BUSH DECLARED FEDS IN CHARGE OF DISASTER AUGUST 27

From Cheryl Seal:

BUSH DECLARED FEDS IN CHARGE OF DISASTER RESPONSE ON AUGUST 27

Liar Chertoff and fellow incompetent weasles are now publicly stating that the disaster response was supposed to be "bottom up." Guess they didn't count on anyone remembering that on August 27, in response to a plea from LA Gov. Blanco that Bush declared the Federal government responsible for the response to the coming hurricane. Here's a copy of Blanco's letter:

http://www.gov.state.la.us/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=976

Here's Bush's response - published on the white house website on Aug 28, clearly stating that the Feds were declared to be in charge of coordinating all disaster efforts:

Excerpt:
"Yesterday, I signed a disaster declaration for the state of Louisiana, and this morning I signed a disaster declaration for the state of Mississippi. These declarations will allow federal agencies to coordinate all disaster relief efforts with state and local officials. We will do everything in our power to help the people in the communities affected by this storm. "
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050828-1.html

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NorthCom Lt. Commander Sean Kelly explained the military's efforts which, in addition to military support, include distribution of medical supplies, search and rescue operations, distributing food and water, and meeting transportation needs. (Note: the server hosting the video seems to be overwhelmed. This is a direct .mpg link, which is also slow right now, but keep trying.)

When the BBC noted the criticism of the government's slow response, Lt. Commander Kelly explained that NorthCom was ready to go well in advance of Katrina making landfall, but suggested the president didn't make the right call at the right time.

"Northcom started planning before the storm even hit. We were ready when it hit Florida, because, as you remember, it hit the bottom part of Florida, and then we were planning once it was pointed towards the Gulf Coast.

"So, what we did, we activated what we call 'defense coordinating officers' to work with the states to say, 'OK, what do you think you will need?' And we set up staging bases that could be started.

"We had the USS Bataan sailing almost behind the hurricane so once the hurricane made landfall, its search and rescue helicopters could be available almost immediately So, we had things ready.

"The only caveat is: we have to wait until the president authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the military can't just act in this fashion; we have to wait for the president to give us permission."

Apparently, that permission could have been given right away, but it wasn't. Bush was on vacation, sharing some cake with John McCain, and pretending to play some guitar.

This seems like it could be a fairly big deal. There's been some frustration on the part of military officials about bureaucracy and FEMA's ineffectiveness, but Kelly's remarks to the BCC sounded like a fairly direct challenge to the president's leadership — they wanted to leap into action, but the White House never made the call.

Considering that there are already questions about who was in charge last week, can someone please ask the White House who first gave the order to NorthCom and when?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/wp-print.php?p=5167

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LOOK AT THE DATE!!!
On this letter:
http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf
Mirrored at: http://wwwa.apfn.org/pdf/relief.pdf & http://www.apfn.org/apfn/Katrina_Relief.htm
The feds keep saying the State Government didn't ASK for help until 4 days AFTER the storm hit. this letter shows the feds LIED.

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http://www.apfn.org/APFN/KATRINA.HTM

Below in the interview with the BBC anchor, commander Kelly is talking about how they planned and were ready for the hurricanes in Florida and they were ready before Katrina hit......

Please wait....... 584KB plays 2.44 min.

http://www.apfn.org/Movies/BBC_Katrina.wmv