Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen?
By Will Bunch
Published: August 31, 2005 9:00 PM ET
Even though Hurricane Katrina has moved well north of the city, the waters may still keep rising in New Orleans. That's because Lake Pontchartrain continues to pour through a two-block-long break in the main levee, near the city's 17th Street Canal. With much of the Crescent City some 10 feet below sea level, the rising tide may not stop until it's level with the massive lake.
New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.
Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.
Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.
Hurricane
from http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/
The Real News
The following is the result of an interview I just conducted via cell phone with a New Orleans citizen stranded at the Convention Center. I don't know what you're hearing in the mainstream media or in the press conferences from the city and state officials, but here is the truth:
"Bigfoot" is a bar manager and DJ on Bourbon Street, and is a local personality and icon in the city. He is a lifelong resident of the city, born and raised. He rode out the storm itself in the Iberville Projects because he knew he would be above any flood waters. Here is his story as told to me moments ago. I took notes while he talked and then I asked some questions:
Three days ago, police and national guard troops told citizens to head toward the Crescent City Connection Bridge to await transportation out of the area. The citizens trekked over to the Convention Center and waited for the buses which they were told would take them to Houston or Alabama or somewhere else, out of this area.
It's been 3 days, and the buses have yet to appear.
Although obviously he has no exact count, he estimates more than 10,000 people are packed into and around and outside the convention center still waiting for the buses. They had no food, no water, and no medicine for the last three days, until today, when the National Guard drove over the bridge above them, and tossed out supplies over the side crashing down to the ground below. Much of the supplies were destroyed from the drop. Many people tried to catch the supplies to protect them before they hit the ground. Some offered to walk all the way around up the bridge and bring the supplies down, but any attempt to approach the police or national guard resulted in weapons being aimed at them.
There are many infants and elderly people among them, as well as many people who were injured jumping out of windows to escape flood water and the like -- all of them in dire straights.
Any attempt to flag down police results in being told to get away at gunpoint. Hour after hour they watch buses pass by filled with people from other areas. Tensions are very high, and there has been at least one murder and several fights. 8 or 9 dead people have been stored in a freezer in the area, and 2 of these dead people are kids.
The people are so desperate that they're doing anything they can think of to impress the authorities enough to bring some buses. These things include standing in single file lines with the eldery in front, women and children next; sweeping up the area and cleaning the windows and anything else that would show the people are not barbarians.
The buses never stop.
Before the supplies were pitched off the bridge today, people had to break into buildings in the area to try to find food and water for their families. There was not enough. This spurred many families to break into cars to try to escape the city. There was no police response to the auto thefts until the mob reached the rich area -- Saulet Condos -- once they tried to get cars from there... well then the whole swat teams began showing up with rifles pointed. Snipers got on the roof and told people to get back.
He reports that the conditions are horrendous. Heat, mosquitoes and utter misery. The smell, he says, is "horrific."
He says it's the slowest mandatory evacuation ever, and he wants to know why they were told to go to the Convention Center area in the first place; furthermore, he reports that many of them with cell phones have contacts willing to come rescue them, but people are not being allowed through to pick them up.
I have "Bigfoot"'s phone number and will gladly give it to any city or state official who would like to tell him how everything is under control.
Addendum: Bigfoot just called to report that "they" (the authorities) are cleaning up the dead bodies at the Convention Center right now.
The Real News
The following is the result of an interview I just conducted via cell phone with a New Orleans citizen stranded at the Convention Center. I don't know what you're hearing in the mainstream media or in the press conferences from the city and state officials, but here is the truth:
"Bigfoot" is a bar manager and DJ on Bourbon Street, and is a local personality and icon in the city. He is a lifelong resident of the city, born and raised. He rode out the storm itself in the Iberville Projects because he knew he would be above any flood waters. Here is his story as told to me moments ago. I took notes while he talked and then I asked some questions:
Three days ago, police and national guard troops told citizens to head toward the Crescent City Connection Bridge to await transportation out of the area. The citizens trekked over to the Convention Center and waited for the buses which they were told would take them to Houston or Alabama or somewhere else, out of this area.
It's been 3 days, and the buses have yet to appear.
Although obviously he has no exact count, he estimates more than 10,000 people are packed into and around and outside the convention center still waiting for the buses. They had no food, no water, and no medicine for the last three days, until today, when the National Guard drove over the bridge above them, and tossed out supplies over the side crashing down to the ground below. Much of the supplies were destroyed from the drop. Many people tried to catch the supplies to protect them before they hit the ground. Some offered to walk all the way around up the bridge and bring the supplies down, but any attempt to approach the police or national guard resulted in weapons being aimed at them.
There are many infants and elderly people among them, as well as many people who were injured jumping out of windows to escape flood water and the like -- all of them in dire straights.
Any attempt to flag down police results in being told to get away at gunpoint. Hour after hour they watch buses pass by filled with people from other areas. Tensions are very high, and there has been at least one murder and several fights. 8 or 9 dead people have been stored in a freezer in the area, and 2 of these dead people are kids.
The people are so desperate that they're doing anything they can think of to impress the authorities enough to bring some buses. These things include standing in single file lines with the eldery in front, women and children next; sweeping up the area and cleaning the windows and anything else that would show the people are not barbarians.
The buses never stop.
Before the supplies were pitched off the bridge today, people had to break into buildings in the area to try to find food and water for their families. There was not enough. This spurred many families to break into cars to try to escape the city. There was no police response to the auto thefts until the mob reached the rich area -- Saulet Condos -- once they tried to get cars from there... well then the whole swat teams began showing up with rifles pointed. Snipers got on the roof and told people to get back.
He reports that the conditions are horrendous. Heat, mosquitoes and utter misery. The smell, he says, is "horrific."
He says it's the slowest mandatory evacuation ever, and he wants to know why they were told to go to the Convention Center area in the first place; furthermore, he reports that many of them with cell phones have contacts willing to come rescue them, but people are not being allowed through to pick them up.
I have "Bigfoot"'s phone number and will gladly give it to any city or state official who would like to tell him how everything is under control.
Addendum: Bigfoot just called to report that "they" (the authorities) are cleaning up the dead bodies at the Convention Center right now.
The eyes of god are looking down, his tears -they flood the Earth. Reality's an awful truth- as mankind self destructs
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/ame ... 309692.ece
Anarchy in New Orleans
Chaos rules with 200,000 still stranded in the city. Looting, gunfire and a death toll still unknown
http://www.alternet.org/story/24926/
How to create a crisis
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050902/ts ... 0902064431
Stadium hurricane refuge like a 'concentration camp
The Superdome was meant to be a hurricane refuge, but those who sought shelter there described a lawless "concentration camp" where two children were reportedly raped and other refugees terrorized by rioters.
Those lucky enough to get out told tales of rapes, child molestations, shootings, a man who jumped off the roof and a fire that broke out in the giant sport arena where up to 20,000 people had taken shelter from Hurricane Katrina.
The floors of the stadium were soaked from the rain that seeped in during the storm after part of the roof collapsed, and a pervading stench testifid to the overflowing toilets that had forced people to relieve themselves in hallways and stairwells.
"The odor from that place would knock you off your feet," said Lorraine Banks as she made her way past the dozens of police officers and soldiers trying to keeping order and handing out water in the shopping mall.
"They had bowel movements on the floor this high," the 53-year-old nurse said, as she gestured to her knee.
"This city knew something like this would happen a long time ago. They did nothing to prepare for this. They just rolled the dice and hoped for the best," said the officer who asked not to be identified.
"People were raped in there. People were killed in there. We had multiple riots," he said, adding there was no way to police the mass of up to 20,000 people suddenly thrown together in such a confined space and such horrific conditions.
"You can't be trapped in there for so long without going crazy. People were locked in the dome like prisoners," he said. "There was no ventilation. We had 80-, 90-year-old people who needed medication and couldn't get it."
According to Baron Duncan, the nights inside the arena were the worst, with the pitch darkness and debilitating humidity accentuating the rank smell from backed up toilets.
"The stench was unbearable. We were treated like animals," Duncan said. "There was shooting ... our lives were in danger. A seven-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy got raped."
http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney09012005.html
Hurricane Donald: How Rumsfeld Smashed the National Guard
"Free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. For suddenly the biggest problem in the world to be looting is really notable." - Sec-Def Donald Rumsfeld 4-11-03
comments on the looting of Baghdad
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050902/D8CBS1T0F.htmlNew Orleans in Anarchy With Fights, Rapes
"They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said of 300 National Guard troops who landed in New Orleans fresh from duty in Iraq. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will."
"Fresh" from duty in Iraq?? Given the situation in Iraq, including the deaths of countless innocent Iraqi civilians at the hands of US forces, we really have to wonder what is going on in the minds of Bush administration officials. Getting troops who are more than willing to shoot and kill into New Orleans doesn't seem to be a problem - but getting emergency supplies and enough helicopters and other equipment to evacuate stranded residents does seem to be an issue. As such, perhaps the plan was never to rescue anyone. Many people are beginning to speculate that the levees were intentionally sabotaged 9/11 style. In a SkyNews survey, 90% think that Bush's response to Katrina is entirely too slow. In the same broadcast, an American who lost his home stated that if the US can go into Iraq and rebuild the country as Bush claims, why isn't the same being done in the region ravaged by Katrina?
When I read that only seven helicopters were available to rescue an estimated 200,000 people stranded in the New Orleans area alone, and that the National Guard troops sent in just got back from Iraq, we have to wonder if perhaps US forces are stretched so thin that there simply aren't enough troops and equipment to conduct a full-scale rescue operation. If the Bush Reich knew this, they would certainly allow or help the levees to break, creating such a huge disaster that anarchy would result. They could then release a story about abandoned residents shooting at rescue helicopters, impose martial law, send in the big guns, and not really have to worry about actually saving anyone. Besides, the majority of those people stranded appear to be lower class citizens who are primarily African American, and the Powers that Be have been historically less than helpful to that portion of the population. As an added bonus, the US economy would crash, and the administration could blame Mother Nature.
Anarchy in New Orleans
Chaos rules with 200,000 still stranded in the city. Looting, gunfire and a death toll still unknown
http://www.alternet.org/story/24926/
How to create a crisis
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050902/ts ... 0902064431
Stadium hurricane refuge like a 'concentration camp
The Superdome was meant to be a hurricane refuge, but those who sought shelter there described a lawless "concentration camp" where two children were reportedly raped and other refugees terrorized by rioters.
Those lucky enough to get out told tales of rapes, child molestations, shootings, a man who jumped off the roof and a fire that broke out in the giant sport arena where up to 20,000 people had taken shelter from Hurricane Katrina.
The floors of the stadium were soaked from the rain that seeped in during the storm after part of the roof collapsed, and a pervading stench testifid to the overflowing toilets that had forced people to relieve themselves in hallways and stairwells.
"The odor from that place would knock you off your feet," said Lorraine Banks as she made her way past the dozens of police officers and soldiers trying to keeping order and handing out water in the shopping mall.
"They had bowel movements on the floor this high," the 53-year-old nurse said, as she gestured to her knee.
"This city knew something like this would happen a long time ago. They did nothing to prepare for this. They just rolled the dice and hoped for the best," said the officer who asked not to be identified.
"People were raped in there. People were killed in there. We had multiple riots," he said, adding there was no way to police the mass of up to 20,000 people suddenly thrown together in such a confined space and such horrific conditions.
"You can't be trapped in there for so long without going crazy. People were locked in the dome like prisoners," he said. "There was no ventilation. We had 80-, 90-year-old people who needed medication and couldn't get it."
According to Baron Duncan, the nights inside the arena were the worst, with the pitch darkness and debilitating humidity accentuating the rank smell from backed up toilets.
"The stench was unbearable. We were treated like animals," Duncan said. "There was shooting ... our lives were in danger. A seven-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy got raped."
http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney09012005.html
Hurricane Donald: How Rumsfeld Smashed the National Guard
"Free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. For suddenly the biggest problem in the world to be looting is really notable." - Sec-Def Donald Rumsfeld 4-11-03
comments on the looting of Baghdad
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050902/D8CBS1T0F.htmlNew Orleans in Anarchy With Fights, Rapes
"They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said of 300 National Guard troops who landed in New Orleans fresh from duty in Iraq. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will."
"Fresh" from duty in Iraq?? Given the situation in Iraq, including the deaths of countless innocent Iraqi civilians at the hands of US forces, we really have to wonder what is going on in the minds of Bush administration officials. Getting troops who are more than willing to shoot and kill into New Orleans doesn't seem to be a problem - but getting emergency supplies and enough helicopters and other equipment to evacuate stranded residents does seem to be an issue. As such, perhaps the plan was never to rescue anyone. Many people are beginning to speculate that the levees were intentionally sabotaged 9/11 style. In a SkyNews survey, 90% think that Bush's response to Katrina is entirely too slow. In the same broadcast, an American who lost his home stated that if the US can go into Iraq and rebuild the country as Bush claims, why isn't the same being done in the region ravaged by Katrina?
When I read that only seven helicopters were available to rescue an estimated 200,000 people stranded in the New Orleans area alone, and that the National Guard troops sent in just got back from Iraq, we have to wonder if perhaps US forces are stretched so thin that there simply aren't enough troops and equipment to conduct a full-scale rescue operation. If the Bush Reich knew this, they would certainly allow or help the levees to break, creating such a huge disaster that anarchy would result. They could then release a story about abandoned residents shooting at rescue helicopters, impose martial law, send in the big guns, and not really have to worry about actually saving anyone. Besides, the majority of those people stranded appear to be lower class citizens who are primarily African American, and the Powers that Be have been historically less than helpful to that portion of the population. As an added bonus, the US economy would crash, and the administration could blame Mother Nature.
The eyes of god are looking down, his tears -they flood the Earth. Reality's an awful truth- as mankind self destructs
-
Dilapidated Nation
- Speaking out
- Posts: 187
- Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2005 2:08 pm
- Location: North Carolina, The 'borro
- Contact:
media sycho you rock. You rocked this hurricane info. good work!
im calling you.
here is a video yall should see http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Meet-t ... ussard.mov
im calling you.
here is a video yall should see http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Meet-t ... ussard.mov
Get The Empire Unmasked here
-
Fat Pat
- Fights PNAC daily
- Posts: 551
- Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2005 2:58 pm
- Location: Genoa City (Vile Valley), WI
- Contact:
Here's a graphic I made with some local (Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas) charities/churches that one can donate to as an alternative to the Red Cross. Spread it around, everyone! Throw it in your photobucket account if you want. I hope this information gets out. Too many people are donating to the Red Cross by default.
Render unto Cesar that which he has rendered unto you - hardship, imprisonment, torture, and eventual death. Fuck Cesar. Let him be hanged.
FEMA Wants No Photos of Dead
The U.S. agency leading Hurricane Katrina rescue efforts said Tuesday that it does not want the news media to photograph the dead as they are recovered.
Posted Sep 7, 2005 09:38 AM PST
Category: CURRENT EVENTS
This should prove that FEMA's job isn't to prtect the nation in an emergency, but to protect the government from the people in an emergency.
http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.ph ... =293947940
The U.S. agency leading Hurricane Katrina rescue efforts said Tuesday that it does not want the news media to photograph the dead as they are recovered.
Posted Sep 7, 2005 09:38 AM PST
Category: CURRENT EVENTS
This should prove that FEMA's job isn't to prtect the nation in an emergency, but to protect the government from the people in an emergency.
http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.ph ... =293947940
Get The Empire Unmasked here
The government misappropriated the people's money. Billions in taxes have been paid with the implicit understanding that the money is used to better our lives here in the United States by creating and maintaining needed infrastructure. The Federal Government has authority for major projects such as interstate highways, dams, and levees, and with that authority comes the responsibility to see that those systems are prepared for when they are needed.
What we have is a government that took that money for infrastructure and spent it on a war that was started with lies and deceptions. The preparations for a domestic emergency were gutted and sent to Iraq, including not only the National Guard, but items such as sandbags, portable hospitals, etc. What we are seeing now is not a government prepared to deal with a crisis, but a government scrambling to deal with the aftermath of a crisis even as it wipes the egg off of its face at the same time.
We paid for the government to be proactive, but government is being reactive, and they are treating New Orleans like a military operation because that is the only government system that is funded and operational. New Orleans isn't being rescued, it's being conquered and occupied.
-WRH
What we have is a government that took that money for infrastructure and spent it on a war that was started with lies and deceptions. The preparations for a domestic emergency were gutted and sent to Iraq, including not only the National Guard, but items such as sandbags, portable hospitals, etc. What we are seeing now is not a government prepared to deal with a crisis, but a government scrambling to deal with the aftermath of a crisis even as it wipes the egg off of its face at the same time.
We paid for the government to be proactive, but government is being reactive, and they are treating New Orleans like a military operation because that is the only government system that is funded and operational. New Orleans isn't being rescued, it's being conquered and occupied.
-WRH
Get The Empire Unmasked here
Awesome John Stewart
Get The Empire Unmasked here