Katrina: Independent Investigation

[PatrickHenry]

Do you think there should be an independent investigation, assessing the failures of the Katrina aftermath?

You may vote for multiple options.

Others are asking this question and a move is already afoot to have Congress look at it: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/2/192916/4102

[lsbskins1]

Hell yes! Fuckin A'. No Doubt.

[ibm]

i'm tentative on this one. for one, we know how much was provided by the 9-11 commission. two, sure the "unacceptable" pace of response calls for an explanation, but if it's going to be like the few millions dollars spent on "investigating" the clinton debacle, i'd say it's again a waste of money.

[ibm]

ph, i have voted the first one. not that it accurately expresses my view (see my post above), but that is the closest one to it.

[PatrickHenry]

I picked all except "no need!" This is an absolute meltdown and I would very much like to have the situation analyzed from many angles, and not just Dubya's personal coverup.

[gr8fuldaniel]

I dont think we need bush to investigate himself and start handing out medals of freedom to the criminals who underfunded the levee system.

I chose number 3 and 4.

But, if by:

aid agencies who responded.

, you meant FEMA (who is criminally negligent and did not satisfactorily respond) Then I would retract choice #4. Since they didnt actually respond they sould not head an investigation, rather, they should be targetted by said investigation. bleh.

[phoenix_fire]

Yeah, lets have the government do a huge investigation and then b**** about how they're wasting important time and money that could better be used on helping the survivors!

ummm...it's a storm...it happens...ask Florida.

P.S. A small matter, really, but gr8 PLEASE...learn to spell.

[Clarence]

It will break my heart if there is no investigation

[ibm]

of course there should be a serious investigation of some sort. what i am not sure about is one in a 9-11 commission kind of fashion.

[Sonart]

Quote by: phoenix_fire ummm...it's a storm...it happens...ask Florida.

And Florida will tell you that the National Guard and relief supplies were on the ground the next day! Storms happen, we can count on that. We're supposed to be able to count on FEMA happening the day after. It didn't and many, many people have died because of it. We should find out why, and President Bush appointing himself to investigate his own shop ain't cuttin' it.

.

[RVonse]

Besides the obvious response of it all, one of the most disturbing claims that were made by some survivors is that the government would not allow anyone to walk out of the city! People were actually threatened at gun point not to walk past road blocks out of the city! There are a whole lot of people that say you should never depend on the government but what happens when the governement won't let you walk out on your own 2 legs?

I can almost understand how our government can get caught up in red tape and I can understand how people can make mistakes. But for some reason that the police would not allow any survivors to walk out of that flooded city is beyond my complete comprehension.

There needs to be a complete impartial investigation and the guilty parties to it all need to be shot!

[PatrickHenry]

Quote by: RVonse People were actually threatened at gun point not to walk past road blocks out of the city!

Do you have a source for this?

[gr8fuldaniel]

Quote by: phoenix_fire P.S. A small matter, really, but gr8 PLEASE...learn to spell

I dint sea anithing spelt rong n my lastt poast, sense I nowe how much it bautherz u i willl trye hardder.

[icu]

Katrina: Independent Investigation

Yes thankyou however on condition its as floored as the 9/11 one.

[RVonse]

Quote by: PatrickHenry Do you have a source for this?

http://www.emsnetwork.org/artman/pub...le_18337.shtml


"As we approached the bridge, armed Gretna sheriffs formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads. This sent the crowd fleeing in various directions. As the crowd scattered and dissipated, a few of us inched forward and managed to engage some of the sheriffs in conversation. We told them of our conversation with the police commander and of the commander's assurances. The sheriffs informed us there were no buses waiting. The commander had lied to us to get us to move.

We questioned why we couldn't cross the bridge anyway, especially as there was little traffic on the 6-lane highway. They responded that the West Bank was not going to become New Orleans and there would be no Superdomes in their City. These were code words for if you are poor and black, you are not crossing the Mississippi River and you were not getting out of New Orleans."





I can almost understand how our government can get caught up in red tape and I can understand how people can make mistakes. But why the police would not allow any survivors to walk out of that flooded city is beyond my complete and total comprehension.

All the blatent crap that just goes on in front of everyones nose. I just can't believe the media and people of this country don't demand somebody's hide.

Everyone needs to wake up.

[northtexan]

Quote by: Sonart And Florida will tell you that the National Guard and relief supplies were on the ground the next day! Storms happen, we can count on that. We're supposed to be able to count on FEMA happening the day after. It didn't and many, many people have died because of it. We should find out why, and President Bush appointing himself to investigate his own shop ain't cuttin' it. .

And in 2004 in Florida, FEMA was out giving money to people in counties that were not even affected. Well, swing state in an election year and all. Gotta buy those votes. Poor Louisiana: votes too red in prez elections and it's not an election year. Besides, those worst off are African American. FEMA figures it can just let them die.

Quote by: PatrickHenry Do you have a source for this?

Here's one report I've seen: http://www.counterpunch.org/bradshaw09062005.html. I don't know if there is any independent verification.

Now, if there were evidence that a pandemic were imminent, that would be reason to quarantine, but then care should be offered to those in the affected area. There is no indication so far that this is the case. I suggest that there is some NIMBYism ('don't want them in my town') and power craziness. It's not what one would want in first responders to a natural catastrophe; but no one was in charge because FEMA dropped the ball.

[PatrickHenry]

What Went Wrong
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...s/12617086.htm
or truthout: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091205P.shtml (scroll down)

New Orleans' fragile levee system had collapsed hours before Katrina even made landfall.

Extended analysis and the beginnings of a timeline. This stuff all has to come out...

Of the top 10 natural-disaster jobs listed on FEMA's Web site, five were occupied by individuals with no prior disaster experience. In addition, 14 of the top 25 posts were being filled on a temporary basis or by someone working two senior jobs at the same time.

[PatrickHenry]

Why did those wall fail anyhow? Just one of those things, you say? Maybe, bu it would be good to get to the bottom of it wouldn't it? http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporlea...13.html#079207

"Why did we have no hurricane levee failures but five separate places with floodwall failures?" asked Joseph Suhayda, a retired LSU coastal engineer who examined the breaches last week. "That suggests there may be something about floodwalls that makes them more susceptible to failure. Did (the storm) exceed design conditions? What were the conditions? What about the construction?" Ivor Van Heerden, who uses computer models to study storm-surge dynamics for the LSU Hurricane Center, has said that fragmentary initial data indicate that Katrina's storm-surge heights in Lake Pontchartrain would not have been high enough to top the canal walls and that a "catastrophic structural failure" occurred in the floodwalls.