|
FEMA TURNED BACK WATER/FUEL, CUT N.O. COMMUNICATIONS LINES |
|
by rense.com
From ML It's all there, Jeff, on the Meet The Press Broussard video. Sunday, September 4, 2005 Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard announced on WWL-TV Saturday Night that residents would be allowed back in the Parish on Monday, but must re-evacuate by Thursday. Broussard had promised earlier in the week that residents would be allowed back on Monday, and seems to have managed to cut a deal with the feds to allow this happen. Earlier reports on this site have shown that FEMA has barred rescue teams from entering New Orleans. And now the feds are dragging people out of the city by gunpoint. And back in Jefferson, Broussard explained on NBC's Meet the Press this morning that FEMA is making war even on local authorities.
[VIDEO] 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. It's so obvious. FEMA needs more congressional funding. It needs more presidential support. It needs to be a cabinet level director. It needs to be an independent agency that will be able to fulfill its mission to work in partnership with state and local governments around America. FEMA needs to be empowered to do the things it was created to do. It needs to come to somewhere like New Orleans with all of its force immediately, without red tape, without bureaucracy. Act immediately with common sense and leadership. And save lives. Forget about the property. We can rebuild the property. It's gotta be able to come in and save lives. We need strong leadership at the top of America right now in order to accomplish this and to reconstructing FEMA. RUSSERT: Shouldn't the mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of New Orleans bear some responsibility? Shouldn't they have been much more forceful, much more effective and much more organized in evacuating the area? BROUSSARD: Sir, they were told, like me, every single day, the calvary's coming on a federal level. The calvary's coming, the calvary's coming, the calvary's coming. I have just begun to hear the hooves of the calvary. The calvary is still not here yet. But I've begun to hear the hooves, and we're almost a week out. Let me just 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 the 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, if our American government would have responded like Walmart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis. But I want to thank Governor Blanco for all she's done, and all the leadership, she sent in the National Guard. I just repaired a breach on my side of the 17th Street Canal that the Secretary didn't foresee, a 300 foot breach, I just completed it yesterday with convoys of National Guard and local parish workers and levy board people. It took us 2-1/2 days working 24/7. I just closed it. I'm telling you, most importantly I want to thank my public employees that have worked 24/7. They're burned out, the doctors, the nurses, and I want to give you one last story and then I'll shut up and tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, the 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 on Friday night. Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The Secretary has promised. Everybody has promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God's sake, shut up and send us somebody. RUSSERT: Take a pause Mr. President while you gather yourself. These are emotional times, I understand. Broussard ended the interview pleading for
help with the moving story of how Jefferson Parish Emrgency Director
Walter Maestri's mother died in a nursing home after being promised rescue
repeatedly for five days. No wonder he said earlier this week that
Jefferson Parish would be better off right now if it were its own country.
|
