They should have sent Major General Bennett C. Landreneau to get the toilet paper
From numerous sources:
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials did not respond to repeated warnings about deteriorating conditions in New Orleans and the dire need for help as Hurricane Katrina struck, the first FEMA official to arrive conceded Thursday.
Marty Bahamonde, a FEMA regional director, told a Senate panel investigating the government's response to the disaster that he gave regular updates to people in contact with then-FEMA Director Michael Brown as early as Aug. 28, one day before Katrina made landfall....
The testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee contradicted Brown, who has said he wasn't fully aware of the dire conditions until days later and that local officials were most responsible for the sluggish response....
In e-mails to various FEMA officials, including one to Brown, Bahamonde described a chaotic situation at the Superdome, where many of the evacuees were sheltered. Bahamonde e-mailed FEMA officials and noted also that local officials were asking for toilet paper, a sign that supplies were lacking at the shelter.
"Issues developing at the Superdome. The medical staff at the dome says they will run out of oxygen in about two hours and are looking for alternative oxygen," Bahamonde wrote in an e-mail to regional director David Passey in a call at 4:46 p.m. CDT on Aug. 28.
Less than an hour later, Bahamonde wrote: "Everyone is soaked. This is going to get ugly real fast."
Bahamonde said he was stunned that FEMA officials responded by continuing to send truckloads of evacuees to the Superdome for two more days even though they knew supplies were in short supply....
Later, on Aug. 31, Bahamonde frantically e-mailed Brown to tell him that thousands are evacuees were gathering in the streets with no food or water and that "estimates are many will die within hours."
"Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical," Bahamonde wrote.
Less than three hours later, however, Brown's press secretary wrote colleagues to complain that the FEMA director needed more time to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge restaurant that evening. "He needs much more that (sic) 20 or 30 minutes," wrote Brown aide Sharon Worthy.
"We now have traffic to encounter to go to and from a location of his choise (sic), followed by wait service from the restaurant staff, eating, etc. Thank you."
Hope the dinner was good. However, as many of us have previously noted, it wasn't just the Feds:
Confusion was evident sometimes in the very same statement. In one place, "Maj. Gen. Bennett C. Landreneau, adjutant general for the Louisiana National Guard, said that the number of people taking shelter in the Superdome has risen to around 15,000 to 20,000 as search and rescue teams bring more people to the Superdome from areas hit hard by the flooding."
But the same article noted that Mayor Nagin had declared the Superdome to be a "refuge of last resort, that no food, water, or supplies would be provided. Residents who evacuated to the Superdome were warned to bring their own supplies." In this statement, the Mayor was correct under the plan described by the State, but General Landreneau appeared to be unaware of the terms of the plan, and what this meant to the people there.
But at least Landreneau knows when to ignore protocol:
Janice Dinnat knew her faith had been rewarded Wednesday as William and the rest of the 110 members of the Louisiana National Guard 256th Brigade Combat Team's logistical team stepped off one of four buses at the National Guard armory on La. Highway 28 West....
The returning soldiers were greeted with raucous applause, colorful signs and a stampede of hugs and kisses once Louisiana National Guard Adjutant Gen. Bennett C. Landreneau dismissed the troops from formation to their families much quicker than normal protocol, said National Guard spokeswoman Kristi Moon....
Boy, imagine if someone could have predicted the future way back in June. Emphasis mine:
The more than 3,000 soldiers from the Louisiana National Guard's 256th Brigade Combat Team currently serving in Iraq should return home as scheduled this fall, the brigade's commander said....
The brigade was sent to Iraq in waves last year from late September to October after a summer of training in Texas and California.
Basilica said he was confident the brigade would begin returning as scheduled this October, but cautioned that anything can happen. When they return, the soldiers will be allowed brief visits with family before reporting to Fort Polk military base near Leesville for deactivation, he said....
Maj. Gen. Bennett C. Landreneau, adjutant general for the Louisiana National Guard, said that once the 256th returns, the group would not be deployed for at least another five years.
''Hopefully, this will be over,'' he said. ''We are anxious to get them back.''
According to Landreneau, 21 Louisiana soldiers with the 256th have been killed in action since the brigade's deployment, and 150 Purple Hearts have been issued to soldiers in the brigade.
In the past six weeks, the 256th attacked more than 100 enemy targets and detained more than 150 insurgents while the brigade has moved to the forefront of an offensive in the urban areas of Baghdad, Basilica said.
''It is a very optimistic picture here. The violence does continue, but much of the violence is ineffective because the Iraqi government is making progress,'' Basilica said. ''Most of the people here appreciate what is being done.''...
Comments