army, Red Cross, Feed The Children, all the ones we typically see are aggrieved by all the crap that's being thrown around about the response to this hurricane, because they work hand and glove with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. When FEMA is tarred and feathered, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army are tarred and feathered, because they work on a cooperative basis. They feel they are being sullied by this reaction.
HH: Of course they are. Now Major Garrett, what about the Louisiana governor's office of Homeland Security. Have they responded to this charge by the Red Cross, which is a blockbuster charge?
MG: I have not been able to reach them yet. But, what they have said consistently is, and what they told the Red Cross, we don't want you to come in there, because we have evacuees that we want to get out. And if you come in, they're more likely to stay. So I want your listeners to follow me here. At the very moment that Ray Nagin, the Mayor of New Orleans was screaming where's the food, where's the water, it was over the overpass, and state officials were saying you can't come in.
HH: How long would it have taken to deliver those supplies, Major Garrett, into the Superdome and possibly the convention center?
MG: That is a more difficult question to answer than you might think. There were areas, obviously, as you approached the Superdome, that were difficult to get to, because of the flood waters. And as the Red Cross explained it to me, look. We don't have amphibious vehicles. We have trucks and ambulance type vehicles. In some cases, after the flood waters rose as high as they did, we would have needed, at minimal, the Louisiana National Guard to bring us in, or maybe something bigger and badder, from the Marines or Army-type vehicle. They're not sure about that. But remember, Hugh, we were transfixed, I know I was. I'm sure you were and your listeners were, by my colleague, Shep Smith, and others on that overpass.
HH: Right.
MG: ...saying, wait a minute. We drove here. It didn't take us anything to drive here.
HH: Right.
MG: Why can't people just come here?
HH: I also have to conclude from what you're telling me, Major Garrett, is that had they been allowed to deliver when they wanted to deliver, which is at least a little bit prior to the levee, or at least prior to the waters rising, the supplies would have been pre-positioned, and the relief...you know, the people in the Superdome, and possibly at the convention center, I want to come back to that, would have been spared the worst of their misery.
MG: They would have been spared the lack of food, water and hygiene. I don't think there's any doubt that they would not have been spared the indignity of having nor workable bathrooms in short order.
HH: Now Major Garrett, let's turn to the convention center, because this will be, in the aftermath...did the Red Cross have ready to go into the convention center the supplies that we're talking about as well?
MG: Sure. They could have gone to any location, provided that the water wasn't too high, and they got some assistance.
HH: Now, were they utterly dependent upon the Louisiana state officials to okay them?
MG: Yes.
HH: Because you know, they do work with FEMA. But is it your understanding that FEMA and the Red Cross and the other relief agencies must get tht state's okay to act?
MG: As the Red Cross told me, they said look. We are not state actors. We are not the Army. We are a private organziation. We work in cooperation with both FEMA and the state officials. But the state told us A) it's not safe, because the water is dangerous. And we're now learning how toxic the water is. B) there's a security situation, because they didn't have a handle on the violence on the ground. And C) and I think this is most importantly, they wanted to evacuate out. They didn't want people to stay.
HH: Now off the record, will the Red Cross tell you what they think of Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin?
MG: No.
HH: Will they tell you what they think about FEMA director Brown?
MG: No.
HH: Will they tell you any...will they give any advice of how to make sure this doesn't happen again?
MG: Well, there is something, Hugh, that I think we have to be honest with ourselves about. New Orleans is a situation, because of its geography, utterly unique in America. We don't build cities in bowls, except there. This complicated the Red Cross efforts, and the FEMA efforts, from the start. In the mid-90's, the Red Cross opened a shelter in South Carolina that was eventually flooded. And there was a big controversy about that. After that, the Red Cross made a policy decision that it would never shelter, or seek to shelter, any evacuee from any hurricane, anywhere where flooding was likely to occur. High ground is where they were going to be, and where they were going to go. Well, that basically rules out all of New Orleans.
HH: Sure. Does the Red Cross, though, assist in evacuation, Major Garrett?
MG: Not under the state plan in Louisiana. And not very many other places, either, because again, the Red Cross is a responding private charity. It is not an evacuation charity. It does not assume, as you can well imagine, Hugh, the inevitable liability that would come with being in charge of evacuating.
HH: How senior are your sources at the Red Cross, Major Garrett?
MG: They're right next to Marty Evans, the president.
HH: So you have no doubt in your mind that they have...
MG: Oh, none. None. And I want to give credit to Bill O'Reilly, because he had Marty Evans on the O'Reilly Factor last night. And this is the first time Marty Evans said it. She said it on the O'Reilly Factor last night in a very sort of brief intro to her longer comments about dealing with the housing and other needs of the evacuees now. She said look. We were ready. We couldn't go in. They wouldn't let us in, and the interview continued. I developed it more fully today.
HH: And the 'they' are the Louisiana state officials?
MG: Right.
HH: Now any in the 'they'...is the New Orleans' mayor's staff involved as well? Or the New Orleans police department?
MG: Not that I'm aware of, because the decision was made and communicated to the Red Cross by the state department of Homeland Security and the state National Guard. Both of which report to the governor.
HH: Do they have any paper records of this communication?
MG: I did not ask that. It's a good question. I'll follow up with them.
HH: I sure would love to know that. And if you get it, send it to me. We'll put it up on the blog. Major Garrett, great story. Please keep us posted. Look forward to talking to you a lot in the next couple of weeks on this story. Thanks for breaking away from the Fox News Channel this afternoon.
This is an extremely damning accusation that has been made. And it’s not being made by the "evil, right-wing" FOX News. No, it’s being made by the Red Cross, and is being covered by real journalists willing to give it legs. Yes, this needed to come out. First, it lends to the deflection of arguments presented by the Left that the president didn’t move quick enough. Second, it continues to put nails in the political coffins of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin—both of which couldn’t seem to follow their disaster plan. Third, it presents the truth that it was the state that was willing to turn it’s back on it’s citizens. Just like Gov. Blanco when she fled to safer ground. Just like when Mayo Nagin took his chopper ride out of "Nawlins" the day before Katrina’s landfall.
The simple fact of the matter remains that the state government—and it’s overblown bureaucracy—dropped the ball. Hell, they fumbled it, and the other team picked it up and ran it straight down their throats. The governor hesitated in calling for an evacuation to the point the president had to ask her when she was going to make that call. The mayor waited until a mere few hours remained before the hurricane hit, thus abandoning his citizens to the storm, the thugs, and dehydration; abandoned in a toxic soup and a disease bearing petri dish.
Someone has some serious explaining to do. And guess what, you wacky moonbats? It’s not the president. The president is restricted in what he can and can’t do. He can’t send troops into another state without activating the provisions in the Constitution that call for that. Louisiana was not in a "state of insurrection." It was in the middle of one of the worst natural disasters this nation has ever endured. I heard a moronic chatter state tonight that no one is to blame. The storm is to blame. Too true, however blame lies at the feet of those that failed to respond, or refused to respond, accordingly. For them, there should be accountability. For those left homeless, it is time for this nation to band together and help them. We did the same thing when hurricanes of the past have hit our nation. And in the ultimate form of giving, we helped for those that suffered the loss of friends and loved ones on 11 September.
That is what we should be focused on, right now. However, the Left decided to play this partisan game again. I held back for as long as I could, and so did Marcie, but we’re going to hold back any longer. The Left want’s to fight this little war here and now, then let’s just draw the line now, and get down to business.
The state government has shown it’s failures. I’m waiting—with baited breath—for the Left to present theirs against the president and his administration.
Publius II
Major Garrett, of FOX News fame, had an interview with Hugh Hewitt this afternoon. The entire transcript is over at RadioBlogger—Generalissimo Duane’s fine site. (It is also cited in it’s entirety below.) Needless to say, Major Garrett had an interesting revelation, and one that isn’t new as the Red Cross on NPR stated the case clearly.
HH: You just broke a pretty big story. I was watching up on the corner television in my studio, and it's headlined that the Red Cross was blocked from delivering supplies to the Superdome, Major Garrett. Tell us what you found out.
MG: Well, the Red Cross, Hugh, had pre-positioned a literal vanguard of trucks with water, food, blankets and hygiene items. They're not really big into medical response items, but those are the three biggies that we saw people at the New Orleans Superdom, and the convention center, needing most accutely. And all of us in America, I think, reasonably asked ourselves, geez. You know, I watch hurricanes all the time. And I see correspondents standing among rubble and refugees and evacuaees. But I always either see that Red Cross or Salvation Army truck nearby. Why don't I see that?
HH: And the answer is?
MG: The answer is the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security, that is the state agency responsible for that state's homeland security, told the Red Cross explicitly, you cannot come.
HH: Now Major Garrett, on what day did they block the delivery? Do you know specifically?
MG: I am told by the Red Cross, immediately after the storm passed.
HH: Okay, so that would be on Monday afternoon.
MG: That would have been Monday or Tuesday. The exact time, the hour, I don't have. But clearly, they had an evacuee situation at the Superdome, and of course, people gravitated to the convention center on an ad hoc basis. They sort of invented that as another place to go, because they couldn't stand the conditions at the Superdome.
HH: Any doubt in the Red Cross' mind that they were ready to go, but they were blocked?
MG: No. Absolutely none. They are absolutely unequivocal on that point.
HH: And are they eager to get this story out there, because they are chagrined by the coverage that's been emanating from New Orleans?
MG: I think they are. I mean, and look. Every agency that is in the private sector, Salvation Army, Red Cross, Feed The Children, all the ones we typically see are aggrieved by all the crap that's being thrown around about the response to this hurricane, because they work hand and glove with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. When FEMA is tarred and feathered, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army are tarred and feathered, because they work on a cooperative basis. They feel they are being sullied by this reaction.
HH: Of course they are. Now Major Garrett, what about the Louisiana governor's office of Homeland Security. Have they responded to this charge by the Red Cross, which is a blockbuster charge?
MG: I have not been able to reach them yet. But, what they have said consistently is, and what they told the Red Cross, we don't want you to come in there, because we have evacuees that we want to get out. And if you come in, they're more likely to stay. So I want your listeners to follow me here. At the very moment that Ray Nagin, the Mayor of New Orleans was screaming where's the food, where's the water, it was over the overpass, and state officials were saying you can't come in.
HH: How long would it have taken to deliver those supplies, Major Garrett, into the Superdome and possibly the convention center?
MG: That is a more difficult question to answer than you might think. There were areas, obviously, as you approached the Superdome, that were difficult to get to, because of the flood waters. And as the Red Cross explained it to me, look. We don't have amphibious vehicles. We have trucks and ambulance type vehicles. In some cases, after the flood waters rose as high as they did, we would have needed, at minimal, the Louisiana National Guard to bring us in, or maybe something bigger and badder, from the Marines or Army-type vehicle. They're not sure about that. But remember, Hugh, we were transfixed, I know I was. I'm sure you were and your listeners were, by my colleague, Shep Smith, and others on that overpass.
HH: Right.
MG: ...saying, wait a minute. We drove here. It didn't take us anything to drive here.
HH: Right.
MG: Why can't people just come here?
HH: I also have to conclude from what you're telling me, Major Garrett, is that had they been allowed to deliver when they wanted to deliver, which is at least a little bit prior to the levee, or at least prior to the waters rising, the supplies would have been pre-positioned, and the relief...you know, the people in the Superdome, and possibly at the convention center, I want to come back to that, would have been spared the worst of their misery.
MG: They would have been spared the lack of food, water and hygiene. I don't think there's any doubt that they would not have been spared the indignity of having nor workable bathrooms in short order.
HH: Now Major Garrett, let's turn to the convention center, because this will be, in the aftermath...did the Red Cross have ready to go into the convention center the supplies that we're talking about as well?
MG: Sure. They could have gone to any location, provided that the water wasn't too high, and they got some assistance.
HH: Now, were they utterly dependent upon the Louisiana state officials to okay them?
MG: Yes.
HH: Because you know, they do work with FEMA. But is it your understanding that FEMA and the Red Cross and the other relief agencies must get tht state's okay to act?
MG: As the Red Cross told me, they said look. We are not state actors. We are not the Army. We are a private organziation. We work in cooperation with both FEMA and the state officials. But the state told us A) it's not safe, because the water is dangerous. And we're now learning how toxic the water is. B) there's a security situation, because they didn't have a handle on the violence on the ground. And C) and I think this is most importantly, they wanted to evacuate out. They didn't want people to stay.
HH: Now off the record, will the Red Cross tell you what they think of Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin?
MG: No.
HH: Will they tell you what they think about FEMA director Brown?
MG: No.
HH: Will they tell you any...will they give any advice of how to make sure this doesn't happen again?
MG: Well, there is something, Hugh, that I think we have to be honest with ourselves about. New Orleans is a situation, because of its geography, utterly unique in America. We don't build cities in bowls, except there. This complicated the Red Cross efforts, and the FEMA efforts, from the start. In the mid-90's, the Red Cross opened a shelter in South Carolina that was eventually flooded. And there was a big controversy about that. After that, the Red Cross made a policy decision that it would never shelter, or seek to shelter, any evacuee from any hurricane, anywhere where flooding was likely to occur. High ground is where they were going to be, and where they were going to go. Well, that basically rules out all of New Orleans.
HH: Sure. Does the Red Cross, though, assist in evacuation, Major Garrett?
MG: Not under the state plan in Louisiana. And not very many other places, either, because again, the Red Cross is a responding private charity. It is not an evacuation charity. It does not assume, as you can well imagine, Hugh, the inevitable liability that would come with being in charge of evacuating.
HH: How senior are your sources at the Red Cross, Major Garrett?
MG: They're right next to Marty Evans, the president.
HH: So you have no doubt in your mind that they have...
MG: Oh, none. None. And I want to give credit to Bill O'Reilly, because he had Marty Evans on the O'Reilly Factor last night. And this is the first time Marty Evans said it. She said it on the O'Reilly Factor last night in a very sort of brief intro to her longer comments about dealing with the housing and other needs of the evacuees now. She said look. We were ready. We couldn't go in. They wouldn't let us in, and the interview continued. I developed it more fully today.
HH: And the 'they' are the Louisiana state officials?
MG: Right.
HH: Now any in the 'they'...is the New Orleans' mayor's staff involved as well? Or the New Orleans police department?
MG: Not that I'm aware of, because the decision was made and communicated to the Red Cross by the state department of Homeland Security and the state National Guard. Both of which report to the governor.
HH: Do they have any paper records of this communication?
MG: I did not ask that. It's a good question. I'll follow up with them.
HH: I sure would love to know that. And if you get it, send it to me. We'll put it up on the blog. Major Garrett, great story. Please keep us posted. Look forward to talking to you a lot in the next couple of weeks on this story. Thanks for breaking away from the Fox News Channel this afternoon.
This is an extremely damning accusation that has been made. And it’s not being made by the "evil, right-wing" FOX News. No, it’s being made by the Red Cross, and is being covered by real journalists willing to give it legs. Yes, this needed to come out. First, it lends to the deflection of arguments presented by the Left that the president didn’t move quick enough. Second, it continues to put nails in the political coffins of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin—both of which couldn’t seem to follow their disaster plan. Third, it presents the truth that it was the state that was willing to turn it’s back on it’s citizens. Just like Gov. Blanco when she fled to safer ground. Just like when Mayo Nagin took his chopper ride out of "Nawlins" the day before Katrina’s landfall.
The simple fact of the matter remains that the state government—and it’s overblown bureaucracy—dropped the ball. Hell, they fumbled it, and the other team picked it up and ran it straight down their throats. The governor hesitated in calling for an evacuation to the point the president had to ask her when she was going to make that call. The mayor waited until a mere few hours remained before the hurricane hit, thus abandoning his citizens to the storm, the thugs, and dehydration; abandoned in a toxic soup and a disease bearing petri dish.
Someone has some serious explaining to do. And guess what, you wacky moonbats? It’s not the president. The president is restricted in what he can and can’t do. He can’t send troops into another state without activating the provisions in the Constitution that call for that. Louisiana was not in a "state of insurrection." It was in the middle of one of the worst natural disasters this nation has ever endured. I heard a moronic chatter state tonight that no one is to blame. The storm is to blame. Too true, however blame lies at the feet of those that failed to respond, or refused to respond, accordingly. For them, there should be accountability. For those left homeless, it is time for this nation to band together and help them. We did the same thing when hurricanes of the past have hit our nation. And in the ultimate form of giving, we helped for those that suffered the loss of friends and loved ones on 11 September.
That is what we should be focused on, right now. However, the Left decided to play this partisan game again. I held back for as long as I could, and so did Marcie, but we’re going to hold back any longer. The Left want’s to fight this little war here and now, then let’s just draw the line now, and get down to business.
The state government has shown it’s failures. I’m waiting—with baited breath—for the Left to present theirs against the president and his administration.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 8:48 PM
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