by hilzoy
From the Salt Lake City Tribune, via TPM:
“Not long after some 1,000 firefighters sat down for eight hours of training, the whispering began: “What are we doing here?”
As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pleaded on national television for firefighters – his own are exhausted after working around the clock for a week – a battalion of highly trained men and women sat idle Sunday in a muggy Sheraton Hotel conference room in Atlanta. Many of the firefighters, assembled from Utah and throughout the United States by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, thought they were going to be deployed as emergency workers. Instead, they have learned they are going to be community-relations officers for FEMA, shuffled throughout the Gulf Coast region to disseminate fliers and a phone number: 1-800-621-FEMA.
On Monday, some firefighters stuck in the staging area at the Sheraton peeled off their FEMA-issued shirts and stuffed them in backpacks, saying they refuse to represent the federal agency. (…)
The firefighters, several of whom are from Utah, were told to bring backpacks, sleeping bags, first-aid kits and Meals Ready to Eat. They were told to prepare for “austere conditions.” Many of them came with awkward fire gear and expected to wade in floodwaters, sift through rubble and save lives. “They’ve got people here who are search-and-rescue certified, paramedics, haz-mat certified,” said a Texas firefighter. “We’re sitting in here having a sexual-harassment class while there are still [victims] in Louisiana who haven’t been contacted yet.”
A firefighter from California said he feels ill prepared to even carry out the job FEMA has assigned him. In the field, Hurricane Katrina victims will approach him with questions about everything from insurance claims to financial assistance. “My only answer to them is, ‘1-800-621-FEMA,’ ” he said. “I’m not used to not being in the know.” (…)
“There are all of these guys with all of this training and we’re sending them out to hand out a phone number,” an Oregon firefighter said. “They [the hurricane victims] are screaming for help and this day [of FEMA training] was a waste.”
Firefighters say they want to brave the heat, the debris-littered roads, the poisonous cottonmouth snakes and fire ants and travel into pockets of Louisiana where many people have yet to receive emergency aid. But as specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew’s first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.”
Fire Brown. Fire Chertoff. And fire the guy who appointed them.
***
UPDATE: Mark Scmitt makes a very important point about this that I completely missed:
“”There are all of these guys with all of this training and we’re sending them out to hand out a phone number,” an Oregon firefighter said. “They [the hurricane victims] are screaming for help and this day [of FEMA training] was a waste.”
It’s all too much to believe — the wasted days, the misuse of skilled volunteers, the photo-op. But then I realized the most ridiculous thing of all: NOBODY IN NEW ORLEANS HAS A WORKING TELEPHONE YET!
I’m sure those brochures will be very helpful, though, once everything’s back to normal.”
Uh oh. Now you are being partisan.
This story says it all about rank FEMA incompetence serving the needs of the idiot president whose policies make it all possible (how sickening is it to read drivel about his alleged strengths that somehow get led astray by unworthy subordinates). Who could even convceive of such misuse of talented rescue personnel? — why the political hacks appointed by Bush and friends, who are performing as expected.
I imagine that there were a couple of hundred similar stories about Iraq incompetence that don’t see the light of day — but Katrina screw-ups simply cannot be so easily buried.
What is deliciously ironic, although tear jerkingly sad as well, is that we can be almost 100% certain that those Utah firefighters voted for this guy.
But I am sure that even knowing what they know now, they would still vote for him.
How sick is that?
This interesting post from Eric Muller’s blog
Here Is The Text of a FOIA Request I Faxed to DHS this Morning. (I’m Not Holding My Breath…)
[snip]
I request production of any and all documents in the possession of the Department of Homeland Security pertaining to “Purple Crescent,” a DHS-cosponsored exercise held in New Orleans, Lousiana in October 2003, and to “Purple Crescent II,” a DHS-cosponsored exercise held in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 27, 2004.
“Purple Crescent” modeled a terrorist attack against the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
“Purple Crescent II” modeled a hurricane followed by a terrorist attack on computer networks…
God, hilzoy. Show a little balance, why dontcha? Isn’t there something you’d like to tell us about Clinton’s penis?
Have I got this right?
The mayor of New Orleans is responsible because he had a plan, but didn’t use it. FEMA and DHS are not responsible because they didn’t have a plan.
Freedom is on the march!
Mr. President:
The firefighters who accompanied you on a tour of the areas damaged by Hurricane Katrina were there simply to provide a backdrop for you. They were kept from providing real help so that they would be photographed with you. Were you aware of this? Did you approve this use of these highly-trained professionals, rather than having them involved in search and rescue?
If not, will you now — right now — make a public,unequivocal statement instructing your staff that they are never again to use professionals like these firefighters as props? That they should never again create false scenarios for your appearances?
———-
This is just about the most offensive Bush PR stunt I have ever heard about, because it’s highly likely that firefighters were used in order to evoke Ground Zero imagery.
Disgusting. And indefensible.
hilzoy, your link’s slightly off.
Firemen
DKos has a photo of the photo-op
rilkefan: Thanks; I think I fixed it.
There’s a story I wish I could tell you involving a certain president’s weekend visit to a certain major American charity, but I can’t, because it would be betraying a confidence. Suffice to say it’s of a kind with what’s going on here.
The thing that I find mystifying is this: Bush et al seem to not realise that it is much harder to look like they are doing a good job by trying to look like they are doing a good job, than it would be for them to look like they are doing a good job by really, actually doing a good job. Not even Charles has been saying that he has; he’s just tried to point out that others have done a bad job too, which may be true but hardly negates the point.
I think this is why it becomes difficult for many (eg, me) to avoid sensing the whiff of callousness in Bush’s behaviour. For him to try so hard to look like he is helping without actually doing so – even when help is undeniably, screamingly necessary, even when helping is clearly within his power – inevitably raises the question of what really matters to him. Saving the lives of strangers doesn’t appear to be it.
Whatever else might be said about the competence of the local authorities, I don’t think anyone can question (for example) Mayor Nagin’s sincerity, based on his public behaviour.
Meanwhile, over at Fafblog are new instructions for how to make your own rescue helicopter using origami. Could come in handy.
Trust me, there is a healthy amount of The Base, that eats his (Bush) bullsh!t right up.
THAT is who Rove and Company are entertaining, they have never made any move to “entertain” the demonic and cynical liberal.
It is all about entertaining The Base!
FEMA Sucks!!
More incompetance at the Forget Everything Machine Agency. Fire Brown. Fire Chertoff. And fire the guy who appointed them.
You’re a tease, Phil
I know. I really wish I could.
I heard on NPR last night that Bengladesh was giving us a million dollars. Afganistan made a donation of some sort, can’t remember what.
It makes me feel ashamed that a suffering country like Bengladesh would give us a gift while the Bush administration wanks around with this sort of fakery.
Corrupt governments hardly ever fall over corruption, apparently taxpayers have no expectation of honesty, what they want is some level of competence. It should take a miracle, and not just a collection of lies from Rove et al., for Republicans not to lose 40 seats in the House and 6 in the Senate. Of course, they may have their miracle yet — their opponents are the Democrats.
Announcing a contest. But first, you have to read this excerpt from the AP:
At a news conference, Pelosi, D-Calif., said Bush’s choice for head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency had ”absolutely no credentials.”
She related that she had urged Bush at the White House on Tuesday to fire Michael Brown.
”He said ‘Why would I do that?”’ Pelosi said.
”’I said because of all that went wrong, of all that didn’t go right last week.’ And he said ‘What didn’t go right?”’
Okay, here’s the contest: under what pseudonym is Bush blogging at Tacitus.org?
How much do you want to be that the residents of New Orleans are not allowed to return until, oh, say mid-November 2006, just after the mid-term elections in which, unfortunately (ha-ha), they were not able to vote as they couldn’t prove their status as residents. Poof, GOP victory in the New Orleans congressional district.
Okay, maybe that goes too far.
Anderson, that’s a trick question. No way does Bush know how to use the Internets.
Poof, GOP victory in the New Orleans congressional district.
I doubt the Repubs are all that worried about the House. When’s the next Senate race?
The Repubs SHOULD be worried about the House. Oprah’s been down touring the area, showing videos on her show and generally making sure her ginormous viewer base takes a good, hard look at what’s going on.
She’s not laying blame, not even hinting at it. She’s just doing that “personal story” emotional schtick she does so well.
But every viewer out there is going to look at the sheer scale of the devestation and is going to blame the federal government — which is a wholly owned subsidairy of the GOP.
The scale says “Federal screwup” — not local or state, no matter how many partisans claim otherwise. You might as well have dropped a nuclear bomb on New Orleans.
“How much do you want to be that the residents of New Orleans are not allowed to return until, oh, say mid-November 2006,”
Um.
Your linked post is ungrammatical, Gary; “Oklahama” takes the article “an.”
😀
But Gary, five months only takes us into primary season, they need at least 14 months to get past 11/06. Maybe that would be too obvious.
More seriously, it does seem odd that no one is allowed to leave. I can see that maybe they don’t want people coming and going as they please (some concern over what they might bring in, some convern over people claiming to be Katrina victims when they’re not, etc.) but not being allowed to leave at all is too much.
ah. internment camps for democrats.
Larry Johnson
MSNBC says don’t confuse people with the facts. Johnson has withdrawn from their guest list. The commenters on the thread are in deep despair. If the MSM is now willing to repeat any obvious propaganda and outright lies the WH feeds them…
Media banned from NOLA
Not that we will get many facts. I see no restraints or limits on these people anymore.
….
I guess I can’t really talk now. I would only refer you to the Mark Schmitt piece, have you think about things like the Reichstag Fire, and how fascists manage the final stages of control. I think it’s over, too late.
They will never give up power peacefully.
Well, as I said, I’d like my first presumption to be that this was said by someone who, in essence, got it wrong, and didn’t understand the policy.
It’s entirely possible this is even true.
Man is this going to make the propaganda march on Sunday and the 9/24 moveon (I think) march interesting.
Odds that someone gets shot at one of those events?
Not that I think it would be “interesting” if someone got shot.
More damage control/propaganda:
Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez, Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao and Social Security Commissioner Jo Anne B. Barnhart will travel to Texas, Louisiana and Alabama on Friday, September 9th. The economic team will assess both near-term and long-term economic needs of the Gulf Coast region, and discuss assistance available to individuals and small businesses in the region.
Social Security Commissioner?
Physical Intimidation of Press in NOLA
“Two veteran photojournalists – NPPA member Rick Wilking of Reuters and Getty’s Mark Wilson – were robbed of cameras and computer equipment today while on assignment in a neighborhood in New Orleans, and a photojournalist and a reporter were confronted at gunpoint and slammed against a wall by police following a shoot-out between looters and cops that left at least one person dead.”
“Social Security Commissioner?”
I don’t know the number of people dependent upon their Social Security check coming on the day they expect it who are now no longer at the address the check would otherwise come to, but I imagine it’s over one hundred thousand people.
Not to mention all the people who are now owed death benefits because of their freshly dead spouse or parent.
Bob, the sort of thing you mention there, about a photog getting slammed by a cop happens every day somewhere in America, more or less, you know. Of course, if someone else manages to get a picture of that, sometimes a good lawsuit can be won. (There was one of those last week in NYC, I seem to recall, but don’t feel like googling for.)
Not to say that keeping an eye on this isn’t good and necessary, because of course it is. Thanks for the link. (Which I’ll now swipe with credit.)
Gary –
Good points.
Re: that camp in Oklahoma, it doesn’t seem likely that the specific point about people not being allowed to leave is a misunderstanding – if you read through the original thread, there’s a lot of questioning on that point, and the first poster says, yes, she asked several people in several different ways about that particular policy, and it was made perfectly clear that it was the policy of the camp not to let the “guests” leave. Or rather, to let the “guests” leave, but only at the cost of forfeiting their place in the camp.
Also, while it’s Not A Good Thing, adrenaline tends to run a little high after “a shoot-out between looters and cops that left at least one person dead.” Even if you’re not working under these sorts of conditions. Differentiating stressed-out reactions from policy is probably as good an idea as it is hard to do at the scene. But the Association didn’t seem to be making any accusations of systemic violence by authorities against press.
Incidentally, it seems that everyone who got excited about the whole ZDF tv Potemkin rescue station for Bush thing that Laura Rozen ran with (and a zillion others from her) can unexcite because Laura got it all wrong. Apparently. I don’t speak/read German, so don’t ask me.
“Re: that camp in Oklahoma, it doesn’t seem likely that the specific point about people not being allowed to leave is a misunderstanding….”
Perhaps. I have no way of knowing. But I’m doubtful any such policy would stand as soon as press attention were directed at it. I could be wrong, to be sure, and other circumstances could also change things (if there’s a major domestic terrorist attack next month, for instance, people might lose track of this). I hope we’ll see. If enough bloggers post about it, it will be remembered by enough people to get reporters to go check on it, sooner or later. I did my part for the moment, boss.
I read the respectful of otters link, but it doesn’t talk about the other stories. I posted a video link along with a transcription and translation (that I got off a dkos comment, I read German, but everyone else who reads German in the entire world is probably faster than I am)
But I’m doubtful any such policy would stand as soon as press attention were directed at it.
Sure, but I’m thinking of the NYTimes (which, of course, is at Gary’s place) story that apparently was seen by Rumsfeld and raised in the press gaggle and CNN reported that Rumsfeld ordered his staff to investigate this story ‘he knew could not possibly be true’. So it goes into the memory hole.
I’m still trying to find out about the two african-american women who greeted Bush on the coast. When they were interviewed on CNN, their accents were very strange, not at all what I would have expected to hear on the coast.
As I said, I am coming closer to Bob McManus on this. If it’s not true, well, I thought it was true at one time.
I kid. A little.
“can unexcite because Laura got it all wrong. Apparently. I don’t speak/read German, so don’t ask me.”
Gary, probably, but Rivka does not do what you say she does. Her main points:
1)There is no evidence or proof that it was staged
2)If it had been staged, ZDF or other media
would have reported it
This does not prove it was not staged. Laura and the gang should not have said it was staged based on this, but since we have multiple staged events, I am not as willing as you seem to be to assert that the food scene was not staged.
Landrieux was the main source on the levee equipment. Do we have any other source? If no other media reported that the levee backdrop ws a staged event, should we thereby assume Landrieux was mistaken? Did ZDF report the staging?
Abscence of evidence proves neither the positive or negative. Whether Laura was “mistaken”, because she lacked justification, even if the event had actually been staged, is a question philosophers play with
“I posted a video link along with a transcription and translation….”
Sure, but this (I quote below) is more in the category of “questionable” or “criticizable” than it is damning.
“Suddenly recovery units appeared, suddenly bulldozers were there, those hadn’t been seen here all the days before, and this in an area, in which it really wouldn’t be necessary to do a big clean up, because far and wide nobody lives here anymore….”
Indeed, the point of the exercise is to make sure that the policy (if it is in place) does not last. Which is why I passed it on to you, big mover and shaker in the bloggity-blogosphere that you are. Plus, Fafnir isn’t returning my calls any more since the incident with the mozarella and the hair-dryer.
FEMA
“It’s uncanny. FEMA is wholly owned, operated, and run as an extension of the Bush-Cheney campaign. From top to bottom.”
…the ill-sourced and irresponsible speculating Bush-hater Lauta Rozen. I’m worse.
Why? Quick and simple explanation is patronage jobs for campaign loyalists, but that is a little unimaginative. Brown is whatever he is but his precessor, Joe Allbaugh was a somebody. We have two good recent examples, Florida in 2004 and New Orleans, and the different ways they were treated.
Nixon is famous, among other reasons, for using OSHA as a shakedown tool, demanding campaign contributions from businesses who wished to avoid white-glove inspections and guaranteed infractions. Hmm….a clue.
I wonder how many Mayors and Governors have been told:”Ya know, if a hurricane or tornado or earthquake hits, FEMA might be there for you if you do X,Y, and Z for us. Or, stuff happens and paperwork can get lost and response delayed”
The point is to hit people when they are most vulnerable and easy to manipulate. Sure, education and transportation are nice pork, but Congress has too much control of that.
Why not fire Brown? Brown has been doing dirty work for Rove for years and took big chances this time. Brown performed exactly as the WH wanted him to. To quote George Bush himself:”What didn’t go right?”
Loyalty is rewarded.
“Which is why I passed it on to you, big mover and shaker in the bloggity-blogosphere that you are.”
Um, mid-level, clearly. But thanks for the thought.
Whats wrong with this picture?
Michael Berube (via Brad DeLong)
As Billmon and Kos point out, these firefighters have been ordered to appear alongside President Katrina Bush as the White House spares no effort in trying to rescue him from the devastation of New Orleans. And thes…
FEMA Sucks!!