Has anyone considered how the lack of preparedness....

[theshadow]

.... in New Orleans exposes how unprepared local, state, and federal governments must be for terrorist attacks? This is in "hurricane country", with an urban area positioned below sea level, protected by levees that are useless if the storm surge exceeds 12'. There was 2-3 days warning, which if there had been a plan in place would have been enough time. Yet the city's biggest shelter- the Superdome- will operate without food, water, and possibly without sanitation and electricity.

[Horse with no Name]

1. Not only that

This is an event that they knew would happen someday.
It wasn't unforeseen.

[halobeam]

2. I'd like to know why they can't get/couldn't get water at least

brought to this facility. This seems unfathomable. Shows to me there was poor planning if ANY.

[SaveAmerica]

8. They should have called the Camp Casey Organizers

[halobeam]

13. They should have seen to this, NO MATTER WHAT. Damn.....

is everyone in charge of things COMPLETELY incompetent? Holy crap.

[Horse with no Name]

12. Because according to the Homeland Security guy

they aren't there to feed people, they are there to try to keep them alive.
Ya gotta have priorities...you know?:sarcasm:
This is what you get when you outsource vital city services to corporations.

[NYC]

15. Privatization. IEM.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4480507

Part of keeping people alive is providing them with drinking water.

[Fleshdancer]

16. and yet food is neccessary for survival.

I want to know why the shelters don't have large quantities of MRE's for the thousands of soon to be homeless people.

[Horse with no Name]

17. Because they didn't designate it as an official shelter

Since they don't know if it will stand or not.
It is a shelter of last resort.
I don't think it is an accident that they are using that phraseology.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Don't worry, Unka Dick is gonna keep us safe with his Total

Information Awareness bullsh*t and his bunker, and his wargames on 911, and his arm twisting at the CIA, and so it goes. Why haven't these criminals been indicted for the safety of America I just cannot fathom.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. Nobody plans for anything unless there is lots of money to be made

by corporate/defense interests. Otherwise, it's "What...me worry?"

[12345]

5. great point

[rbjensen]

6. I live on the gulf coast

and all our evacuations run smoothly. I think that what has happened here is that N.O. is just in an untenable situation and they simply had to hope it never happened. The city geography is so unnatural because of the levees and all. If there are really 100K left in the town, how many realistically could school busses, metro busses and the army be able to relocate? That kind of effort couldn't be started until the warnings went up. If they moved those folks out too early, they would never hear the end of it, and you'd have the cry wolf syndrome.

I think they are just between a damned big rock and a very hard place.

[rbjensen]

7. And I forgot to add

that regardless of all that I think the super dome was a very risky idea.

[theshadow]

11. And let me add that I'm not trying to armchair quarterback...

...what the locals are doing. You're right, NO is behind the eight-ball due to the geography. It's tough to prepare for the 100 year event.... but with so much at stake, it would have been worth it.

[rbjensen]

18. You're right.

[havocmom]

9. Anybody have figures for what percentage of LA's Guard might be away

in the pointless morass of the Iraq invasion? The Guard can't do their job while held hostage by Cheney's profiteering pals.

Every governor in the nation should be howling for Rumsfeld's head because he took their Guard to a war that did not need to happen. They should take a cue for Montana's governor and be proactive about insisting the Guard units are returned to their home states to do the job they are intended to do before commonly occuring disasters happen again.

[NYC]

19. I read that 3,000 had been sent to Iraq

and their equipment. I don't have a source for that, and I don't know what percent that would be.

[havocmom]

21. Thanks NYC. Damn, 3000 people and their equipment not there to help

Time to hit the keyboards with LTTE and nasty-grams to the WH and Rumsfeld.

[tech3149]

10. See these threads

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4482567

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4484450

[XanaDUer]

14. Yes.

I thought about this a lot today.

[Child_Of_Isis]

20. I think the fact that most of those who are unable

to get out are mostly people of color... says a lot about NO. The tele is showing the long lines. Not too many white faces. The subliminal message these shots are giving out is pretty powerful.

[wli]

22. yep... LIHOP ethnic cleansing, right up Republicans' alley n/t