Insider Condemns FEMA Response

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fema21oct21,0,6160684.story?track=tottext

THE NATION
Insider Condemns FEMA Response
Its lone representative in New Orleans as Katrina hit, he tells senators of maddening neglect.
By Mary Curtius
Times Staff Writer

October 21, 2005

WASHINGTON — The only FEMA employee to ride out Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans painted a grim portrait Thursday of an agency led by officials who were unprepared for the scope of the disaster and failed to respond to his increasingly desperate pleas for help.

Marty Bahamonde's emotional testimony, backed by e-mails he sent from New Orleans as floodwaters engulfed much of the city, was the most detailed eyewitness account yet from a FEMA official of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's handling of the disaster.

A veteran public affairs officer, Bahamonde was FEMA's only representative in the city from Saturday, Aug. 27, until early Tuesday, Aug. 30. Katrina made landfall Monday morning, Aug. 29.

Bahamonde contested former FEMA director Michael D. Brown's late-September testimony to a House committee, including Brown's account of the number of FEMA staffers sent to the city before the storm — "I was the only one," Bahamonde said. <snip>

[afdip]

1. some of the emails were in our newspaper

this morning . . . great reading.

[papau]

2. :-)

:-)

the story will get out!

[Frustratedlady]

3. I wonder if Brown and GW

enrolled in the same course. "Effective Coverup Tecniques: 101" -- universally known as "Cover Thy Ass: 101"?

Why would ANYBODY in charge of such a group send 1 person? Was Bahamonde supposed to handle everything 24/7?

They extended Brown's contract for 30 more days? Can we see what he accomplished the first 30 days? They are going to continue extending until we let down our guard and lose interest. That way, he doesn't lose any income...God knows no one else will ever hire him.