Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard on Meet the Press

[mazzie]

"We have been abandoned by our own country. Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit an American coast, but the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history.
It's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now.
Let me give you just three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. "FEMA says don't give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines." Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America--American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.
And I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?" And he said, "Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday." And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night.
Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody."

It should be noted, and isn't in the transcript, that Mr. Broussard was sobbing by the end of this.
--

Full transcript is here.
(The whole thing is worth the read just to see Russert spank Chertoff earlier on.)

Comments

[phillyexpat.livejournal.com]

FEMA's performance has been, at the tip of the iceberg, appalling. And what does the Bush administration do? Blames state and local government. If the resignations don't come soon . . .

[mazzie.livejournal.com]

and this total bullshit cry of "no one saw this coming" is sickening.
in the transcript above, Chertoff actually had the gall to say people who went to the Convention Center had no help because they weren't supposed to go there.

[cuphoenix.livejournal.com]

I just don't understand how this administration and the dumb shits they've put into power can keep screwing up and screwing up and screwing up, and nobody can be held accountable for it? Bush says "We will succeed." How can you succeed when you've already failed? Thousands have already died, and the lies keep coming. "We didn't know..", "We were surprised.."

Yes, Bush, you were surprised because they don't make a "What Happens When a Hurricane Hits a City Below Sea Level" Coloring Book.

[niwandajones.livejournal.com]

That interview is unreal, in that horrifying and mindboggling way. Russert deserves an award for not shouting, "Are you fucking kidding me?" repeatedly.

I'm stunned beyond serious response. My only refuge is glib gallows humor. :-(

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

I can see what's going on here. The people at the top are clearly waiting for "out of sight, out of mind" syndrome to hit. The repeated refusals to address hard questions about lack of preparation, with the excuse of "let's think about that after the crisis is over," indicate the expectation that once the crisis is over, the hard questions will no longer be asked. And, sadly, that's not an unreasonable expectation, given the track record of this Administration.