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Skriven 2005-09-14 07:23:08 av BOB SAKOWSKI (1:123/140)
Ärende: Katrina Facts
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From ThinkProgress.org


CLAIM — STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS WERE MOSTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR FAILURES: “White
House Shifts Blame to State and Local Officialsö [Washington Post, 9/4/05]

FACT – BUSH PUT FEMA IN CHARGE OF EFFORT BEFORE KATRINA STRUCK:
“Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its
discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of
the emergency.ö [White House, 8/27/05]

FACT — FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ABLE TO ACT WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM STATES: The
Wall Street Journal: “Mr. Chertoff activated the National Response Plan
last Tuesday by declaring the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina an ‘Incident
of National Significance.’ The plan, which was rolled out to much fanfare
in January, essentially enables Washington to move federal assets to the
disaster without waiting for requests from state officials.ö [Wall Street
Journal, 9/13/05]

CLAIM — NO ONE COULD HAVE PREDICTED BREACHED LEVEES: On ABC’s Good Morning
America, Bush said, “I don’t think anyone anticipated the breach of the
levees.ö [Good Morning America, 9/1/05]

FACT — LEVEE BREACH PREDICTED REPEATEDLY: Responding to Bush’s comments on
Meet the Press, Dr. Ivor Van Heerden of the LSU Hurricane Center “I didn’t
buy that because, you know, we had discussed on numerous occasions that a
worst-case scenario would be if we had one of these major hurricanes and
then we lost the levee systems.ö A White House advisor sat in on the
“Hurricane Pam Exercise,ö a computer simulation of the possible effects of
a Category 3 hurricane on New Orleans. The exercise found that “…a storm
like Hurricane Pam would: cause flooding that would leave 300,000 people
trapped in New Orleans, many of whom would not have private transportation
for evacuation.ö [Meet the Press, 9/11/05]

CLAIM — GOV. BLANCO DELAYED STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARATION: In a Sept. 4
Washington Post article, which was corrected hours later, an anonymous Bush
administration source claimed Governor Blanco had not yet declared a state of
emergency in Louisiana. The Post reported, “As of Saturday, Blanco still had
not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.ö [Washington
Post, 9/4/05]

FACT — GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO DECLARED A STATE OF EMERGENCY IN LOUISIANA ON
AUGUST 26: Three days prior to when Katrina made landfall. [Office of the
Governor, 8/26/05]

CLAIM — GOVERNORS WANTED FEMA TO BE WEAK: Brit Hume: “FEMA, first of all, is
not a first responder. FEMA is basically a tiny little agency that has been
kept weak. And you know why it’s been kept weak? The governors want it that
way.ö [Fox News Sunday, 9/11/05]

FACT — STATE OFFICIAL COMPLAINED ABOUT WEAKENING OF FEMA UNDER BUSH: “State
and local disaster-relief officials have been complaining about the lack of
federal involvement in emergency response for some time. Trina Sheets, the
executive director of the National Emergency Management Association, which
represents local emergency personnel, told Salon that “since the Department
of Homeland Security was established there has been a steady degradation of
the capabilities.ö [Salon, 9/7/05]

CLAIM — RESIDENTS WHO REMAINED IN NEW ORLEANS ARE TO BLAME FOR NOT EVACUATING:
Sen. Rick Santorum said, “I mean, you have people who don’t heed those warnings
and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There
may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out
and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.ö [Associated Press,
9/6/05]

FACT — MOST RESIDENTS WHO REMAINED COULDN’T AFFORD TO LEAVE: New York
Times: “The victims, they note, were largely black and poor, those who
toiled in the background of the tourist havens, living in tumbledown
neighborhoods that were long known to be vulnerable to disaster if the
levees failed. Without so much as a car or bus fare to escape ahead of
time, they found themselves left behind by a failure to plan for their
rescue should the dreaded day ever arrive.ö [New York Times, 9/2/05]

CLAIM — BUSH “STRUCK THE RIGHT BALANCEö BETWEEN HIRING POLITICAL CRONIES AND
EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONALS: Vice President Cheney said Bush had “struck the
right balance between political appointees and career professionals to oversee
the relief efforts.ö [AP, 9/8/05]

FACT — MOST TOP FEMA OFFICIALS WERE POLITICAL HACKS: “Five of eight top
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials came to their posts with
virtually no experience in handling disasters.ö [Washington Post, 9/9/05]

CLAIM — MAYOR NAGIN LEFT 2,000 SCHOOL BUSES BEHIND IN THE FLOOD: Sean Hannity
said, “You would have thought that the 2,000 buses, school buses, that sat in
the yards would have been used to help those people that were incapable of
getting out on their own, but none of that had happened locally.ö [Hannity and
Colmes, 9/6/05]

FACT — NEW ORLEANS HAD LESS THAN 300 WORKING SCHOOL BUSES: “The [Orleans
Parish school] district owns 324 buses but 70 are broken down.ö [New
Orleans Times-Picayune, 9/5/05]

CLAIM: LOCAL OFFICIALS DESERVE BLAME FOR LACK OF EVACUATION BUSES : Rick
Santorum claimed, “Many didn’t have cars … And that really was a failure on the
part of local officials in not making transportation available to get people
out.ö [Times Leader, 9/6/05]

FACT: LOUISIANA NATIONAL GUARD REQUESTED 700 BUSES FROM FEMA FOR
EVACUATIONS, FEMA ONLY SENT 100: The Boston Globe reported, “On Sunday, the
day before the storm, the Louisiana National Guard asked FEMA for 700 buses
to evacuate people. It received only 100.ö [Boston Globe, 9/11/05]

CLAIM — MILITARY NOT STRETCHED THIN BY IRAQ: President Bush said, “We’ve got
plenty of troops to do both. Let me just — let me just talk about that again.
I’ve answered this question before, and you can speak to General Honore if you
care to. He’s the military man on the ground. It is preposterous to claim that
the engagement in Iraq meant there wasn’t enough troops here, just pure and
simple.ö [White House, 9/12/05]

FACT — MILITARY LEADERS SAY IRAQ HAMPERED THEIR EFFORTS AFTER KATRINA:
National Guard Chief Lt. Gen. Steven Blum said, “Had that (Mississippi and
Louisiana) brigade been at home and not in Iraq, their expertise and
capabilities could have been brought to bear.ö The Washington Post reported “In
Louisiana and Mississippi, civilian and military leaders said the response to
the hurricane was delayed by the absence of the Mississippi National Guard’s
155th Infantry Brigade and Louisiana’s 256th Infantry Brigade, each with
thousands of troops in Iraq.ö [AP, 9/10/05, Washington Post, 9/10/05]

CLAIM: NEWSPAPERS REPORTED NEW ORLEANS HAD BEEN SPARED SIGNIFICANT HURRICANE
DAMAGE: Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said, “I remember on
Tuesday morning picking up newspapers and I saw headlines, ‘New Orleans Dodged
The Bullet.’ö [Meet the Press, 9/4/05]

FACT: HEADLINES ACROSS THE COUNTRY ANNOUNCED “CATASTROPHICö DAMAGE TO NEW
ORLEANS: The Tuesday, August 30th edition of the Times-Picayune led with a
banner headline reading, “CATASTROPHIC: Storm Surge Swamps 9th Ward, St.
Bernard; Lakeview Levee Breach Threatens to Inundate City.ö Dozens of other
major newspapers led with headlines describing Katrina’s horrifying aftermath.
[Times-Picayune, 8/30/05; Newseum via Wonkette]
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