Ok, so a tape has surfaced on pre-Katrina discussions between FEMA and the President. Regardless of your personal interpretation of the issue… whether you feel the Feds were completely inept and incompetent, or whether they did all they could under the circumstances… the tapes will prove you right – so they're really of no value at all.
It's interesting that these secure discussions were taped at all, and that these tapes have been made public by no-one knows whom. The source has never been identified in any of the stories highlighting the tapes! Who is the source of the leak? (Just wondering.)
But since it's back in the news as we mark 6 months since the storm… it behooves us to rehash some factual information:
1) The Federal Government is not responsible to be the "first responders" in any disaster. That is the province of the state and local officials.
2) Nagin failed to follow New Orleans' own disaster preparedness guidelines (which called for pressing the school busses into service for evacuation rather than leaving them idle to stand in the waters of the flooding!) Tens of thousands of "victims" could have been elsewhere when the storm struck if he had simply READ AND FOLLOWED DIRECTIONS!
3) The Louisiana National Guard is BLANCO's responsibility, and it was also HER responsibility to FEDERALIZE them. Under Posse Commitatus, the Feds COULDN'T enter the state without her authorization, even to lend disaster aid!
4) LA State government was so paralyzed in the wake of Katrina that Bush had threatened to INVADE THE STATE under the INSURRECTION ACT (to supercede Posse Commitatus) so they could begin disaster response if Blanco didn't take action to federalize the National Guard. Even then, she asked for 24 additional hours to "think about it".
5) The "Category 4" storm ("category" being determined by nothing more than wind speed) didn't breach the levees. They didn't breach till long after the storm DEPARTED their shores. It was the weight of the excess water deposited in the impoundments that breached the levees... not the force of storm winds. The 17th street Levee had recently been one of those UPGRADED and declared "FINISHED" by local officials as to its readiness for a storm. The levee breach that caused the most destruction was among those considered LEAST LIKELY to fail -- hence the "no one could have predicted" statement.
6) LOCAL responsibility for the levees MUST be assessed. Money has been thrown at New Orleans levee system for decades for maintenance, repair, upgrades and construction. Much of that money has been diverted and never spent on its intended purpose. Some has even found its way into Mardi Gras celebrations rather than protecting the city. PERHAPS if they had actually used those funds as intended there might have been better preparation against Katrina.
7) The President is not (nor should he be expected to be) personally engaged in the day-to-day operations of FEMA or any other agency. These functions are DELEGATED.
8) FEMA is not and never was intended to be involved in First Response activities, which were always supposed to be handled locally. FEMA wasn't even supposed to be involved in direct relief efforts. That's the purview National Guard, Red Cross etc. FEMA is and always has been a coordinating and paper-pushing administrative agency. They handle logistics and they write checks... AFTER the damage is done... to help rebuild. That was their role in Andrew. That was their role after earthquakes and tornados. That's what they do. To expect them to be on site as the winds died down holding the levees up and bringing manna from heaven for the residents of New Orleans (who should have evacuated... and COULD have if Nagin had RUN those School busses!) is more than unreasonable... it's ridiculous.
As New Orleans rebuilds, one must consider: If the WEIGHT of water in the impoundments is responsible for breaching levees – what is the value of building HIGHER levees? Imagine the weight of a single inch deeper water, over the vast expanse of Lake Pontchartrain!! We saw the result of rising water levels on the levee holding back the Taum Sauk Reservoir in Missouri. Only a billion gallons there! How THICK and strong must a levee be to hold back Pontchartrain if it rises against these higher levees they propose?
Copyright © 2005 by Doug Edelman
Doug Edelman is a conservative political commentator and a contributing editor for The Conservative Voice, and his work is also seen on News By Us, The American Daily, The Post Chronicle, Capitol Hill Coffee House etc. None of these pays him, so for the support of his family, he is also an IT Consultant/Contractor and owner of a Computer Services Business. He has taught PC Maintenance & Repair and Networking at his local Community College, and maintains a blog at http://edeldoug.blogs.com/.
