On BBC: Northern Command was in position, waiting for Presidential orders.

[drm604]

This was on the episode of BBC World News which played on a local (Philadelphia area) PBS station at 6:00 am this morning. I can't find a stream or transcript online. It's sitting on my TIVO right now marked do not delete but I have no way to put it onto my hard drive and no place to serve it from anyway. If you do have a recording of it, it starts about 9 minutes in. I've done a hand written transcript, the spelling and punctuation are mine. The bolding is also mine to emphasize what I think is the important part. The BBC announcer was interviewing Lieutenant Commander Sean Kelly whom she referred to as Leftenant Commander. This is the entire interview with no missing context.

Announcer: The relief operation is the largest ever conducted in America. It's being coordinated by the US Northern Command in Colorado. Leftenant Commander Sean Kelly explains how the relief effort is being organized.

Kelly: US Northern Command is the command that coordinates the military support for our federal and state agencies. They call up and request a capability and we try and provide that capability, whether it's medical resources, search and rescue helicopters, food, water, transportation, communications; that's what we provide.

A: So it sounds like you're providing a bit of everything. I mean, do you know how much you're actually providing?

K: Right now we've got 4,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marine and coast guardsmen supporting this. They've delivered more than 9 million meals, I can't remember how many millions of liters of water.

A: 9 million meals? Do you actually have 9 million meals?

K: It's those "meals ready to eat". The packaged meals that the Army takes out with them out in the field. We have 9 million of 'em ready. I know at least 100,000 went to the Superdome the other night to help the people out there in New Orleans. So they're staged at various places throughout Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana.

A: Now I'm sure you're aware of the criticism that the authorities have been slow to respond to this. When did you get the order to start relief work?

K: NorthCom started planning before the storm even hit. We were ready for the storm when it hit Florida because, as you remember, it crossed the bottom part of Florida, and then we were plaining, you know, once it was pointed towards the Gulf Coast. So what we did was we activated what we call defense coordinating officers to work with the state to say okay, what do you think you'll need, and we set up staging bases that could be started. We had the USS Baton sailing almost behind the hurricane so that after the hurricane made landfall it's search and rescue helicopters would be available almost immediately. So we had things ready. The only caveat is, we have to wait until the President authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the military can't just act in this fashion, we have to wait for the President to give us permission.

A: Now I gather that your engineers are also involved in pumping some of that flood water out of the areas.

K: Yes, our military personnel are helping to reconstruct the levees which frees up the engineers to start pumping out the waters so that hopefully New Orleans can be high and dry soon enough.

So apparently everything was in position, waiting for Bush to do something.

On Edit: Fixed a spelling error.

[wli]

1. Can you get someone out to your house to extract it from the TIVO? n/t

[drm604]

12. I can dump it to a VHS tape,

and then I could get my brother to burn it to a DVD (so we're talking about a 3rd generation copy). From there we should be able to get it to a hard drive but I'd need someone who can serve it. That segment is only about 3 minutes so the file probably wouldn't be that big.

[wli]

18. sounds like a good first-order approximation n/t

[bpilgrim]

152. here's the video ----------- -------------- ---------- > LINK

http://news.globalfreepress.com/gallery/displayimage.ph...

download link...
http://news.globalfreepress.com/movs/katrina/BBC_Katrin...

psst... pass the word ;->

peace

[John Doe II]

162. Many many thanks

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

195. Please keep kicked! nt

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

169. Kick!!!!!!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

178. Hey, BP... Let me lighten some of that bandwidth...

http://leftandrightfight.com/SeanKellyVid.html

(the site's still under construction, bear with me)

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

184. Kick!

[chalky]

200. PLEASE GIVE THIS LINK ITS OWN THREAD!!

pretty please?

[DrDebug]

26. A copy will be appreciated by many

Don't worry about the quality. It is the content which is very important

[kenny blankenship]

93. Find your local Linux geek. Tivo runs on Linux--the hd filesystem is bound

to be some native filesystem type: ext2, ext3 possibly reiserfs. I don't know what it is, but if he has the harddrive in hand your local geek will find out and retrieve the file copy it and transcode it to an easily shareable media file like an AVI/ xvid4 codec clip which you can then disseminate via some site like crooksandliars or p2p sharing network(s).

[Eloriel]

61. An important clarification, folks -- PLEASE READ

Remember, this bit of info is about NORTHCOM, the federal military who have been given expanded involvement in domestic affairs under probably the PATRIOT Act as a result of 9-11.

Help with natural disasters has heretofore been primarily the duty of the National Guard, NOT the Feds. Having the Feds come in at a time like this is new (I think), at least since the Posse Commitatus act was passed in the 1860s, and NOT necessarily a good thing.

I saw a piece of a brief press conference with the general in charge of Northcom, and he was big on this whole "force will only be used in self-protection" thing, since Posse Commitatus says the feds CAN'T be involved in law enforcement, but we all know that this administration (and yes, that would extend to the general who are left after the various purges) is big on saying one thing and doing another.

SO -- that the feds weren't activated is NOT necessarily a bad thing since it portends martial law. It was NG troops who were needed first and more -- and they weren't given authorization iether.

In any case, AFAIC this development supports the theories in my OP here:

ATTN DU RESEARCHERS -- LIHOP/MIHOP evidence stacking up
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[chomskysright]

72. Great post: Thanks: we are mapping MALEVOLENT NEGLECT:

Its much bigger. MALEVOLENT NEGLECT:

THE CRUEL SOCIETY (Stephen Downes in Canada's phrase).

Repeated after 9-11 when the Air Force 'stood down': why was the AF not in the air? Oh, you mean that 'War Games' practice which was coincidentally on the same day as that which 'confused' what should have taken place?

Chicago Mayor Daley stating back on SUNDAY that Chicago was ready to help out. http://www.suntimes.com/output/hurricane/cst-nws-daley0 ...

This is planned. It has to do with Rove setting up the chess board and moving a few of the pieces. The pieces that WERE on the board were these: underfund Army Corps of Engineers re: the 3 cities mapped by FEMA to be most at risk: San Francisco; NY; New Orleans. SF has too many activitist; NY also and has already been hit and would doubly irate this time; NO has 30% pop of black people, quite poor, black Dem mayor, Dem governor. Wait for Act of God....waiting....drumming fingers on table.....waiting.

Act of God (I was wondering where he was, says Rove): NOW, sir: send in those Nat'l Guard: its Thursday evening and the orders go out to get the NG in there.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/katrina_national_guard

Bush sweeps in like the Savior: kisses the babies; hugs the clean young Black women (as he turns them towards the cameras). A few more troublesome Dems drowned; Louisiana only has about 10 electoral college votes anyway.

Man: let's get back to our vacation.

[SofaKingLiberal]

135. The suntimes link you posted is no longer available

Do you have a copy?

[blondeatlast]

167. When news sources archive, they often change the file names. If you can

access EBSCO or ProQuest or such from your local library, you can usually find things with a pretty simple search.

I did see the quote, and I know it was here on DU. I'm fairly certain it was on Friday and I think in GD/P.

[Nothing Without Hope]

185. Eloriel's linked thread was disappeared and then later the links were

reconstituted by EarlG - he set up a new thread in which he put the links back in. Here's the reconstituted Eloriel LiHOP/MIHOP research thread #1, with the OP replaced by EarlG's comments on why he had disappeared (not merely locked) it and later reconstituted the thread:

(snip)

Earlier I removed a thread by Eloriel which had been previously locked. At first glance this thread appeared to be inappropriate, specifically because of the premise that the Bush administration deliberately planned the poor response as some kind of social experiment.

However, DUers were using this thread to build a large and useful collection of links, and attempting to create a timeline of events. As a courtesy I have spent some time recreating the links from the deleted thread and they appear in the post immediately below this one.

(snip)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
New thread title by EarlG: REPOST: Eloriel's thread. Plus a word on conspiracy theories

[Roland99]

193. n/m

[kenny blankenship]

2. Everyone should see this

it could be very salient testimony in the days ahead.

[Obamarama]

3. HOW UTTERLY TREASONOUS

I am literally SHAKING WITH RAGE.

[rodeodance]

4. "waiting for BushCo to act"--would be the slogan

....So apparently everything was in position, waiting for Bush to do something.

[kenny blankenship]

9. Blocked by Shrubbery?

[SmokingJacket]

5. It's becoming clearer and clearer that the president's lack of action

is to pretty much solely to blame for the FIVE DAYS of suffering.

For some reason, he saw no need to send in the help until Friday. Was that when it became apparent that he was "looking bad"?

[SammyWinstonJack]

17. IMPEACH NOW!

[EnfantTerrible]

66. Impeachment would take too long

Arrest him now.

[Name removed]

73. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Roland99]

134. It was clear from Tue. night.

[malaise]

6. Several states made offers before the hurricane hit the area

I'm watching/listening to WWLTV and earlier this morning I heard that the New Mexico Governor offered National Guard troops to arrive to before the hurricane hit the Gulf states and so did several other states. Bush was playing guitar or was involved in some other fucking useless trivial pursuit. Fuck all of them - they now have to put their Iran plans on hold. They will fucking pay for this.
http://www.wwltv.com/perl/common/video/yahooPlayer.pl

[SoCalDemocrat]

199. Who refused other states access? FEMA?

Who told them no? Who needed to authorize them?

[Spazito]

7. Bingo!!! The ultimate proof of the total failure of bush, and bush alone

for this ongoing disaster. The only thing he cannot be blamed for is the hurricane itself, everything else falls squarely on his head.

[cthrumatrix]

97. so when will our media share this with the American People?

[MindPilot]

8. OK, New Rule:

When the CIC happens to be a blithering idiot, you are as a military officer authorized to do your job without waiting for an order that is not going to come.

On edit: nominated.

[chomskysright]

82. We are close to proposing military take-over & this might be preferable

[SammyWinstonJack]

10. So blaming the Democratic Gov of LA is just plain wrong! Right?

[Eloriel]

58. Yes, and also the blaming of the Mayor of NO nt

[mod mom]

11. Absolutely DAMNING! Send to CNN! nt

[bloom]

13. ...

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. kick nt

[drm604]

15. I can't be the only one who recorded this.

I'm hoping that it will show up on a BBC website soon. If not I'll try to do what I can but I do not have the capability to serve the file. Maybe Raw Story or Crooks and Liars could serve it?

[tk2kewl]

40. i am on the BBC News site trying to find it or contact them and ask for it

On the contact page you need to contact a specific program and World News doesn't seem to be a choice.
Was it a morning show with a different tile? These are the choices:

One, Six, Ten : BBC One
Breakfast
Breakfast with Frost
Newsnight
Panorama
Question Time
This World
Real Story
Money Programme
Working Lunch
Politics Show
The Daily Politics
BBC News 24
HARDtalk
Click Online
BBC Parliament
BBC Three News


On Edit: I requested an official video or transcript from BBC at this page: http://www.bbcworld.com/content/template_customer_feedb...

[demo dutch]

57. It's a PBS program Videotape Sales are at PBS NJN Trenton

Videotape Sales
[e-mail]
609-777-5093

This station is in the Philly area, and show 6:00 AM BBC World News Broadcast

[Gloria]

112. I searched all over the BBC, too.....no dice....

and BBC World airs at 6am here (MT) only M-F

[cthrumatrix]

175. kick

[CottonBear]

16. When did the president order them to go? n/t

[drm604]

20. That wasn't stated

but I assume that it was yesterday, the same day as the photo opps.

[Spazito]

24. It seems he only began to act on Thursday, after he got back from

his fund-raising, cake-eating, guitar-playing trip to California. More and more evidence is pointing that way, imo.

Edited to add:

Here is an instance of lack of action until Thursday that leads me to believe the upper portion of my post:

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state's National Guard on Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn't come from Washington until late Thursday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/katrina_national_guard

[Igel]

139. One has to wonder.

Michigan said they got the request from Mississippi on Wednesday, and the troops were en route on Friday. But all was ready for action on Tuesday.

The request from LA didn't arrive until Thursday night. That was for Michigan, and it coincided roughly with the NM request timing.

Part of the delay was authorization for law enforcement duties that neither Blanco no others had incorporated into the inter-state agreements.

I can't help but wonder where the rest of the delay was, and how hiring Witt plays into this.

[chomskysright]

85. THURSDAY NIGHT: see refer on home page of DU

[leftchick]

19. LIHOP II

[Wheaty]

21. I watched this on BBC America this morning

I watched the broadcast on BBC america this morning and heard the same thing. I don't have a recording. I hope BBC puts a recording up on their site.

[CottonBear]

22. Dupe. Delete.

[graywarrior]

23. Keep kicked til it makes front page

[northamericancitizen]

25. Its sickenning. keep kicking.

[chomskysright]

86. KICK!!!!!!!

[SammyWinstonJack]

27. Kick nt

[mod mom]

28. Any links yet?

[Horse with no Name]

29. The case is made for treason against the people of the US from

the highest office.
If this doesn't take that rat bastard down--NOTHING will.

[Ian_rd]

30. Thank you for spreading the info (nt)

[nashville_brook]

31. can we ask crooksandliars to get this clip?

i just woke up -- i'm glad for the light this shines, but omg bush is a MONSTER. we have to get this out!

[drm604]

32. IF SOMEONE CAN SERVE THIS VIDEO PLEASE PM ME.

Tell me what formats (wmv, etc.) you can serve and how I should send it to you (email, upload to server, etc.). It will be at least a few hours before I can have a file ready.

On Edit: I just spoke with my brother and we're not even sure if he has the capability to convert the DVD recording to a format we can use. Does anyone here have knowledge about this stuff? Are the files recorded on a DVD standard video format files that can be copied to a hard drive and viewed with standard AV software such as Windows Media or Quicktime?

[northamericancitizen]

33. The whole world need to know . n/t

[demo dutch]

42. Contact you PBS Station and ask how you can get a copy of this!

[colinmom71]

69. Just asked my tech husband..

And yes, you should have no trouble converting your DVD recording into a video file. The video transfer onto the DVD won't be encrypted like a commercial DVD, and won't be encrypted like regular TiVo video.

You'll want to find a program (check download.com) that can convert .vob files from your DVD to a format that your video editing program (iMovie for Mac, Windows Movie Maker, etc) can read.

Then edit as you please.

Hope this helps! Good luck...

[drm604]

104. Thanks for the info.

I don't have a video editing program but hopefully I can convert it to some standard format like mpg. Can I copy the .vob file off of the DVD and then convert it? I'm not sure that my brother would want me downloading and installing stuff on his computer, so I would want to do the conversion on mine, but mine can't read DVDs.

[Timbuk3]

79. I have plenty of space and bandwidth

If you still need a server or a mirror, PLEASE email me ([e-mail] ) and we'll figure out how to get it on the site.

This needs to be seen.

[graywarrior]

34. I just emailed this to Kerry. I will send out more to as many as I can.

[chomskysright]

87. KICK!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mod mom]

35. kicking for a link!

[Seabiscuit]

36. A well-deserved kick:

[tk2kewl]

37. No doubt about it. Bush is guilty of Negligent Genocide at the least

if not deliberate premeditated genocide

[cbear70]

38. can someone help me with a blaster

I need to find a way to blast this out but only have so many committed to memory... help???

[Peace Patriot]

84. Media Blaster...

Media Blaster at:
http://www.independentmediasource.com/voteintegrity2_12...

It's easy to use. You can put your own text in the message.

[cbear70]

95. thanks

Using it..

[Marr]

39. Waiting for the FUCKING PHOTO OP to start!

Ok, this is the sort of thing I've been looking for. Some quotes from service members on the ground that say they had the supplies ready to roll, but were told to wait until the President gave the "go" sign.

And he gave the go sign as he was touching down at his fake, staged photo-op.

It's time to write some letters to the press on this.

[demo dutch]

41. CONTACT YOUR PBS STATION! AND FIND OUT HOW TO

get a copy this this

[drm604]

43. I never thought about checking out the PBS website.

Maybe they have it. I'll check...

[Terre]

46. I've checked but can't find it

however, doesn't mean it's not there. *sigh*

What was the name of the PBS program, and what time zone are you in?

[demo dutch]

53. http://www.njn.net/ is their website, showing BBC World news at 6AM

probably can contact the station (609-777-5000) to find out how to get a copy of that interview This is what they list for

Videotape Sales
[e-mail]
609-777-5093

[demo dutch]

48. NJN PBS Trenton is the only one broadcasting BBC WldNews at 6:00 on Sat

Trenton is close Philly right?

[drm604]

59. Yes, that's the station.

WNJT is the one that broadcast it. I get it on Comcast Cable. I've brought it to the attention of several friendly news outlets. Hopefully they can get the clip.

[demo dutch]

78. Did the same thing hopefully they'll run with it!

[chomskysright]

88. I would also have thought it might be have been on the BBC last night:

which starts 12 midnight here, EST.

[Terre]

44. If anyone finds a link

or comes up with one, please don't forget to post here. This valuable post also deserves to be kept kicked periodically.

Thanks drm604 for catching this!

[demo dutch]

54. SOMEONE CALL THIS NUMBER 609-777-5093 for PBS Video Sales at that station:

Videotape Sales
[e-mail]
609-777-5093

[drm604]

64. It isn't a question of getting a video.

I have it on Tivo and can dump it to a video tape. I can even get it to a DVD. I'm not sure what to do at that point. It may be simple, I haven't tried yet. But even if I get it onto a hard drive I need someone who has the bandwidth to host it. I've contacted Crooks and Liars and I'm guessing that they'll want it but I haven't heard back yet. Right now I need to get offline so I can see about getting it onto a DVD.

[demo dutch]

77. OK I have emailed this to lots of media hopefully they'll run with it!

[Stephanie]

45. So when did Bush give the authorization? How can we find out?

I am guessing it was some time Wednesday afternoon.


___________________________________

Sat Aug-28-05

Bush returns from his Idaho vacation to his Crawford vacation home on Wednesday 8/24 and promptly disappears from view. On Saturday thousands of protestors converge on Crawford.


___________________________________

Sun Aug-28-05

On Sunday, as headlines report "Katrina Packing Wind of Nearly 175 Mph" and New Orleans is ordered to evacuate, Bush finally resurfaces in a taped appearance. He makes brief remarks about Katrina and then discusses Iraq. Transcript: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/2005082... Later the White House issues one photo of Bush being briefed on Katrina.




___________________________________

Mon Aug-29-05

As the hurricane rages, Bush flies to Arizona for a "Conversation on Medicare." Upon landing, he presents John McCain with a birthday cake. He then flies to San Diego to spend the night at the luxury resort Hotel del Coronado, reportedly attending a fundraiser that night.








___________________________________

Tue Aug-30-05

As floodwaters inundate New Orleans and the Gulf Coast reels from the catastrophe, Bush speaks at a VJ-Day ceremony in San Diego. Afterwards singer Mark Wills presents him with a guitar. He then returns to Crawford for the night.








___________________________________

Wed Aug-31-05

Bush finally returns to Washington. AF1 flies over New Orleans so Bush can view the disaster. Back at the WH he makes his first official statement about the aftermath of Katrina.






___________________________________

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news /

[stubtoe]

56. Stephanie: Magnificently done

You should get PAID for this wonderful illustrated timeline.

[Stephanie]

63. free of charge, spread it around, thanks!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

101. Bravo! Bravo! Bravo Stephanie! Thank you! I'm going to send it out! nt

[rhosgobel]

130. Timeline of Bush for the last week

I created a text timeline of Bush & Co's response to Katrina, complete with source links, here: <http://rhosgobel.blogspot.com/2005/09/historical-compar... >.

[B Calm]

165. And they have the balls to point their finger at the Mayor & Governor!

[Deep N RedLand]

47. And yet I notice...

...even some of the pundits that have been critical of their fellow Repugs are still doing everything they can to avoid including their precious pres. Disgusting!

[SaveAmerica]

49. Maybe you can start another thread asking everyone to e-mail

call all news channels asking them to interview this guy to get a quote of when he was given the go-ahead to start life-saving procedures.

[Pallas180]

50. This is an indictment of Bush.-Send to your Sens/Reps-Repub & Dems

It could be enough to start impeachment hearings if we push hard enough.

CAPITOL HILL SWITCHBOARD - (202) 224 –3121


IDENTIFY YOUR CONRESS CRITTER http://www.visi.com/juan/congress /



WHITE HOUSE NUMBER 202 456 1414

[Imagevision]

51. It appears Bush gave the order to move on Friday n/t

[rosesaylavee]

55. Do you mean yesterday or a week ago Friday? n/t

[rosesaylavee]

52. IMPEACH BUSH NOW & nominated for GP n/t

[Gloria]

60. I know this was being talked about right at the beginning of this

mess...I know I heard talk of this on TV....in passing, but it was mentioned by outlets here in the States...I know there was a military guy on also who said at one point that they were WAITING TO BE GIVEN THE ORDERS to go ahead......

will search

[thedailyshow]

62. AN IDEA ON HOW TO DISSEMINATE THE VIDEO

Play that TIVO clip of that news report, and have a digital camera (the kind that takes 1 or 2 minutes video clips), and record that specific clip.

Then upload it to your computer and use yousendit.com to e-mail the link to your friends who can host it on their server and then post it on here. Hope this helps!

[cthrumatrix]

103. we need this out ...now

[Gloria]

65. First AP Story, Wed. 8/31 on NC, reporting Pentagon coordination...

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3788628
(Columbia, SC station)

Pentagon coordinating massive response to Katrina

(Washington-AP) August 31, 2005 - Every branch of the US military is involved in the rescue-and-relief mission following Hurricane Katrina.

The US Northern Command is coordinating search and rescue, medical help and supplies. The work will support the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

The Army and Air Force are providing search-and-rescue helicopters. The Army Corps of Engineers is organizing one of its largest response efforts in recent memory.

The Navy says four of its ships loaded with supplies such as food, water, soap and medical supplies are preparing to leave Virginia. They're expected in the Gulf by the weekend.

The hospital ship USNS Comfort is leaving Baltimore for the Gulf, and eight swift water rescue teams from California are on the way to Louisiana.

[silverweb]

67. Unbelievable.

I'm relieved to know that everything was in place before the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast -- which before I was aghast to think it had not been.

However, the thought that the President of the United States knowingly withheld the word needed to set relief and rescue efforts in motion is absolutely beyond outrage and disgust.

He is already guilty of crimes against humanity for the Iraq debacle. Now he is no less guilty of crimes against his own people than Saddam Hussein was.

If Congress does not take immediate action against this pResident and his entire administration, we will know for certain that the America we all once knew and loved is dead and gone, and that we are on our own.

[killbotfactory]

68. This president is absolutely worthless

[cthrumatrix]

71. worse than that ....he waited and people died...impeach him NOW

[EnfantTerrible]

70. kick

and nominated

[bklyncowgirl]

74. Looking at how quickly the military response is going now, I believe it.

They knew what the fuck to do.

They just needed the order from little Nero.

Where was Bush?

P.S. Rove is probably readying the Swift Boats for Lieutenant Kelly.

[cthrumatrix]

83. we all wondered WTF was the delay -- now we know

[jbond56]

75. looks like it hasn't air here yet

I have it set to record at 17:00CST local.

If this is it the video should be available tonight.

[drm604]

81. The PBS station I got it from

broadcasts the live feed from the BBC. If that's true with your station then you may be getting a later news broadcast which may not have the interview.
If it is the same one, and you can get the clip into a file I know someone who says they can get it online at at least 50 different places.

[boston bean]

98. Thanks drm604! Please keep us

informed so that we can see or read this PBS show for our self. It will surely need to be sent on to our Dem leadership.

[jbond56]

119. nope

looks like they decided to air something else. intresting.
guide has it web site says it will air but they are running something else.

[Gloria]

76. Self delete--corrected Timeline below

[Maru Kitteh]

80. Waiting for Bush's photo op you mean

[cthrumatrix]

92. either he fucked up --- OR -- he waited for the PR event

[TorchTheWitch]

89. What's the chain of command for getting/receiving orders?

I've been thinking of asking this question before since I thought I remembered reading in a few places that the military was awaiting orders.

Obviously, the pres doesn't just say "Go to it when you're ready". They would have to get everything organized, and when ready to go, let (WHO?) know they were ready and were awaiting the order to move in. So... what's that chain of command? I imagine that it's the same in both directions... when the military is ready, they go through a chain of command to let the pres know they await his order, and the pres's order then travels back down that chain of command. Who's the head of the military operation (major, colonel, general, etc.) that would start the ready signal up the chain, and does that person give the ready signal directly to the pres?

I already know that orders like this aren't just phone calls back and forth... their pretty formal written orders/notices.

Either their was some unforgivable and totally unlikely breakdown in the chain of command or the pres deliberately didn't send the "go" order. Because of the actions of the Chimp in Chief with his partying and other crap during and after the hurricane, I can't help but believe he got the notice of readiness but never gave the order... he was not responding to the mayor of NO's near hysterical pleas and who knows who else's pleas either.

And if it's Rummy who's the one that gives the readiness notice to Bush... OH HOLY GOD!

[boston bean]

91. All need to see this PBS show

need link or stream. Very important for all media and representatives to see. Plus, I would love to see it myself. Any one know how to get this footage?

[demo dutch]

105. PBS/NJN Trenton, NJ, contact station (609-777-5000) to get video

or contact

Videotape Sales
[e-mail]
609-777-5093
you can visit their website but it's not posted

[Igel]

140. It's fairly clear.

Nagin handles NOLA-internal stuff. He has to coordinate with the state and (probably) with FEMA.

Blanco or her staff handle state-wide stuff. There's a liaison with FEMA. She has her national guard. Her office is in charge of the disaster plan implementation, unless it breaks down and she steps aside. As of Friday night, she hadn't stepped aside.

Blanco and her staff also handles some interstate stuff: She could request NG from NM on her own, with the Feds providing logistics, not authorization, providing that the request was made for purposes covered by the pre-existing inter-state National Guard agreements. By Wednesday, the requests weren't covered by them, it seems.

FEMA handles all the requests for Federal stuff: reimbursements, supplies from national stockpiles, coordination with the US Military.

It works like this:
Nagin makes request to Blanco for state resources, or some requests for pass-through to FEMA (or maybe even makes requests directly to FEMA);
Blanco makes requests to other states or to FEMA, depending if it's state or federal resources she's after;
FEMA handles requests to government agencies and US military, which are to fulfill Blanco's (or Nagin's) requests.

[Mr Rabble]

90. kick. nt

[Gloria]

94. BBC Reports Day by Day timeline....First mention of "state of emergency"

issued by Bush is reported by BBC on 8/28....no mention of NC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4211404.stm


August 28 Sunday
'Once in a lifetime'

Issuing his unprecedented mandatory evacuation order, Mayor Nagin said the city - which sits some 6ft (2m) below sea level - was at risk of serious flooding.

Click here to see Katrina's predicted course

The post-hurricane surge could reach 28ft (8.5m) toppling the barriers that protect the city and its historic French Quarter, he warned.

"We are facing the storm that most of us have feared," he told the city's 485,000 residents.

"This is a once in a lifetime event."

A series of barriers and pumps protect the bowl-shaped city from the Mississippi River on one side, and Lake Pontchartrain on the other.

Experts fear the city's defences could be overwhelmed by floodwaters, inundating New Orleans with chemicals from refineries, and human waste from damaged septic systems.

States of emergency

The neighbouring states of Mississippi and Alabama are also braced for the storm.

US President George W Bush has issued a state of emergency in Louisiana and Mississippi, freeing the path for federal aid.


August 29 Monday

Mayor Ray Nagin said he had received reports that some water had breached the defences.

"This city is under siege," he said.

Katrina passed to the east of New Orleans, although the National Hurricane Center warned it would be pounded throughout Monday - and the potential storm surge could still swamp part of the city.

August 30 Tuesday

The American Red Cross has mobilised thousands of volunteers for its biggest-ever natural disaster effort and federal emergency teams are being dispatched to affected areas.
SNIP
President George W Bush has called on Americans to donate to the Red Cross or other organisations to help while his priority was "saving lives".

The president was interrupting his holiday to return to the Washington two days earlier than planned, the White House said.


...
August 31 Wednesday


Cutting short a holiday in Texas to take charge of the federal recovery effort, Mr Bush said the government was dealing with one of the worst natural disasters in US history.

Snip

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said 1,700 truckloads of essential supplies were on their way there.

Medical shelters are being set up offering 10,000 beds, while the US military is providing dozens of rescue helicopters and boats.

The Pentagon has ordered 10,000 extra national guardsmen to Louisiana and Mississippi.

....
September 1 Thurs

President George W Bush, who will visit the disaster area on Friday, called for "zero tolerance" against law-breakers.

Map of central New Orleans

His Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said more national guards were being sent in the next few days - more than quadrupling the number of security personnel in the city.


'Devastating'

Louisiana state Governor Kathleen Blanco said she was "furious" at the growing crime wave.

She has asked Washington to send more people to help with the relief mission, to free National Guard troops to concentrate on looters.

[Gloria]

115. Summary: WaPo 8/31from what I see, the National Guard was trying to

mobilize on it's own.......Here are the WaPo reports...

Northern Command was waiting for orders.

So we have 2 separate entities here...

the National Guard trying to help bolster the remaining Guard in the Gulf states...
Northern Command waiting for Bush.....



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

washingtonpost.com
Strain of Iraq War Means the Relief Burden Will Have to Be Shared
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 31, 2005; A14

With thousands of their citizen-soldiers away fighting in Iraq, states hit hard by Hurricane Katrina scrambled to muster forces for rescue and security missions yesterday -- calling up Army bands and water-purification teams, among other units, and requesting help from distant states and the active-duty military.

As the devastation threatened to overwhelm state resources, federal authorities called on the Pentagon to mobilize active-duty aircraft, ships and troops and set up an unprecedented task force to coordinate a wider military response, said officials from the Northern Command, which oversees homeland defense.

National Guard officials in the states acknowledged that the scale of the destruction is stretching the limits of available manpower while placing another extraordinary demand on their troops -- most of whom have already served tours in Iraq or Afghanistan or in homeland defense missions since 2001.

More than 6,000 Guard members were mobilized in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida when the storm struck on Monday, with the number rising to 8,000 yesterday and hundreds more expected to be called to active duty, National Guard officials said yesterday.

"Missing the personnel is the big thing in this particular event. We need our people," said Lt. Andy Thaggard, a spokesman for the Mississippi National Guard, which has a brigade of more than 4,000 troops in central Iraq. Louisiana also has about 3,000 Guard troops in Baghdad.

MORE MORE

[bluedog]

194. Red tape keeping much of military on sidelines Camp Casey MISS

note date


Saturday, September 3, 2005 - Page updated at 12:29 AM

Red tape keeping much of military on sidelines




CAMP SHELBY, Miss. — A tiny fraction of the active-duty U.S. military is engaged in rescue and relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a situation that frustrated senior military officers are attributing in part to complex relationships with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"There is a tremendous amount of frustration here, that we have assets stacked up ready to go," said one officer who asked not to be identified. "All we can do is nudge the folks at FEMA and say, 'How about if we do this or that?' "

But a difficult command structure inside the military seemed equally cumbersome as officers wrestled yesterday with having to coordinate any movement of forces with dozens of supervising commands and agencies.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/20024...

[Gloria]

96. Friday, 9/2--BBC Report that Blanco on GMA has asked for a

"Berlin drop" of food and water...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4207628.stm


Questions grow over rescue chaos
In New Orleans, state officials have described the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as a national disgrace.

And increasingly across the country, questions are being asked: "How could this happen?" "Why is help taking so long?" and "How can thousands of Americans be stranded?".

SNIP

On Friday, authorities in Louisiana were trying to crank up the rescue operation. Convoys of school buses were trying to ferry out the thousands of people sheltering in the convention centre and the nearby New Orleans Superdome amid the filth and the dead.

The questions being asked focus on why it has taken so long to get those buses on the road - and why thousands of people sheltering in the places where they were told to take refuge are now going hungry and thirsty.

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco says she has asked for a "Berlin drop" of food and water.

In an interview with Good Morning America on Friday, she said that they were finally starting to see the response from the federal authorities.

[cthrumatrix]

99. of course -- they had to wait until they got the word from bush

[boston bean]

100. Kick n/t

[crispini]

102. .

[drm604]

106. It's going to be a few hours till I can see my brother

and even then I'm not sure if he'll have time before he goes out tonight (if he goes out). And he's kind of paranoid about people fooling with his computer when he's not around. So I may not even be able to get this done today. Are there any DUers in the Philadelphia area who have the capability to convert analog VHS into something like an mpg?

[cthrumatrix]

122. be careful about people contacting you.... the dark side may try to squash

this

[redacted]

107. Try watching Blinkx.com:

For example:

http://searchus.blinkx.com/BlinkxTv/ls.jsp?q=%22Norther...

It takes about 6 hours for Blinkx's computers to process a news broadcast. If the report appeared on BBC News24 in addition to BBC World, Blinkx should have it later today.

[drm604]

108. I wasn't aware of blinkx.com

What a great resource. It's been more than 6 hours since the broadcast so it may show up soon.

[Gloria]

114. Not the same report ....

I had found this already...

[redacted]

117. Um...Gloria. . .

I'm giving folks an example of the kind of search that should turn up this video clip in the next few hours, not trying to show an old report (that it sounds like you already found).

Not sure it's helpful for you to give the impression that this resource is providing old or poorly selected results when Blinkx probably won't post this morning's BBC news clip until several hours from now.

[Gloria]

126. Didn't mean to step on your toes...thought that enough time

had passed since I check on it in the afternoon....and the report was at 6am ET

I was just reporting on what I saw at that time, around 4:30 PM ET

That seems to be "a few hours"....

[Gloria]

109. I found CNN/Adm. Keating 8/31 waiting for orders!!!! see this thead

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[Pallas180]

110. DRM thanks - I just e mailed this story out to about 10 mags & nespapers

hope they investigate it or re- use it.

[Pallas180]

111. Now we should start e mailing the header story to the reps & senators

IDENTIFY YOUR CONRESS CRITTER http://www.visi.com/juan/congress /

[Pallas180]

124. kick it again - a must read

/

[Kni7es]

113. Greater Good vs. The Letter of the Law

We're all caught up in so much red tape now, it's ridiculous. In my hometown of Frederick, MD, Jimmy Buffet sued a small-time burger joint named "Cheesburgers n' Paridise" for copyright infringement. It's not like this guy was making millions off of Buffet's song as the name of his resturaunt, and it's not like Buffet didn't have millions already, but he felt content to sue this guy.

When Mother Teresa cannot establish a homeless shelter in New York City, we have a problem in this country.

[daleo]

121. The scale of these events are rather different.

Merely calling it "red tape" and comparing it to a cheeseburger restaurant trivializes a major tragedy of epic proportions.

[Terre]

116. Kicking

to keep this up on a fast moving page. I'm still checking for any other further confirmation on this statement by Kelly. Hope everyone is keeping their eyes open as well.

[ananda]

118. I wonder why..

.. Black people everywhere aren't demonstrating and rioting in the streets.

Sue

[FlaGranny]

173. I hope not. That would take resources

from the rescue and care of these 100's of thousands of homeless people and destroy their neighborhoods to boot. Counterproductive.

[markus]

120. There is a Lt. Cmdr. Sean Kelly

He is identified as a "NORAD spokesman" in stories in the spy plance incident with China several years back.

I'm leaving this up on my blog although it's stretching my self-imposed limits for credibility, as it is entirely consistent with events.

wetbankguide.blogspot.com

[markus]

123. This needs a kick again

[CHIMO]

125. Record of Readiness

Does not have the BBC interview but shows the degree of preparedness.

Military's Northern Command steps up response efforts

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=32146&s...

[Gloria]

127. New Story from Chimo: from www.govexec.com .....about orders

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Military's Northern Command steps up response efforts


PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- The Joint Operations Center at U.S. Northern Command is an electronic window into America. And as Hurricane Katrina churned its way across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, gathering energy and pushing a storm surge before it, the view from that window darkened ominously.

Most of the eight large video screens that make up the operation center's "wall of knowledge" were tracking the approaching storm and the U.S. government's preparation for what would become one of the worst natural disasters to strike America in modern times.


Northern Command, the Pentagon's designated force for protecting the homeland and responding to "incidents of national consequence," began deploying forces well before Katrina made landfall. It dispatched military liaison and medical planning teams to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, where they were to coordinate with Federal Emergency Management Agency field offices. As part of the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA is responsible for coordinating the federal response to hurricanes.

Given acute sensitivities about military operations on U.S. soil, and given the provisions of the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the U.S. military (although not the National Guard) from engaging in law enforcement activities, Keating's comments caused a stir. Almost immediately following their publication, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff reminded the Pentagon that under presidential directive, he had federal responsibility to "prepare for, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies."

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=32146&s ...

Looks less than 24 hrs. young.

[Gloria]

128. More from GOVEXEC.com.....who does what...the hieararchy

Ironically, it was not the prospect of natural disasters that led to the creation of Northern Command in 2002, along with the Homeland Security Department. It was the threat of future terrorist attacks like those of September 11, 2001, or even worse, that prompted the U.S. military to assume a more prominent domestic role than ever before in its modern history. Northern Command is the physical embodiment of that larger military presence on the American scene.

As Hurricane Katrina and the catastrophic flooding of New Orleans illustrate, however, some natural disasters can wreak havoc on a scale that quickly overwhelms local and state authorities. In such civil emergencies, the U.S. military has traditionally been asked to contribute its unique capabilities in terms of command-and-control, communications, air- and sealift, search-and-rescue, emergency medical response, and sheer manpower. Since the establishment of Northern Command, however, the Pentagon no longer offers such assistance ad hoc, or as an afterthought to the military's primary mission of fighting wars. As one of the Pentagon's joint, unified commands headed by a four-star flag officer, Northern Command has meticulously planned for homeland-defense and disaster-relief missions and held exercises. In July 2004, for instance, the command participated in a training exercise that simulated how to respond to a Category 3 hurricane striking New Orleans and producing a storm surge that crested the city's protective levees and killed thousands.

During a crisis, often the first question asked of NorthCom, a relatively new command, is the most fundamental and difficult of them all. "The first question we have to ask and answer, along with all the agencies we work with, is, Who is in charge?" said Navy Capt. Brad Johanson, chief of NorthCom's Joint Operations Center. If it's a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, FEMA is the lead agency, with Northern Command in support. In a wildfire, the Agriculture Department will typically take the lead, through its National Interagency Fire Center. In the case of a terrorist infiltration where military assets are helping to monitor the situation, the FBI will usually be in charge.

MORE

[drm604]

129. I'M STILL WORKING ON THIS.

I'm still working on getting this thing digitized. A number of people other than me now have VHS copies of it. I think that it's possible that the BBC is trying to bury this interview. They have many different clips online but not this one. If you know for a fact that you can digitize it into a format that most people can play, please PM me. I will ship a videotape if necessary. PLEASE ONLY DO THIS IF YOU CAN *SWEAR* TO ME THAT YOU CAN DIGITIZE IT AND MAKE THE FILE AVAILABLE TO ME ONLINE. I am currently out of work and I cannot afford to be sending copies to a hundred curiosity seekers.

[SaveAmerica]

132. I don't know if this has been discussed but I found this gov't doc

when I was doing some research to put your info in a letter. This is DoD on Wednesday (the afternoon GW showed up early from his vacation) announcing what they're plans to help are:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/200...


The commanding officer of our operational response is Admiral Tim Keating. He is the Combatant Commander of the United States Northern Command. He has, at the direction of the Secretary of Defense, formed a joint task force, JTF Katrina. It is commanded by Lieutenant General Honore, United States Army, ordinarily the commander of the First Army, now commanding, for the time being, the JTF that has been formed specifically for the tactical response, regarding this relief effort.

We ultimately expect that we will make available a fleet of approximately 50 helicopters to support FEMA's operations. That would include aerial assessment of damage, movement of FEMA personnel and other interagency partners who, for reasons that are obvious, had difficulty achieving ground transportation.



We have transported from California eight civilian swift water rescue teams to assist those civilians who are still trapped by the collected water. We anticipate providing from the Department of Defense a 500-bed mobile hospital. That will be deployed in the New Orleans area. We may provide -- it's under active consideration -- as many as 800 personnel to assist the American Red Cross with shelter support.



Some of you may have seen media broadcasts that relate to the movement of United States Naval Forces. That reflected again the proactive, very aggressive message given to us by the Secretary of Defense that we are not to merely be passive in our response to FEMA requests for assistance, but as a fully cooperating partner to anticipate the kinds of needs that FEMA may bring to our attention, and to put in place in a forward-deployed status those kinds of DOD capabilities that will likely be called upon.

[mrfrapp]

133. I've got a copy...

I've got a copy of BBC World News from the 2nd September but it doesn't seem to be the same as the broadcast you have a copy of. There's no interview with Lieutenant Commander Sean Kelly but there is an interview with Michael Perini, the Director of Public Affairs from US Northern Command.

Pernini: It's a really tragic situation and our hearts go out to those who've lost loved ones. In our nation's history it's probably going to be the number one catastrophe situation we've ever had. I can tell you, we were there very, very quickly. We have been working around the clock here in Colorado Springs and throughout the southern part of our country to save lives, save thousands, to sustain lives and we are working our recovery plan.

Announcer: You say you were there very quickly but let us put to you again there has been huge criticism from all along that coast that the operation hasn't got under way quick enough, that people are still suffering.

Perini: We think the operation has gone very quickly, a catastrophe of this size is something very significant. We have rescued over 15,000 people from the Superdome alone; we've put trucks and airplanes, over a 100 helicopters. We prepositioned as much as we could within the letter of our laws here in the United States. You have to remember that we have to be directed by the President of the United States or the Secretary of Defence as a US military operation at the federal level to be involved. So, we saw the storm coming, we prepositioned our forces as close as we could and quite literally as the storm went north our first ships and vehicles went right on in.

Torrent to the Windows Video file here:

http://torrentspy.com/download.asp?id=399239

[cthrumatrix]

145. make several copies and put one away for safe keeping and

take it somebody who digitizes photo's etc...they might be able to help

[artemisia1]

131. Kick till we drop. I always knew it was about "orders". The armed

forces have the capacity, but have to have authorization to act. As I mentioned in another thread, anyone who's ever served in any capacity knows that a handful of C-130's could have dropped enough water and food for the Dome and Convention center survivors to have subsisted on until evacuation.

[bajamary]

136. Impeach CEO Bush-Now

Enough is enough. I've emailed my Senators Durbin and Obama and my congressperson to begin an impeachment hearing immediately.

We the People should demand that this president be the CEO that he claims to be and resign from his position of honor and trust. Any other CEO whose horrible job performance caused hundreds, perhaps thousands, to die would be fired by the corporations board of directors.

WE (the People) ARE THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS of this beleaguered country, and it’s time we demanded our hired CEO leave his job. If he doesn’t, we throw him out via impeachment and a trial in the Senate.

[No Blood for Hubris]

137. Lt. Cmdr. Kelly's remarks are the smoking gun for Bush.

The BBC America interview was broadcast in my area last night. It is damning. Clearly NorCom was fully prepared, had the equipment and the manpower--lack of authorization from the President was the problem. Bush was days late, days late. How could anyone be so stupid?

Criminal negligence.

[Roland99]

141. Kick to welcome No Blood for Hubris to DU!

[DemReadingDU]

138. kicking for a link

[redacted]

142. . .

[RBHam]

143. MIWOP!

Made It Worse On Purpose.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

144. This might be a silly question. Does anyone here know Greg Palast?

He works for BBC and I am sure would be delighted to get his hands on this video.

[mod mom]

146. Don't know him but he attended our rally in Ohio last Dec. Here is

an email address that I have forwarded things to and have received responses back:

Greg Palast <[e-mail] >

[redacted]

147. Spent 6 hours looking online for the clip

including in BBC's 30-minute special "Katrina Strikes," on Friday's Newsnight broadcast, and the retrospective of about a dozen clips currently posted in the BBC News Player, and couldn't find it so far.

Also contacted John at CrooksAndLiars.com, who seems to have uncanny luck at turning up videos previously considered "missing."

If it were online, one of us would have found it by now. The BBC World Tivo videotape is very important, and I hope there's some way of making it available online. Thanks so much to drm604 and everyone else here for all the effort.

[drm604]

148. I am uploading it to a server now.

It's a 28 meg .mpg and I'm on dial-up so it will take a while.

[hiley]

149. wonderful

thank you.

[Terre]

150. TERRIFIC!

Thanks so much for doing this drm604! The DU'ers here

[drm604]

151. Linkety Link Link...

BBC_Katrina.mpg

Warning: 28 meg file. It's a long download if you have dialup.

Thank bpilgrim for hosting the file. Please check out the main page of his website at http://media.GlobalFreePress.com , it's a great resource!

Edited to add the kudos to bpilgrim.

[glitch]

153. Yay! Thank you!

[tkmorris]

155. There are no words

They were there and ready to go. They were more prepared for this than I thought, but in the end had to sit on their awaiting an order that never came. Oh sweet Jesus.......

[Terre]

156. THANK YOU, thank you drm604 :o)

I am on dial-up, but it'll be worth it. ) I was wondering if it would be alright if I let others know that this can be downloaded from GFP? I don't want GFP to go into spasms. And if it's OK, and assuming some other person is willing could they also help by hosting?

And one last question, any credits necessary? Not sure of the protocol here.

[drm604]

157. Sure,

as long as you also add a link to GFP's homepage at

http://media.GlobalFreePress.com

since bpilgrim is being kind enough to host it.
And if someone else is willing to host it that's great. It should be spread far and wide. As far as credits, I would hardly try to claim credit. This was produced by the BBC, not me! I'm distributing this under fair use but I have no rights to it.

[Independent_Liberal]

154. Kick!

[Gloria]

158. Just watched it!!!Minute 1:30-2:20 is the clincher!!! Kelly

clearly states that the Defense Coord. Offcers were talking with the state about "what you think you will need." And then he says that they were ready, but...the caveat is they have to wait for the order from the President.

This really has to be blasted around!!@!

[cthrumatrix]

163. I guess OUR media refuses to bring this up --- show the world

[brettdale]

159. kick kick kick

kick

[SofaKingLiberal]

160. kick

[drm604]

161. Kick

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

164. Kick! nt

[Karmadillo]

166. Are the Democrats aware of this? Might be helpful if they decide

to actually oppose the administration for the next three years.

[cthrumatrix]

168. it would cause civil unrest --- I bet they NEVER show this

[mogster]

170. Link in this thread

Check all posts - different sizes:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[bettyellen]

171. kick.....

[DemsUnited]

172. kick, kick, kick

there's a link somewhere on DU to actual footage. Anyone know where? Anyone sent to crooksandliars?

[bklyncowgirl]

174. Admiral Keating just confirmed most of it.

He left out the part about waiting for presidential orders but he is not going to let his agency take the blame for this mess.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

176. Kick! nt

[Media_Lies_Daily]

177. And Herr Busch was trying to get Blanco to turn over control of the....

...Louisiana National Guard to FEMA/Homeland Security. That tells me that Herr Busch wanted full control of the counting of the dead to soften the impact of the disaster by reporting low counts.

The NeoCons will do anything to make themselves look good.

[Nothing Without Hope]

191. More than that - they want an excuse to grab more power. See this post:

which I just put in downthread;

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Reply #190. Putting pieces together: Bush Administration tried to blackmail Gov Blanco

[Imagevision]

179. we have to wait until the President authorizes us...! and Bush authorized

them when he visited on Friday - how is this not an impeachable offense?
First and foremost Bush was hired to protect the people of the USA...!

and he blew it! -- totally unacceptable!

[redacted]

180. Crooks&Liars reports on home page video files will be uploaded shortly

and emailed me their thanks!

[freedomfries]

181. Thank you for posting

Let's get this around!

[wakemewhenitsover]

182. Kick

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

183. Kick!

[MadeinOhio]

186. Who will host the video, this needs a large response.

[redacted]

187. KGO AM's Bernie Ward just read the transcript on his program

50,000 watts covering 16 Western states. That should help move the story.

[nadinbrzezinski]

188. how much more evidence of the incomptenece

whether purposeful or not, do we need? Definitely the time for revolution is NOW

[gauguin57]

189. IMPEACH!

IMPEACH!

[Nothing Without Hope]

190. Putting pieces together: Bush Administration tried to blackmail Gov Blanco

into surrendering many civil powers, including control of the National Guard and total responsibility for New Orleans evacuation, to them. Many days after the hurricane, the Bush Administration presented her with a legal statement to sign approving this power transfer and she refused because she rightly perceived it as an approval for martial law:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph... (The LBN thread title - by DU rules the same as the WaPo title - is misleading. Read the excerpt.)

In the video posted here, we see the other half - the Administration deliberately held off giving the command to help the stricken victims of the hurricane day after day after day. All those supplies and helicopters and rescue teams must have just sat there waiting while Bush turned the screws to get what he wanted. One of those things appears to be greater power over civilians and state government.

I'm quite sure now that one of the things that this is about (I think there are several) is that the neocons want more power for the President. They wouldn't call it martial law, though. It would be some Orwellian name like "Operation Safe America." They've been working toward this for years. John Dean calls it "constitutional dictatorship" and says it is possible (this was written in 2002 and discusses what would happen after another domestic terrorist attack - but the hurricane destruction does the trick even better):
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/06/columns/fl.dean.pow...

Finally, for the bigger picture, here is an article written in Dec 2003 in response to General Tommy Franks' amazing interview, the one in which he said that "one more hit" (like a domestic terrorist attack) would be enough for them to suspend the Constitution. This entire article is excellent and prescient, but I'm going to quote the paragraph that especially grabbed my attention.

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/12/07/Columns/From_Tommy_Fr...

It was the Nine Years' War in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World that facilitated the seizure of power by the world reformers who then took control of nearly all human and social development. In 1984, George Orwell described Oceania as in a constant state of war with a changeable enemy who "always represented absolute evil." These inventors of the great dystopias understood the way governments use war and its associative fear and instability to consolidate power. Despotism thrives on insecurity. Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs puts safety right behind food, water and sleep. Humans naturally crave stability and are willing to sacrifice values such as liberty in its pursuit.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

192. Kick!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

196. A reporter asked McLellan about Northern Command in today's press conf!!!!

Scottie kept skipping around the question!!!!!!

[Nikki Stone 1]

197. kick

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

198. Keith Olbermann mentioned the Kelly interview with BBC a few minutes ago!!

Thank you to a dear friend of mine who is a DUer and knows Keith!!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[Swamp Rat]

201. Bush Strummed While New Orleans Drowned

[nonny]

202. "Yesterday, I signed a disaster declaration for the state of Louisiana"

So..... is a Presidential Order different from a Disaster Declaration?



Title: PRESIDENT DISCUSSES HURRICANE KATRINA, CONGRATULATES IRAQIS ON DRAFT CONSTITUTION
FDCH Regulatory Intelligence Database,
Aug 28, 2005
Database: Business Source Premier


PRESIDENT DISCUSSES HURRICANE KATRINA, CONGRATULATES IRAQIS ON DRAFT CONSTITUTION

THE PRESIDENT: This morning I spoke with FEMA Undersecretary Mike Brown and emergency management teams not only at the federal level but at the state level about the -- Hurricane Katrina. I've also spoken to Governor Blanco of Louisiana, Governor Barbour of Mississippi, Governor Bush of Florida, and Governor Riley of Alabama. I want to thank all the folks at the federal level and the state level and the local level who have taken this storm seriously. I appreciate the efforts of the governors to prepare their citizenry for this upcoming storm.

Yesterday, I signed a disaster declaration for the state of Louisiana, and this morning I signed a disaster declaration for the state of Mississippi. These declarations will allow federal agencies to coordinate all disaster relief efforts with state and local officials. We will do everything in our power to help the people in the communities affected by this storm.

Hurricane Katrina is now designated a category five hurricane. We cannot stress enough the danger this hurricane poses to Gulf Coast communities. I urge all citizens to put their own safety and the safety of their families first by moving to safe ground. Please listen carefully to instructions provided by state and local officials.

On another matter, today Iraqi political leaders completed the process for drafting a permanent constitution. Their example is an inspiration to all who share the universal values of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. The negotiators and drafters of this document braved the intimidation of terrorists and they mourn the cowardly assassination of friends and colleagues involved in the process of drafting the constitution

snip--

Source: FDCH Regulatory Intelligence Database, Aug 28, 2005
Item: 32W4293294579

[oasis]

203. kick

[Nothing Without Hope]

204. ChiTrib: "Nearby Navy Ship Underused" - doctors idle, hospital beds empty

Meanwhile, people are still dying of prolonged neglect. And wasn't there a story of a mother giving birth to a baby in one of those huge noisome evacuee pens and both of them dying? And no damn wonder. Meanwhile, there were clean hospital beds and doctors ready a helicopter flight away. If this doesn’t stir up outrage and heartbreak in my country, it’s lost its soul.

I can't understand why Americans have not realized before that the "Culture of Life" meme of the neocons is one of the cruelest Orwellian jokes of all.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509...
chicagotribune.com >> Nation/World
GULF COAST CRISIS: OFF THE GULF COAST

Navy ship nearby underused

Craft with food, water, doctors needed orders
By Stephen J. Hedges
Tribune national correspondent
Published September 4, 2005

ON THE USS BATAAN -- While federal and state emergency planners scramble to get more military relief to Gulf Coast communities stricken by Hurricane Katrina, a massive naval goodwill station has been cruising offshore, underused and waiting for a larger role in the effort.

The USS Bataan, a 844-foot ship designed to dispatch Marines in amphibious assaults, has helicopters, doctors, hospital beds, food and water. It also can make its own water, up to 100,000 gallons a day. And it just happened to be in the Gulf of Mexico when Katrina came roaring ashore.

The Bataan rode out the storm and then followed it toward shore, awaiting relief orders. Helicopter pilots flying from its deck were some of the first to begin plucking stranded New Orleans residents.

But now the Bataan's hospital facilities, including six operating rooms and beds for 600 patients, are empty. A good share of its 1,200 sailors could also go ashore to help with the relief effort, but they haven't been asked. The Bataan has been in the stricken region the longest of any military unit, but federal authorities have yet to fully utilize the ship.

(snip)

The military professionals have to be careful about reporting disagreement or frustration with the President's policies or decisions, but between the lines you can see the frustration at their resources not being used to save lives and help the hurricane victims. This is from Newhouse News Service.

http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/wood090305.html
Sept. 3, 2005

Military Expresses Frustration Over Red Tape

BY DAVID WOOD?c.2005 Newhouse News Service

(snip)

As of Friday morning, according to officers here, only 12,000 Guardsmen from all contributing states were on station in Louisiana and Mississippi. That's less than half the 30,000 National Guard troops available for deployment from the immediate region -- Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida -- according to officials at the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Va.

"There is a tremendous amount of frustration here, that we have assets stacked up ready to go and we don't have the requests for them," said an officer who asked not to be identified. "All we can do is nudge the folks at FEMA and say, `How about if we do this or that?"'?
FEMA spokeswoman Natalie Rule defended her agency's coordination efforts with the Pentagon.?
"The military has been joined at the hip (with FEMA) since this storm was approaching Florida," Rule said. "We were working all together on the national coordination response in Washington as well as at the regional level 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

(snip)

(David Wood can be contacted at [e-mail] )

[nonny]

205. "Culture of Life"

"I can't understand why Americans have not realized before that the "Culture of Life" meme of the neocons is one of the cruelest Orwellian jokes of all."

Nothing Without Hope, that says it all!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

206. Kick! nt