Geman Supply Plane, not allowed in U.S. to help Katrina victims ...little known fact.

[Stuart G]

It was hardly reported. One half day's news. Then forgotten. A German Air Force Supply plane full of relief supplies for victims of Hurricane Katrina was not allowed to land in the U.S. and deliver its aid

Some sort of error it was reported, very briefly, but it was no error. The government of the U.S. did not want outside help even if we needed it. It wouldn't look good in my opinion, but, Germany felt it was the right thing to do since the U.S. kinda helped after WWII. (kinda)

..So they sent a planeload of aid, and someone high up in the government refused to let the plane enter U.S. airspace. I am not sure how many recall it. I do. And that someone high up was probably someone in the cabinet or higher. It sucked at the time, and sucks even more now. Why? What a bunch of hypocrites. Aid not allowed in Burma. All the righteous indignation. Laura Bush even.. They are really something aren't they?

[malaise]

1. What about this

http://hungeski.gnn.tv/blogs/9178/Al_Gore_Rescues_Katrina_Victims

<snip>
One Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) official told Simon that FEMA did not need or want their help, and that the evacuation was going fine, but TV news reports showed otherwise. A military officer with airport operations told Simon that if his plane landed in New Orleans it would have to leave empty. Simon warned Gore of the resistance, but Gore said he felt they would succeed, and soon after left to catch the flight. After landing in New Orleans, Col. Dar La Fon, one of the doctors on the plane, spoke with the colonels in charge, who gave him full cooperation in loading patients onto the plane. Col. La Fon had run the military hospital in Baghdad after the invasion, had served with most of the colonels and had trained many of the airport doctors. The plane took 90 patients and members of their families to Knoxville, where warm and abundant help awaited3. Reporters could not speak with Gore, but could see him in the plane busy helping unload the patients. When the second flight landed in New Orleans, the rest of the ambulatory patients had already been evacuated by the military, so it took other refugees out. The doctors at the airport told Gore that the first flight’s evacuation of ambulatory patients was the “tipping point” that allowed them to take care of the bedridden patients. The doctors felt that the privately run evacuation had “motivated” the subsequent military evacuation. Gore refused interviews and credit, but the other doctor on the plane said “Gore told me he wanted to do this because like all of us he wanted … to do what one guy can do, given the assets that he has2.”
----
Fuck Bush!

[Stuart G]

4. I had not read this story.

.I urge everyone to link to this story. It is amazing what ignorance and stupidity surrounded this tragedy. It goes straight to the top of course. They didn't give a shit then, and don't give a shit now.

[malaise]

10. I post this as often as I can because

Al Gore has never taken credit for his amazing rescue act. Indeed in The Assault on Reason he discusses Katrina on pages 205 - 211, but does not even mention this.

[my2sense]

2. Hypocrits seem to forget

Didn't Cuba also offer to send in aid to help Katrina vicitims? My mouth fell pen when I saw talking heads on MSM acting all shocked that we have not been allowed to assist in Burma. :puke: :puke: :puke:

[Selatius]

29. 1500 doctors were offered by Cuba, if I recall. They were refused entry into the US. nt

[NOLALady]

36. Yup. Cuba was turned away.

There was also the report of an old Cajun man who told the story of how, after Katrina, up to 1000 Cajuns and 500 of their boats were turned away from New Orleans by FEMA officials.

This reaction is so hypocritical. :mad:

[randr]

3. There were also cruise ships available that were not allowed

to help as I recall.
Not to mention the many individual Louisianans who were turned away in front of cameras.

[lpbk2713]

45. Volunteer fire squads and EMT's came from far away ...

they were only used for BushCo photo ops and then sent back home.
They wanted to help but BushCo wouldn't allow it.

[Brewman_Jax]

5. There were lots of foreign aid offers

even Hugo Sanchez was willing to set aside his personal distaste of the Bush Administration to offer help. As far as I know, all offers rejected. :(

[bdamomma]

8. even during 9/11 countries offered to help us and this stupid

man said NO thanks, * was/and still is as arrogant as ever. And during the Tsunami he did not offer help until how many days after, he is just plain evil, and it's all about him.

[elehhhhna]

22. 4 days. then the offer iirc was roughly equal to the cost of my suburban home.

BFD.

He needs 72 hours to sober up.

[elehhhhna]

21. Offers of tens on millions form various foreign NGO's & Governments,

some was turned down flat, many of their calls and letters simply went UNANSWERED. DHS and the STate Dept. couldn't even return a phone call or two. Too busy trying to sober up President Whistleass and wondering what color ties they should wear in order to be "more photogenic".

[Selatius]

28. You must mean Hugo Chavez, not Sanchez. He sent CITGO representatives to airlift Americans out. nt

[Brewman_Jax]

40. You are correct

That should read Hugo Chavez. I missed the edit window. :(

[Mira]

6. There were more reports of all kinds of help being turned back. I don't remember

the specifics, but I was irate about it.
We were all shell shocked, and I think it did not register properly.
But I will never forget that Bush did not even let the American aid flow until Thursday when he made his first appearance in New Orleans, and I remember it being almost a split screen thing with him and the water and food coming at the same time.

:puke: :puke: :puke:

I have tons of tapes about Katrina coverage. The similarities are staggering.

[malaise]

12. Remember this one

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_6929.cfm
<snip>
The story they tell is shocking: U.S. and local government officials ordered the local drinking water turned off and refused to allow water or food relief into New Orleans. Hundreds of people died unnecessarily as a result.

And yet, there was no shortage of water or food being sent -- it was just not allowed into the City! When Green Party activists tried to donate a large amount of water for the people in the SuperDome a few days after the levees broke, armed soldiers pointed rifles at them and prevented them from delivering supplies. Even three Wal-mart trucks loaded with drinking water were denied entry and turned away. No water was allowed into New Orleans.

[elehhhhna]

24. don't forget the thousands of private citzens who organized a flotillia of boats

they hauled down, at their own expense. They were told to turn back by DHS and their "private security contractors".

[Pastiche423]

43. A rescue team with 1000 citizens from Lafayette, LA

with 500 boats and a police escort are turned away from the edge of new Orleans by FEMA. The group was organized by State Senator Nick Gautreaux and was composed of experienced fishermen and outdoorsmen. The group then offered to evacuate people from hospitals but were ordered home by FEMA. They were then directed to a launch area where they watched over 200 FEMA controlled DWF agents stand around for several hours doing nothing. They were sent home that evening without being allowed to serve.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/3/171718/0826">Daily Kos

[Breeze54]

7. Burma is not allowing ANY countries aid in, and people are dying....

Yes, * denied the help offered from many countries during Katrina... Germany, Cuba, etc.

But the outrage concerning events in Burma are national, not just from the USA.

Although, for the * admin. to be 'surprised' that they aren't allowing US Marines in, is absurd.

[Canuckistanian]

9. Canadian aid was refused, too

The Canadian Navy was practically on-scene right after Katrina hit, with medical supplies and our famous DART emergency water purification system.

They were refused entry into LA or MI.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/8/31/235829/261

[bdamomma]

11. and if god forbid if we ever found ourselves in a another disaster

this regime of ours would turn back help again. What did * say? you're with us or against us?

[Fly by night]

13. Where is Geman (or is it Gemany)?

[babylonsister]

14. And then there was also Cuba's offer of aid denied:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9311876/

Cuban government’s offer to send some 1,600 medics, field hospitals and 83 tons of medical supplies to ease the humanitarian disaster.

[Greyhound]

15. and the Canadians, Walmart, The US Coast Guard & Navy, etc. n/t

:kick:

[jtrockville]

16. Here's a pretty good list of help that was refused (LINK)

http://benfrank.net/blog/katrina_lack_of_response_archive/

I can't help but wonder if this administration <I>wanted</I> the suffering to occur. What other explanation is there?

[Stuart G]

18. There is this explanation as I see it.:

The government of George Bush did not want to look bad. All about ego and how things would look. The U.S.A. needing help from someone else. God forbid.

These people of the federal government were so full of themselves, as some people are, that they did not want to admit that they were not handling it well, so they refused any kind of help. By doing so, Bush and his associates made things even worse. Of course, they were not in trouble, it was the people in New Orleans who were in trouble. Somehow these people forgot that the people who were/are living in New Orleans are living in the U.S.A...not some third world country to be ignored. (Ignored by the Bush People, not by the rest of us.) These were/are, our people.

Unfortunately, their over all response, even now,(as this is written) as people fight about bad air in trailers, and reconstruction, is exactly the same.

If the exact same thing would have happened in Texas, response would have been different. And, that is one of the saddest things that can be said.

[jtrockville]

31. But much of the offered/refused aid was from our own agencies.

Contrary to what the photo-ops showed, Bush and Brownie didn't roll up their sleeves and actually do anything. They aren't supposed to - that isn't their function. They're simply supposed to give "go" orders.

[arcadian]

17. While Blackwater was able to enter New Orleans without incident.

The moment the levees broke, Katrina ceased being a rescue and recovery effort and became a REX84 military excercise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_84

[rudy23]

19. They used Katrina as an illustration of government's failures, and an argument for privatization.

They couldn't make their case with all those other foreign governments mucking up the script and showing us up.

[libnnc]

23. yup

your assessment is spot on.

[suffragette]

35. That's it.

And since the foreign governments' quick aid response showed exactly how governments can do this effectively, they had to prevent them from helping and minimize media coverage of this as much as possible so that people wouldn't see this and note how governments that care about people can move quickly and efficiently to help.

What we view as a tragedy, they view as an opportunity. They cared not one whit for the citizens of this country who were struggling to survive in New Orleans.

[otherlander]

20. Murder.

Refusing to let life saving operations proceed is murder, in New Orleans and Burma.
:grr:

[malaise]

26. At least in Myanmar they are allowing the relief

if not Western personnel. We do not know if the Chinese and Indians are assisting on the ground. The UN has also been allowed to land.

Bush allowed no one in NOLA.

[Stuart G]

27. When I think back, it is hard to believe that this happened here.

It reminds me of some disaster film no one went to see cause it was too depressing.

The leader of some third world country would let no one help save the people (he didn't like them) and they died. Someone said murder. I guess that is it. I get so angry listening to their crap on Myanmar

[nadinbrzezinski]

50. Actually we did have foreign personnel in the Gulf Coast

just that folks had to get REALLY creative in the first seventy two hours

If memory serves the first teams on the ground were Canucks... and there were also Mexican Naval Personnel and Dutch Naval Personnel within a week

It just meant doing an end run on State

Just in case this is missed... there was a need to do an end run on the Department of State... the help got on the ground IN SPITE of the US governemnt

[notadmblnd]

25. that's because they wanted everyone that was left in the city dead

I remember the night vividly, they were going to lock down the Superdome and let it burn (there was a fire in one of the garbage chutes) with all those people in it. The reason it didn't happen is because the NO Fire Chief refused to leave until water arrived and smoke cleared the building.

There was a group of us here listening to the NO Police Scanners online that night and there are posts regarding this incident in the archives somewhere.

[NOLALady]

37. OMG.

This is the first time I heard about this.:grr:

[notadmblnd]

41. of course that's purely my opinion.

when the fire chief arrived, the national guard on duty, told him to leave. It was about 3 am, either the either the Tuesday or Wednesday night after the storm. People had been there since Sunday with no food or water, old people were beginning to die and the media was reporting that criminals were abusing the citizens. In my opinion the media were working very hard to make the American public believe that mayhem had broke lose. I still believe it was going to be the excuse for the place going up in smoke that night. Every thing in my being tells me that if it hadn't been for the NO fire chief there would have been many more thousands of fatalities.

[halliburtonsux]

30. See this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3261691&mesg_id=3261691

[Stuart G]

32. These two thread need to be combined.

The longer we can keep this in discussion, the better chance that this will make it back into the outside media. Maybe even somehow into the mainsream (but I doubt that).
.. I think halliburtonsux had it first, so it can go there, but it doesn't matter to me. As long as this gets out.

[yurbud]

33. this drove me nuts with the Burma story--we bust their balls for doing exactly what Bush did...

[yurbud]

34. if they had allowed effective aid after Katrina, more people would have stayed and..

it would have been harder to level their houses to build high priced condos and a golf course.

[Uncle Joe]

38. I believe this is why Laura Bush gave that press conference

instead of the pResident, he lost his moral authority to lecture any nation on it's treatment of their citizens following a natural catastrophe after the Cheney/Bush administration abandoned the victims of Katrina and the White House knew it.

Thanks for the thread, Stuart G.

[Stuart G]

39. Of course, you are correct. Outstanding point. everyone should read your post.,

Your pointing this out, was great. It just didn't occur to me. Bush has no moral authority on this topic (or most others) He would just be bringing up his incompetence all over again, that is why he sent his wife out there. How pathetic.

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[malaise]

44. Ding Ding

We have a winner. That was my immediate thought when I saw her at the press conference.

[ForeignSpectator]

47. Yeah, good point. And when it was "mission accomplished" for the press conference....

...she got off about Jenna's wedding. God this is so despicable, disgusting and what not. Words fail me.

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

These fucking criminals. A cancer to the nation.

[Hydra]

42. Thanks for starting this thread and for everyone who has posted their stories

Because Katrina was not an example of incompetence- it was an example of eugenics. "Undesirables" were put in a position where their chance of survival was almost nil, and every action of the gov't has been calculated to that end.

In the same way, I see the Burmese Gov't being untroubled by possible losses of 100,000 or more.

http://www.international.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=88840

It sounds like from this article that they would profit greatly from fewer people in general, and more places to shove the people that live along the gas pipelines more specifically.

What a world- when the top people see little use for the rest, and allow then to die.

[Zodiak]

46. The hypocrisy is staggering

What happened in New Orleans was ethnic cleansing, pure and simple. Not just for those left behind, but for those who lost everything and had to relocate.

We have no moral authority in this...none at all. But what else is new with these Mayberry Machiavellis?

This thread reminds me of how much shit we have had to swallow from this boy in an ape-suit preening around our White House. With so many dead and forgotten on the Gulf Coast, I expected there to be genuine outrage and consequences. Sadly, there were none for those responsible. That speaks more about our society than anything...we allowed this to happen right before our eyes and collectively washed our hands of it.

[snot]

48. See THIS thread!!!

sorry if already posted, and there's a ton of info about other aspects of katrina, BUT this thread contains many respectable and/or first-hand reports of help TURNED BACK:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=106x22805

They did not just fail to help; they actively obstructed it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

49. It is MORE than a German Supply Plane

trust me on this...

When the US Department of State folded, there was quite the end run ongoing to get that aid into the country.

[Contrary1]

51. "We're outraged by the slowness of the response of the government of Burma (Myanmar)

to welcome and accept assistance. It's clear that the government's ability to deal with the situation, which is catastrophic, is limited." U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad 5/8/08

"...In a move smacking of pettiness, a German Air Force plane carrying supplies for the needy in Louisiana was not allowed to land by the U.S. authorities. Evidently, the Bush administration has not forgiven German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder for his stand on the Iraq war. India, which the Bush administration considers as a "close" friend, was allowed to send an air force plane loaded with relief materials."

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fline/fl2220/stories/20051007004301800.htm

[Usrename]

52. And we also burned all those Nato MRE's sent by the UK.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0920-08.htm

[Stuart G]

53. It is just so sad to look at the enormity their scheme to refuse help

Here,in this thread, we see the coordinated effort to refuse help from anyone. From the Germans, to UK, to even Canadians. Our government refused to allow our friends to help us. It even set up roadblocks to keep us from helping us. Something we learn in kindergarten. That help could have saved some lives.

Yet, Bush and his associates wanted to look good, and independent, so they set up a system which shut out our friends from helping us. We could help them, but they couldn't help us. A fundamental cornerstone of civilized people was thrown out to protect someone's ego.
Actually, it is sicker than most of us could imagine.

And now, the same people, are yelling at someone else for not allowing help in.

[malaise]

54. Henrietta Fore is on CSpan right now

I wish someone would call her and ask about NOLA