LAT: "Insider Condemns FEMA Response" -- Stunning revelations of LIES

[Nothing Without Hope]

The obvious differences in testimony between Bahamonde - the ONLY FEMA employee riding out Katrina in New Orleans (in the Superdome!) and a man described as a good man who believes in the FEMA mission - and statements by Bush Administration officials are great enough that Sen Levin (D-MI) asked the committee Chairperson Collins (R-ME) to alert the House panel before which Brown had appeared.

Perjury city. Again.

Looks like another round of revealed lies - and again deaths and untold trauma were the result of the actions that are being covered up. It's not just the email about how Brown's dinner couldn't be disturbed by Bahamonde's urgent pleas, it's lie after lie after lie.

And note the new entry for the timeline re the alerting of the Bush Administration that the levees were breached. More lies here - which do nothing to dispel my belief that the murderous delays were at least in part DELIBERATE.

This is a long article and I recommend you read it ALL.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fema21oct21,0,6160684.story?track=tothtml
THE NATION

Insider Condemns FEMA Response

Its lone representative in New Orleans as Katrina hit, he tells senators of maddening neglect.
By Mary Curtius, Times Staff Writer

October 21, 2005

WASHINGTON — The only FEMA employee to ride out Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans painted a grim portrait Thursday of an agency led by officials who were unprepared for the scope of the disaster and failed to respond to his increasingly desperate pleas for help.

(snip)

Brown had testified that Bahamonde sent him a "fairly routine kind of e-mail" the day of the hurricane, describing "general conditions" at the Superdome. Bahamonde also communicated later that day, Brown testified, that the shelter "had plenty of food" for its throngs.

Not so, Bahamonde testified Thursday. "Nothing I did was routine as I tried to express in the best way I could the urgency and need for medical teams before the hurricane hit because there was already a critical situation developing there on Sunday."

(snip)

Senate committee members said they were particularly concerned that although Bahamonde had informed Brown over the phone Monday night that the levees had broken, Chertoff, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard B. Meyers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have said they were not informed until Tuesday of the breach.

(snip)

Crooks & Liars put up the devastating VIDEO on this from NBC Nightly News. It doesn't hit as many points as the LAT article, but the impact of seeing and hearing is devastating:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/10/20.html#a5465


Video-WMP- http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Brown_E-Mail.wmv
Bittorrent-WMP- http://torrent.crooksandliars.com/nn_myers_fema_051019a.wmv.torrent
Video-QT- http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Countdown-FemaBrown-email-dinner.mov
Bittorrent-QT- http://torrent.crooksandliars.com/Countdown-FemaBrown-email-dinner.mov.torrent

{Apologies if a DU thread has already been posted with these video links - I haven't seen one yet.)

May this be the fuse that blows the coverup and lies, the gross criminal acts of the Bush Administration in the Katrina aftermath, SKY HIGH.

[texpatriot2004]

1. The delays were deliberate. So glad to see this coming out. nm

[countryjake]

2. Are we not supposed to refer to "The Nation" either?

I don't see any link!

[mikita]

3. is there a link? or are my tired eyes missing it?

[Nothing Without Hope]

4. Sorry folks, I'll blame MY tired eyes for forgetting to put the link in.

It's there now. I've added a devastating VIDEO of some of this story too.

[mikita]

6. thanks for posting...

it was refreshing to read someone telling the truth. Now I wish that someone in the know would be able to report the true count of lives lost due to Katrina. I get sick every time I see 1,000-1,200 passed off as a "real" number.... it's so insulting on so many levels.

[Nothing Without Hope]

10. Absolutely agree about the suppression of the true death toll

It's yet another horrifying crime, and for the most part the corporate media have been silent about it. I've collected a few stray articles that could be interpreted as mildly disagreeing that the body searches had been thorough and that the body number matches up - but it seems to be another ongoing coverup that so far is succeeding.

May the truth emerge. Soon.

[aquart]

5. Any chance of seeing Brown in jail?

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. From the LAT article, it surely does look like he perjured himself. n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

7. I've added links for the NBC Nightly News VIDEO on this- DEVASTATING!

It doesn't cover as many points as the LAT article, but WOW.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

8. This arrogant attitude on the part of Brown

has now been revealed as going way way way beyond just wanting to eat his dinner. I think that many Ameicans are waking up to the fact that the people in the administration don't give a rat's behind about people-and that they could be next. Maybe that is why the opinion polls are so low.

It will be interesting to see how FEMA handles the aftermath of Wilma. Hope any DUers in the path, both in Mexico and the US, stay safe.

[Nothing Without Hope]

11. What we DON'T want to see is Brown made the scapegoat for Bush

and Chertoff. It was THEIR primary responsibility, they were most definitely briefed before and after the storm hit (despite denials), and Chertoff didn't even stir himself to declare a "national incident" for DAYS. Bush, of course, was eating birthday cake...

Here's a post with some of the documentation of Bush & Chertoff's primary responsibility, which they did NOT fulfill - resulting in deaths and enormous ongoing trauma:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1805660&mesg_id=1808510

Now they are lying for two reasons:

1. They want to escape blame - they'll set up Brownie as the scapegoat if they can't get away with Plan A, which was to put the blame entirely on the state and local officials.
   
   
2. The Bush Administration wants an excuse for military police power under the direction of the White House. This is not an overstatement - see this thread and read ALL the articles linked to in the OP and replies to get the whole ghastly picture, complete with background and legal underpinnings:
   http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4790112
   thread title: Missing A KEY POINT in *'s speech: POWER GRAB FOR POTUS AND MILITARY

Yes, Brown is guilty both of his monstrous dereliction of duty and now, apparently, of massive perjury. BUT HE IS NOT THE ONLY ONE. The primary responsibility is Bush's and Chertoff's.

[charlie]

12. Right

I love that Brownie's getting a whupping, but it's annoying the daylights out of me that Chertoff is out there, free and unmolested. HE was the one in charge of national response, not Brownie, until some 30-odd hours after the storm landed. HE could've gotten the ball rolling anytime, but handed it off too late (and still, Brownie had to ask Chertoff's permission to mobilize a couple 1000 DHS workers, so even then, it was largely Chertoff's bailiwick).

[countryjake]

31. I especially want to see Chertoff removed because of this!

You are so right! When they first sent Brown back to DC, before he resigned, it seemed like they were just circling the wagons, discussing what their next move should be and WHO should be the sacrificial lamb for their callousness. Then Brownie quit and the investigation got under way, but it immediately felt like he was the one they'd chosen to take the heat (while still on the FEMA payroll, of course)! Now, it says he's STILL collecting his paycheck from them!

Just like they think we are all idiots and will soon forget what we all watched during those awful weeks, they think that acting like they're tossing one incompetent jackass out on his ear will "clean" up FEMA and make the Katrina outrage go away. Reading that Times article, when I got to the part about how Chertoff "disputes" Brown's account, my blood began to boil all over again at his attempt to sluff this all down the ranks (just exactly like the Abu Ghraib horrors!) and this administration's sleazy tactics in passing the buck. Bush partied and smirked with his typical dufus stupor and Chertoff flat-out lied while survivors of that hurricane suffered and died all along the Gulf Coast!

Thanks to you for taking the time to gather all this info into this post and providing all of these clips and emails and articles. We must never forget what they ALL did to let our people die.

[pitohui]

35. start from where you're standing

i'm fine w. making brown a "scapegoat"

he has perjured himself in front of congress, the proof is easy & undeniable

do not refuse to pick the low-hanging fruit because there is some rotten fruit up higher

we have to got to start somewhere

brown needs to pay the legal penalty for perjury, if there are additional penalties to be paid -- i agree that there are -- those cases will be more complex & could be "investigated" for years -- but a quick conviction of brown on some charge gives heart to the suffering

don't be afraid to "scapegoat" where it is warranted

ppl died because of his lies, there was no medical team at the superdome, no oxygen, he was too busy getting his steak at ruth chris in baton rouge

if you hold out for, say, no less than prosecuting bushco for negligent homicide of the dead at the convention center, what you are really saying is that you are willing to let them all walk free -- because that is a very unlikely and high-risk prosecution

[aquart]

36. ruth chris???

Isn't that the company which is moving its headquarters (and jobs) out of New Orleans????

[Nothing Without Hope]

13. Related thread on the leaked emails:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5114179
thread title: " tell her I just ate an MRE and CRAPPED in the hallway of the Superdome"

OP is based on an Ohio newspaper's article on Bahamonde's leaked emails.

[Garbo 2004]

14. Thanks for posting. I caught bits of this in the news since the emails

were made public.

Bahamonde has guts. What he's doing is no small thing. He's got his job in his hands and he knows it.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. Sure looks like open & shut Brownie perjury to cover up worse crimes.

[Nothing Without Hope]

16. ***WASH POST IS ON THIS STORY TOO - expands on the levee breakage***

This article concentrates solely on Brown's behavior, but it does cite Chertoff's statement:
"The report -- last report I got on Monday was that the levees -- there had not been a significant breach in the levees. It appeared that the worst was over."

The tone of the article implies that the blame was entirely BROWN's. We can't let them get away with this scapegoating. Brown is guilty, but so are Bush, Chertoff and others.

Here's today's WaPo article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/20/AR2005102000858.html

Aide Says FEMA Ignored Warnings

Testimony Covers Communication as Levees Breached
By Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 21, 2005; Page A01

For 16 critical hours, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials, including former director Michael D. Brown, dismissed urgent eyewitness accounts by FEMA's only staffer in New Orleans that Hurricane Katrina had broken the city's levee system the morning of Aug. 29 and was causing catastrophic flooding, the staffer told the Senate yesterday.

Marty Bahamonde, sent to New Orleans by Brown, said he alerted Brown's assistant shortly after 11 a.m. that Monday with the "worst possible news" for the city: The Category 4 hurricane had carved a 20-foot breach in the 17th Avenue Canal levee.

Five FEMA aides were e-mailed Bahamonde's report of "water flow 'bad' " from the broken levees designed to hold back Lake Pontchartrain. Bahamonde said he called Brown personally after 7 p.m. to warn that 80 percent of New Orleans was underwater and that he had photographed a 200-foot-wide breach.

"FEMA headquarters knew at 11 o'clock. Mike Brown knew at 7 o'clock. Most of FEMA's operational staff knew by 9 o'clock that evening. I don't know where that information went," said Bahamonde, a 12-year FEMA staffer who has worked full time since 2002 as a public affairs official.

(snip)

[Nothing Without Hope]

17. ***NYTimes REPORTS THE STORY and gives pdfs of emails***

This article is shorter and less complete than the LA Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/21/national/nationalspecial/21response.html
The Emergency Agency

Worker Tells of Response by FEMA

By ERIC LIPTON
Published: October 21, 2005



Photo caption: Marty J. Bahamonde, FEMA official in New Orleans, testifying.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 - It was on the day before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, after thousands of people had packed the Superdome, that the lone FEMA worker in New Orleans sent his first plea for help.

(snip)

"Issues developing at the Superdome," the official, Marty J. Bahamonde, wrote in an agency e-mail message released Thursday by Congressional investigators. "The medical staff at the dome says they will run out of oxygen in about two hours."

Mr. Bahamonde sent a series of messages as the hours and days passed, desperation growing. Most startling, he told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday, was that his supervisors in Washington did not seem to understand. In a series of e-mail messages in which he warned of worsening problems, he was told that the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency needed time to eat dinner at a restaurant in Baton Rouge, La., and to have a television interview.

"It was sad, it was inhumane, it was heartbreaking, and it was so wrong," Mr. Bahamonde said of the conditions and the response. "There was a systematic failure at all levels of government to understand the magnitude of the situation."

(snip)

The NY Times article isn't very good compared to the LA Times one, but it does have a link to the full text of the emails:
Brief article describing the emails and containing links to pdf files:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/national/22text-fema.html
Emails (pdf files):
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/20051022_FEMA2.pdf
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/20051022_FEMA1.pdf

[earth mom]

18. The entire U.S. and the world witnessed their crimes...

they just can't hide or lie because...

WE ALL SAW WHAT THEY DID AND DID NOT DO!

Unlike 911 or any of their other hideous acts which we may never know the truth about....

THIS TIME, WE WITNESSED THEIR HORRIFIC CRIMES!

For FIVE days they let those stranded in New Orleans suffer and die! They left people to die in their homes and left bodies to rot in the streets!

THIS TIME WE ALL KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT THAT THEY ARE GUILTY LIARS!

May all of em ROT IN HELL! :grr:

:rant:

[nickyt]

19. I distinctly remember watching Brown say "I had to wait to get reports

from "my people" - I remember wondering, just where ARE your people, Brownie, in fuckin' Omaha? This was on Thursday, Sept. 1...after you and I had watched and waited for hours and days on end for water - water - water...
I love Marty Bahamonde with all my heart.

[DoYouEverWonder]

24. Apparently Brownie never read the National Response Plan

He didn't have to wait for shit.

BushCo deliberately withheld assistance for as long as possible in order to cause conditions to deteriorate.

When the attitude of the President is to 'let them drown', what do we expect from his top officials?

[Nothing Without Hope]

26. Very true - but then Chertoff and Bush had the primary responsibility

and they have been pretending there isn't a National Response Plan - Bush wants to be the dictator of a country under martial law and he's just about got it already. He sees the hurricanes as his "enabling acts" to get him the power he wants.

Sorta backfiring at the moment, but we cannot lose track of what they are really after.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

20. Another heart wrenching statement from this good man.

"The leadership from top down in our agency is unprepared and out of touch," Bahamonde read. His voice breaking, he continued: "I can't get out of my head the visions of children and babies I saw sitting , helpless, looking at me and hoping I could make a difference."

This f***ing administration continues to break the hearts of caring, competent and decent people.

As Jon Stewart said after 9/11, paraphrased, "we grieve, but we do not despair."

These folks have to, and will, go. MKJ

[Nothing Without Hope]

23. Yes, he's a good man who cares about the FEMA mission and about

the traumatized people. There were many such good FEMA people before the Bush Administration gutted the agency and drove off the best people with abusive, bad management. Bahamonde cared enough over and beyond the call of duty to stay on in FEMA and in the Superdome despite everything. And he was utterly alone in the Administration in giving a damn.

May his simple, impassioned statements of what really happened bring these monsters to justice.

[Nothing Without Hope]

21. Another related thread: article from the Guardian (UK):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1864716
thread title: FEMA Official Says Boss Ignored Warnings

This is a very brief article, especially compared to the LA TImes one, but there is good discussion in that thread. I've cross-posted with this one, trying to keep these threads linked so less information is lost.

[BamaBecky]

22. Holy Cow! I don't think I have enough pop corn for all these

"events".....Perhaps America will even want to pay attention to "ALL OF THIS"...

Bama

[crispini]

25. K&R

for Mr. Bahamonde. :toast:

[Window]

27. I pray this gets the attention it deserves, though I won't hold

my breath.

Thanks for sharing.



Peace

[Nothing Without Hope]

28. I have to leave until this afternoon - I'd appreciate an occasional kick

to keep this visible. I think this story is the start of another round of investigations that will produce another round of indictments. Wouldn't it be lovely if we could draft Fitz's secret even-more-determined twin brother Mitz to prosecute these murderous A-holes?

The Administration wants us all to forget. Like Joseph Wilson, we must REFUSE TO KNUCkLE UNDER and hold them fully accountable.

[Nothing Without Hope]

29. One last kick before I leave n/t

[Tuesday_Morning]

30. Chertoff

This is from an NPR transcript. I had to purchase it so there's no direct link. I was amazed when I heard this. This interview happened the day after we were all shocked by the images/stories coming out of the convention center.

(snip)

SIEGEL: We are hearing from our reporter--and he's on another line right now--thousands of people at the convention center in New Orleans with no food, zero.

Sec. CHERTOFF: As I say, I'm telling you that we are getting food and water to areas where people are staging. And, you know, the one thing about an episode like this is if you talk to someone and you get a rumor or you get someone's anecdotal version of something, I think it's dangerous to extrapolate it all over the place. The limitation here on getting food and water to people is the condition on the ground. And as soon as we can physically move through the ground with these assets, we're going to do that. So...

SIEGEL: But, Mr. Secretary, when you say that there is--we shouldn't listen to rumors, these are things coming from reporters who have not only covered many, many other hurricanes; they've covered wars and refugee camps. These aren't rumors. They're seeing thousands of people there.

Sec. CHERTOFF: Well, I would be--actually I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don't have food and water. I can tell you that I know specifically the Superdome, which was the designated staging area for a large number of evacuees, does have food and water. I know we have teams putting food and water out at other designated evacuation areas. So, you know, this isn't--and we've got plenty of food and water if we can get it out to people. And that is the effort we're undertaking

(snip)

[countryjake]

32. You can listen to a bit of his testimony...

at NPR:

Katrina
Testimony Refutes FEMA Ex-Chief's Ignorance Claims
by David Welna and Alex Chadwick

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4968579

[Nothing Without Hope]

33. Thanks for this!

Let's hope they can't pin it all on Brown as seems to be the current plan.

[Nothing Without Hope]

34. kick n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

37. Let's add ths thread to the ongoing KATRINA RESEARCH THREAD:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=22805&mesg_id=22805
thread title: DUers Katrina Research Thread: Organized by categories

[Nothing Without Hope]

38. kick - don't miss the Wash Post article on the 16 hours FEMA waited after

hearing about the levee breach and incipient catastrophic flooding. Chertoff and Bush are claiming they didn't know. Brown said he was "going to call the White House." Who did he tell?

But it's plain in any case that Chertoff and Bush were not paying attention.

Reply #16, here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5121157#5121279