Friday, March 03, 2006

Tale of the Tape, Part II

The AP has published the latest of its "investigative" reports on the slow response to Hurricane Katrina, based on videos and transcripts of teleconferences between federal, state and local leaders.

Reading today's installment, the slant of the AP article remains clear: the feds were fatally slow in responding to the worsening situation in New Orleans, while state and local officials largely get a pass. Obligingly, the wire service includes quotes from Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, charging the the White House "misled" the American people about what it knew of the disaster, and calling for more Congressional investigations.

But perhaps unwittingly, the AP also manages to highlight local incompetence during those critical hours in the Crescent City. In an early afternoon conference call with federal officials, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco reports that "We heard a report, unconfirmed we think, that we have not breached the levee." In fact, the National Weather Service had received a report of a levee break more than three hours earlier, an issued a flash flood warning for affected areas.

That raises and obvious question: with concerns about possible levee breaks, why didn't Blanco and New Orleans Ray Nagin do more to assess the situation, since most of the first responders on scene belonged to state and local agencies? By the time of that conference call, the worst of the storm had passed, so the mayor and the governor can't use the excuse that conditions prohibited law enforcement or National Guard personnel from surveying the levee system. In fact, we know that Lousiana Army National Guard personnel were later dispatched to ferry Congressman William Jefferson on a mission to check on his mansion--an effort that required a 2 1/2 ton truck and a helicopter. As for Nagin's police force, we now know that many went AWOL during the crisis, while others were apparently sizing up looting opportunities.

Make no mistake: there was gross incompetence at all levels of the government bureaucracy during the Katrina disaster. But the slant of the AP makes it clear that the wire service--and its reporters--assign most of the blame at the federal level. It's also worth remembering that, according to FEMA's charter, the assistance it coordinates/provides doesn't begin to flow until 72-96 hours after the disaster. On that fateful afternoon in New Orleans, the job of assessment and local response was largely a state and local function. And the tapes show that neither the governor nor the mayor were up to the task. The AP still owes us an investigative series on bureaucratic incompetence in Baton Rouge and New Orleans before, during and after the storm. Don't hold your breath.

3 comments:

usually mellow said...

Drudge posted an interesting 'clarification' by the AP. Apparently 'breach' and 'overrunning' of levees are two different things.

AP FRIDAY NIGHT CLARIFICATION ON BUSH/KATRINA VIDEO
Fri Mar 03 2006 19:48:29 ET

Clarification: Katrina-Video story
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) _ In a March 1 story, The Associated Press reported that federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees in New Orleans, citing confidential video footage of an Aug. 28 briefing among U.S. officials.

The Army Corps of Engineers considers a breach a hole developing in a levee rather than an overrun. The story should have made clear that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees, rather than the levees breaking.

The day before the storm hit, Bush was told there were grave concerns that the levees could be overrun. It wasn't until the next morning, as the storm was hitting, that Michael Brown, then head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Bush had inquired about reports of breaches. Bush did not participate in that briefing.








http://www.drudgereport.com/flash3.htm

John said...

It kills me that the chattering class keeps saying that the federal government failed miserably. Who do they think the Coast Guard belongs to, the UN?

Nancy Reyes said...

read all the Katrina reports, especially the one in last month's Popular mechanics....

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/2315076.html?page=2&c=y

The real story is that 100 000 heroic American rescuers risked their lives to save thousands of other lives...and that much of the "bungling" was merely the fog of poor communications...

No matter what Bush or Blanco did or did not do, the system worked.

But the hateevilbushy press is too busy taking tapes out of context in order to bash Bush that they haven't reported the REAL story...