Subject: Politics over duty

This is a post from a fellow over in Merritt Is, FL, a reporter who's
been researching what went on before the storm hit:

I think all of Nagin's pomp and posturing is going to bite him hard in
the near future as the lies and distortions of his interviews are coming
to light.

On Friday night before the storm hit Max Mayfield of the National
Hurricane Center took the unprecedented action of calling Nagin and
Blanco personally to plead with them to begin MANDATORY evacuation of NO
and they said they'd take it under consideration. This was after the
NOAA buoy 240 miles south had recorded 68' waves before it was destroyed.

President Bush spent Friday afternoon and evening in meetings with his
advisors and administrators drafting all of the paperwork required for a
state to request federal assistance (and not be in violation of the
Posse Comitatus Act or having to enact the Insurgency Act). Just before
midnight Friday evening the President called Governor Blanco and pleaded
with her to sign the request papers so the federal government and the
military could legally begin mobilization and call up. He was told that
they didn't think it necessary for the federal government to be involved
yet. After the President's final call to the governor she held meetings
with her staff to discuss the political ramifications of bringing
federal forces. It was decided that if they allowed federal assistance
it would make it look as if they had failed so it was agreed upon that
the feds would not be invited in. Saturday before the storm hit the
President again called Blanco and Nagin requesting they please sign the
papers requesting federal assistance, that they declare the state an
emergency area, and begin mandatory evacuation. After a personal plea
from the President Nagin agreed to order an evacuation, but it would not
be a full mandatory evacuation, and the governor still refused to sign
the papers requesting and authorizing federal action. In frustration the
President declared the area a national disaster area before the state of
Louisiana did so he could legally begin some advanced preparations.
Rumor has it that the President's legal advisers were looking into the
ramifications of using the insurgency act to bypass the Constitutional
requirement that a state request federal aid before the federal
government can move into state with troops - but that had not been done
since 1906 and the Constitutionality of it was called into question to
use before the disaster. Throw in that over half the federal aid of the
past decade to NO for levee construction, maintenance, and repair was
diverted to fund a marina and support the gambling ships. Toss in the
investigation that will look into why the emergency preparedness plan
submitted to the federal government for funding and published on the
city's website was never implemented and in fact may have been bogus for
the purpose of gaining additional federal funding as we now learn that
the organizations identified in the plan were never contacted or
coordinating into any planning - though the document implies that they
were. The suffering people of NO need to be asking some hard questions
as do we all, but they better start with why Blanco refused to even sign
the multi-state mutual aid pack activation documents until Wednesday
which further delayed the legal deployment of National Guard from
adjoining states. Or maybe ask why Nagin keeps harping that the
President should have commandeered 500 Greyhound busses to help him when
according to his own emergency plan and documents he claimed to have
over 500 busses at his disposal to use between the local school busses
and the city transportation busses - but he never raised a finger to
prepare them or activate them.

This is a sad time for all of us to see that a major city has all but
been destroyed and thousands of people have died with hundreds of
thousands more suffering, but it's certainly not a time for people to be
pointing fingers and trying to find a bigger dog to blame for local
corruption and incompetence. Pray to God for the survivors that they can
start their lives anew as fast as possible and we learn from all the
mistakes to avoid them in the future.