Category: Old Dish

Egypt’s elections were a sham, but they were something. And without the elections in Iraq and Lebanon and the Bush policy of favoring democracy, they wouldn’t have happened at all.

Time magazine investigates

discrepancies in FEMA director Michael Brown’s online legal profile and official bio, including a description of Brown released by the White House at the time of his nomination in 2001 to the job as deputy chief of FEMA.

More here.

The story from the administration is changing. Now we get an answer to the question my eleven year old nephew asked his mother: why didn’t they send troops to help right away? Rove or Card or someone is now telling the NYT the following:

To seize control of the mission, Mr. Bush would have had to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows the president in times of unrest to command active-duty forces into the states to perform law enforcement duties. But decision makers in Washington felt certain that Governor Blanco would have resisted surrendering control of the military relief mission as Bush Administration officials believe would have been required to deploy active-duty combat forces before law and order had been re-established. While troops can conduct relief missions without the legal authority of the Insurrection Act, Pentagon and military officials say that no active-duty forces could have been sent into the chaos of New Orleans on Wednesday or Thursday without confronting law-and-order challenges.

But just as important to the administration were worries about the message that would have been sent by a president ousting a Southern governor of another party from command of her National Guard, according to administration, Pentagon and Justice Department officials.

“Can you imagine how it would have been perceived if a president of the United States of one party had pre-emptively taken from the female governor of another party the command and control of her forces, unless the security situation made it completely clear that she was unable to effectively execute her command authority and that lawlessness was the inevitable result?” asked one senior administration official, who spoke anonymously because the talks were confidential.

Officials in Louisiana agree that the governor would not have given up control over National Guard troops in her state as would have been required to send large numbers of active-duty soldiers into the area. But they also say they were desperate and would have welcomed assistance by active-duty soldiers.

“I need everything you have got,” Governor Blanco said she told Mr. Bush last Tuesday, when New Orleans flooded. In an interview, she acknowledged that she did not specify what sorts of soldiers. “Nobody told me that I had to request that. I thought that I had requested everything they had,” she said.

Blanco and Bush in my opinion deserve each other. I don’t know why we’re arguing which of them is to blame more. We should be furious at both. They were worried about partisan politics and how things might be “perceived” if they acted to respond to what was by then obviously a monumental crisis. Then there’s this caveat in the anonymous quote: “unless the security situation made it completely clear that she was unable to effectively execute her command authority and that lawlessness was the inevitable result.” Wasn’t that completely clear to many at that point? The first responders were overwhelmed and these politicians were worrying about gender issues and partisan politics? Given the fact that thousands of lives were at stake, “perception” is not or surely should not be an issue. Nor should petty fights over jurisdiction or legal wrangling. Nor should the relative incompetence of governor Blanco. If she was incompetent, then that’s all the more reason for Bush to have over-ruled her. The dead and dying in this country deserved better than this. So much better. And ultimately, with a disaster of this magnitude, it is up to the president to deliver that. He failed. There’s no getting around it. He failed. In the most basic task required of him.

EMAIL OF THE DAY: “You write: ‘What I worry about is the basic security of this country. I don’t trust this administration with it. Do you?’

The basic security of the country is the bottom line for me, too. And I suspect it was for many of the Bush/Cheney voters last November. It was, after all, what Bush’s campaign was based upon – “Vote for us because we can protect you” – and he just demonstrated inexcusable incompetence in the area that is supposed to be his strong suit. Inexcusable because Americans DIED due to this incompetence. Even if the locals and the state did everything you could reasonably expect of them (and clearly they didn’t) you still need the cavalry to swiftly ride in to handle the biggest disaster since at least 1906.

What has this administration been doing for the past four years? The excuses about being too focused on responding to terrorism don’t cut it, because obviously you need the cavalry after a terror attack, too. That’s the scary-as-hell part of all this. The cronyism at FEMA (FEMA, for God’s sake) is a sick joke. And frankly, I’m stunned that not a single prominent Democrat has called for Bush’s resignation. Apparently, the Democrats are just too cowed by their electoral losses, but it’s still stunning. Not that Bush would actually resign, of course, but calling for his resignation would force Republicans up and down the line into the unenviable position of defending this indefensible incompetence. How long do you suppose the GOP would have waited to call for President Kerry’s resignation?

That just might be why the GOP is in power, do you suppose? And al-Qaida is taking notes, no doubt. God help us.”

The devastation along the Gulf coast is mind-boggling. This story from CNN captures part of the trauma:

As relief efforts sputtered in the days after the storm, Verlyn Davis Jr., an out-of-work electrician, took charge. He transformed his parents’ bar and seafood restaurant, Lehrmann’s, into a shelter where he dispatches people to clear roads, hook up generators and help in the disaster relief process.
About 20 people have been staying there these days. On a boarded-up window out front is a blue spray-painted sign: “ABOUT TIME BUSH!”
“The governor and the president let thousands of people die and they let them die on their roofs and they let them die in the water,” said Davis, 45. “We got left. They didn’t care.”

Do the spinners believe that this is somehow pre-meditated “Bush-hatred”? Or genuine, righteous, deserved anger at the failure of all levels of government to perform the most basic of rescue operations? To reinforce the point: Canadian rescue workers arrived in St Bernard parish a full five days before the feds did.

It seems that the military and rescue services have stopped impeding the press and especially photojournalists from doing their job. Glad to hear it. Something is very wrong when we can send soldiers to keep the truth from journalists but not to prevent looting when it was happening. NBC’s Brian Williams deserves some kudos for his complaints yesterday on his blog. However gruesome, we have to see what nature and incompetence – local and federal – wrought. Next up: release all the Abu Ghraib photos. Same principle. Same administration. Same incompetence. Same press.

Dan Drezner offers an idea.

“Your emailer wrote that ‘FEMA is not and never was intended to be a first responder. It has only a couple of thousand employees and most are paper pushers. FEMA’s main job is not to prevent disasters in the making but rather to come in after a disaster and coordinate relief efforts (i.e., dispense pork, er, excuse me, “relief funds” to various groups) and make bureaucratic reports to Congress.’ According to FEMA’s website, your guy is dead wrong. This is the mission statement for FEMA:

“On March 1, 2003, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). FEMA’s continuing mission within the new department is to lead the effort to prepare the nation for all hazards and effectively manage federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates proactive mitigation activities, trains first responders, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Fire Administration.”

Note the part about them training first responders and proactive mitigation. That’s a bit more than pushing paper and coming in after the fact. I’m just saying…”

From a self-described “independent”:

The administration must accept its share of responsibility. They got off to an early good start by declaring a state of emergency even before the storm made landfall. But the follow up was … well, we know the results. And that’s the thing: The president likes to say he’s a leader who gets results. The results weren’t there, and if he doesn’t hold those at FEMA and Homeland Security responsible for dropping the ball, then he’s not being the leader he says he is. That makes me want to scream! Then President Bush and his administration tout their leadership in times of incredible threats … well, again, there’s that sinking feeling.
All that said, in my gut, I still can’t hold the president and the feds entirely responsible. I’m conflicted. What are state and local governments for? Aren’t they also supposed to serve citizens well? When New York, where I live, gets attacked again, I somehow don’t expect the feds to be here first on the scene picking up the pieces. As a fair-minded independent, I’m finding that too much of the piling on is leaving a bad taste and causing me to lose confidence in all of government. Democrats might be true advocates for people in distress if only they can get over this tendency of sounding too shrill and trying to exploit and attack and instantly second-guess. I’m longing for someone who can be level-headed and show authority without being defensive about it or shrill.

A pretty fair assessment, I’d say. Have I not been tough enough on Nagin and Blanco? Maybe. Too tough on Bush? Maybe. But the bottom line is that four years after 9/11, the feds aren’t ready for a major disaster. That’s the reality. Bush isn’t up for re-election and I couldn’t care less about somehow “hating” him. I don’t. I made my call last November. What I worry about is the basic security of this country. I don’t trust this administration with it. Do you?

Cheney weighs in on the effort to deal with athe aftermath of Katrina.

He may care. But he has no reason to. And, in the end, that matters, argues Jake Weisberg. Money quote:

Because they don’t see blacks as a current or potential constituency, Bush and his fellow Republicans do not respond out of the instinct of self-interest when dealing with their concerns. Helping low-income blacks is a matter of charity to them, not necessity. The condescension in their attitude intensifies when it comes to New Orleans, which is 67 percent black and largely irrelevant to GOP political ambitions. … Considered in this light, the actions and inactions now being picked apart are readily explicable. The president drastically reduced budget requests from the Army Corps of Engineers to strengthen the levees around New Orleans because there was no effective pressure on him to agree. When the levees broke on Tuesday, Aug. 30, no urge from the political gut overrode his natural instinct to spend another day vacationing at his ranch. When Bush finally got himself to the Gulf Coast three days later, he did his hugging in Biloxi, Miss., which is 71 percent white, with a mayor, governor, and two senators who are all Republicans. Bush’s memorable comments were about rebuilding Sen. Trent Lott’s porch and about how he used to enjoy getting hammered in New Orleans. Only when a firestorm of criticism and political damage broke out over the federal government’s callousness did Bush open his eyes to black suffering.

His mom said it best, I think. She channeled the Bush id: not callousness, just obliviousness.