My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

I might be wrong since I don't know too much about how the American society is organized, but what I know is that at other natural disasters like the tsunami etc., the American military and the American non-governmental organisations have responded quickly and contributed much. However, the civilian government, like FEMA, has not been major part of those operations. Maybe FEMA as organisation thus lacked the sort of "managing in chaos"-experience that other organisations possess. After all, it seems like everything went better when the military overtook more of the real control. I am absolutely sure that the American military or the American Red Cross/International Red Cross would be able to get supplies in quicker if they would be in charge (they get food to Africa and Asia quicker).

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

Very interesting and acute analysis. I think I'll have to agree with your assessment.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

Another overlooked factor:

There were no members of the Saudi Royal Family in New Orleans at the time.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

[ QUOTE ]
Another overlooked factor:

There were no members of the Saudi Royal Family in New Orleans at the time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I wonder, do you actually believe the constant tripe you spit out, or is this just some kind of joke that I'm not picking up on?

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

Examine what happened to the Saudi Royals in America compared to American Citizens during the last Bush disaster, and get back to me.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

There are several things to add to the equation. FEMA Employees are not used to being shot at ... and that's also not considered in a terrorist scenario. Apparently the N.O. police are not used to being shot at either. OTOH, N.O. police have had a long history of corruption and it may be an issue of loyalties.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

[ QUOTE ]
I am absolutely sure that the American military or the American Red Cross/International Red Cross would be able to get supplies in quicker if they would be in charge (they get food to Africa and Asia quicker).

[/ QUOTE ]


I was wondering why we didn't see the Red Cross go in sooner to offer relief especially to the people in the Superdome and Convention Center. Anyone know why they weren't the first ones in there? They are usually so dependable. (Sorry if this has already been addressed in this forum. I haven't read all the threads.)

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

[ QUOTE ]
I was wondering why we didn't see the Red Cross go in sooner to offer relief especially to the people in the Superdome and Convention Center. Anyone know why they weren't the first ones in there? They are usually so dependable. (Sorry if this has already been addressed in this forum. I haven't read all the threads

[/ QUOTE ]

The American Red Cross and the Salvation Army were kept out by the troops surrounding New Orleans. I don't know why but George Bush is an idiot.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

The American military cleaned [censored] up pretty fast when they finally got in there. Very impressive.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

From the Red Cross website:

[ QUOTE ]
Hurricane Katrina: Why is the Red Cross not in New Orleans?


Access to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

[/ QUOTE ]

So Homeland Security and FEMA only didn't provide food for three days, they prevented other organizations from doing the same.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

[ QUOTE ]
The American Red Cross and the Salvation Army were kept out by the troops surrounding New Orleans. I don't know why but George Bush is an idiot.

[/ QUOTE ]
Go in -- you lose. Don't go in -- you lose.

Police lost control. Their was shooting from the "stranded" residents. If he goes in and they take fire, they have to shoot back -- so he's guilty of killing blacks. He doesn't go in until backups arrive -- he's guilty of neglecting blacks. You saw the footage of the grocery stores being emptied -- it didn't look like anybody was going to starve. What would you do? Walk into a gun fight?

Answer. The whole thing had nothing to do with blacks. It had to do with a city that has been out of control for decades.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The American Red Cross and the Salvation Army were kept out by the troops surrounding New Orleans. I don't know why but George Bush is an idiot.

[/ QUOTE ]
Go in -- you lose. Don't go in -- you lose.

Police lost control. Their was shooting from the "stranded" residents. If he goes in and they takes fire, they have to shoot back -- so he's guilty of killing blacks. He doesn't go in until backups arrive -- he's guilty of neglecting blacks. You saw the footage of the grocery stores being emptied -- it didn't llok like anybody was going to starve. What would you do? Walk into a gun fight?

[/ QUOTE ]

But the International Red Cross operates in several areas with similar danger levels, so if they are willing to take that risk, shouldn't they be allowed? (not meant as a rhetorical question)

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

[ QUOTE ]
You saw the footage of the grocery stores being emptied -- it didn't look like anybody was going to starve. What would you do? Walk into a gun fight?


[/ QUOTE ]

I would let the aid agencies go in if they felt safe to do so. There were reporters there the whole time and none of them were shot. Don't keep aid agencies out and make a bad situation worse.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

They should definitely be allowed in. In a few interviews with military officers today, they said there were many less shootings then reported. If Harry Connick can walk the streets untouched, I'm sure Red Cross should have minimal problems.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

go post AM

I haven't and will no read all but a few of the reponses as the level on retardation on this board is intolerable at the moment so you mave have covered some as this earlier.

I think you are on to something but not quite there. From my limited knowledge it appears much of the confusion and chaos stemmed from a lack of communication between the state/local and federal authorities.

I think that at the beginning State officials tried to run operations using the federal government as a resource. This resulted for example the Federal Government making available to the State resources like food,water and man power but without the Federal government actually putting them into action. The problem was that the State government simply was not capable for many reasons of effectively using all of those resources. Thus many things went unused and people suffered.

I think at first the Federal Government was unwilling or hesitant to seize control and turn the managing of the crisis over to the one organization skilled and experienced in operating wide spread life and death crisis situations. As you stated the US military.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

one other thing about my reply.

I'm not trying to either blame the state officials nor trying absolve the Federal Government.

I think there were mistake made at all levels but I also no not think there were know men in back rooms curling their mustache's.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

It's been stated above but I'll say it again.

Immediate control was at the local level. NO and LA politics have been hugely corrupt for decades, no secret there. There was no good leadership and chaos ensued quickly.

Contrast this with the aftermath of 9/11 (admittedly not as wide of scope as this disaster). Guliani had things under control. Bush and the federal government were footnotes the first few days of that tragedy in NY.

If NO had had a strong mayor, or Louisiana a strong governor, things would have gone much better.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

[ QUOTE ]
It's been stated above but I'll say it again.

Immediate control was at the local level. NO and LA politics have been hugely corrupt for decades, no secret there. There was no good leadership and chaos ensued quickly.

Contrast this with the aftermath of 9/11 (admittedly not as wide of scope as this disaster). Guliani had things under control. Bush and the federal government were footnotes the first few days of that tragedy in NY.

If NO had had a strong mayor, or Louisiana a strong governor, things would have gone much better.

[/ QUOTE ]

If one thing NOLA PD knows how to do it is control a crowd. They have a nice little 100K people drill for 2 weeks before Ash Wed. every year. I've been there, there is nothing like it and they do a very good job.

It was completely apparent late Monday night when the levee broke there was no way ANY local police force in the world could handle the situation. There was no jail, no central command and they were outnumbered by a huge number. 1/3 of the force was MIA on Tuesday night.

What was needed was National Guard on the street, enmass, and localized policing of shelters. Bush and the LA gov failed here completely and things got rapidly out of hand.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

It was up to the LA governor to request troops. I didn't see or hear from her in the media, and it seems she made no decisions at all for a couple of days.

If nothing else, she should have immediately recognized the fact that she was out of her depth, and called for federal aid.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

[ QUOTE ]
It was up to the LA governor to request troops. I didn't see or hear from her in the media, and it seems she made no decisions at all for a couple of days.

If nothing else, she should have immediately recognized the fact that she was out of her depth, and called for federal aid.

[/ QUOTE ]

She did call for aid on Tuesday in both press conferences and a personal call to Bush but that is beside the point.

Bush declared on Friday a 'Federal Emergency' thus giving (and charging) the Feds with jurisdiction.

No matter what happened in No and LA, FEMA still has not responded to Biloxi and the other MS affected communities.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

What went wrong was the governer didn't call out the national guard soon enough.

Re: My personal theory of what went wrong in NO
 

[ QUOTE ]
I didn't see or hear from her in the media, and it seems she made no decisions at all for a couple of days.


[/ QUOTE ]

Unlike the president, not all public officials call a press conference every time they make a decision.

I\'m reporting you to the FBI
 

There is something vaguely terroristic in your post - although I cannot tell what it is exactly.

I'll let the feds sort it out.