Levee Band-aids??? Terrorist attack on levees UNFORSEEABLE?

[POLEIS]

Wouldn't part of the plan to deal with a terrorist attack on New Orleans look to a way to patch levee's blown up by a simple truck/car bomb driven right up to it?

Here's google's streetmaps before and after the levee break:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.016945,-90.121461&spn=0.003071,0.002976&t=h&hl=en

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=30.016945,-90.121461&spn=0.003301,0.004576&t=e&hl=en

Look at the left side of the canal, Orpheum Ave runs ALONG the wall!

Seriously, their planning for disasters of any kinds is obviously just not there.

[POLEIS]

1. Evidently I'm not the only one to wonder...

But what if it had been a terrorist bomb that had breached the levee on Lake Pontchartrain?  It is blindingly obvious for all to see that four years after 9/11 we are no better prepared for a national calamity -- perhaps less -- than we were on 9/10.  And all this even after four years of Bush declaring this his highest priority and the GOP questioning the patriotism of anyone who dared say the emperor has no clothes.

http://www.edthibodeau.com/nonplussed/2005/09/hell_yes.html

The more we learn about this it is obvious that this hasn't been thought through. I thought that 9/11 was supposed to be the "wake up" call for these kinds of things. What if this was a terrorist attack? Had they thought about the possibility of a truck bomb destroying a levee?

http://drforbush.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/09/01/who-is-responsible-for-this-mess.html

Maybe New Orlean's economic position as not just one of America's biggest ports, but one of the world's biggest ports made it an UNATTRACTIVE target for terrorists...

[POLEIS]

5. "Added to homepage Sun Sep 04th 2005, 04:25 PM ET" (wow!)

So evidently DU wonders too...

....

Homeland Defence is PAID to wonder, right?

"It was on Tuesday that the levee -- may have been overnight Monday to Tuesday -- that the levee started to break. And it was midday Tuesday that I became aware of the fact that there was no possibility of plugging the gap and that essentially the lake was going to start to drain into the city."
-- Chertoff disassembles -- Fresh on Mydd: http://www.mydd.com/story/2005/9/4/14587/56525

Oh wait, they are SWORN to wonder...

Great job.

No wonder...

[POLEIS]

8. Nope, there ARE more who see the crux in the levee/terrorism planning

http://www.node707.com/archives/005040.shtml

After 9/11, the president promised that the nation would never again be so unprepared in the face of disaster. The Department of Homeland Security was created with a view to ensuring that every American city had adequate emergency plans in place for the kind of large-scale crisis that could accompany either a terrorist attack or a natural disaster.

It was an empty promise.

Four years after 9/11, the fiasco in New Orleans underscores our nation's ongoing inability to cope with serious threats.

<snip>

If a terrorist's bomb, rather than a hurricane, had destroyed a levee around Lake Pontchartrain, no one would hesitate to condemn the administration for its lackluster emergency planning and response.

And federal officials had more than a week's warning that a hurricane was on track for New Orleans — far more time than they'd likely have of a terrorist attack on critical infrastructure.

Not everything can be blamed on the Bush administration, of course, but for millions of Americans, the catastrophic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is likely to stand as an indictment of Bush's false economies, empty promises and foolish priorities.

A plan for levee breech and the catrosrophic economic crisis that would be the fallout is conspicuous by its absence.

Imagine the scenario: "Terrorists have blown New Orlean's levees in two places, water has begun flooding the city. PEOPLE ARE IN PANIC TRYING TO FLEE BY FOOT OR BY CAR -- TRAFFIC JAMS EVERYWHERE" ... now what is the plan? Class? I'm sure someone in Anti-Terror 101 would have SOME CLUE! Right?

[Trevelyan]

17. It was done on purpose, this was an MK-ULTRA plan to induce

and increase racial strife and also mass murder of the Skull and Bones BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH and an in your face we can get away with murder in front of the whole world, what are you going to do about it we have all the weapons.

No wonder two policemen shot themselves and 500 are missing and a large percentage turned in their badges, they did not want to commit the atrocities on helpless people they were asked to do. It was not a justmatter of being overwhelmed by the horror of watching people die of thirst as a deliberate plan of the US government.

The British and Australians who were trapped got NO HELP from their governments, the UK and Aussies like the Red Cross would have had to declare war on the US to get their citizens out and they were not prepared to do that or tell the truth. This is what must be addressed and not go into denial and I do not think asking about emergency preparedness in your own area at this time is a good idea.

THIS WAS DELIBERATE AND IF IT HITS YOUR TOWN IT WILL BE DELIBERATE ALSO. Stop pretending you don't know what is going on!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1766122_2,00.htm

THE GUARDIAN ARTICLE YESTERDAY ON IMPRISONED BRITONS IN THE DOME AND THE ONES STILL MISSING WAS EVEN STRONGER THAN THE TIMES ARTICLE.

As of last night, some 130 Britons were still unaccounted for in the hurricane zone,which stretches across Misssissippi, Louisiana and Alabama. Those who have managed to escape have criticised America's response to the disaster.

Gerard Scott arrived back in Merseyside today from a holiday in New Orleans with his wife, Sandra, and their young son. He criticised the US authorities for their "horrendous" handling of the crisis, saying he and other guests trapped in a hotel were offered no help for days.
......
He added: "I couldn’t describe how bad the authorities were - just little things like taking photographs of us, as we are standing on the roof waving for help, for their own personal photo albums, little snapshot photographs.

"At one point, there were a load of girls on the roof of the lobby of the hotel saying ‘Can you help us?’ and the policemen said ‘Show us what you’ve got’ and made signs for them to lift their T-shirts When they said no, they said ‘Fine’ and motored off down the road in their motorboat."

[POLEIS]

2. More thoughts

Why are children asking me why the levees weren't instantly dealt with by scuttled barged or cargo containers filled with sand?

Bathtub play taught enough of civil engineering to offer novel and emergency responses, and yet the pictures we see are of a single bulldozer having repaired 5% of one levee.

The levee break is the very heart of the horror we see. The negligence in this has diverted the bulk of first-responders who could have focused on helping those along the gulf coast.

....

Bottomless cup -- just keep pouring...
"And as we poured money into Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, I thought, "Right on," because some of that money's bound to fall on my head."

This is too much. They are supposed to HAVE planned, past tense! Period.

....
Natural Cause or Terrorist Cause would still use the SAME PLAN

....

The story of the privatization of the most critical security MUST be told!

The promises of protection and planning has been the cornerstone of everything since 9-11!

The threat of terrorist attack was the rationale for the huge expense at the heart of homeland defense. That threat was to be met by intelligent and thorough planning to react to any situation.

It is more than obvious that these plans in fact do not exist.

What if this happened in your own hometown? Aren't we the most prepared country in the world?

....

"The plan, which was crafted late in the evening Thursday"
This compilation of press releases with their promises vs. the rather obvious scene we are all witnessing begins to remind me more and more of typical corporate business press releases, meaningless but covering all needed points to sound complete.

We know our tax dollars have been frivolously wasted on such actions like Iraq but this very comprehensive list of professed diligent actions aren't shaping up to be much more than the veneer needed to distract people from the ghastly inadequacy when it comes to ensuring the security of the citizens of this nation, let alone its own economic security.

Does FEMA have a plan at the ready for high gasoline prices? Or is their plan folder little more than positioning statement and fattened to look impressive with press releases?

....

The element of the disaster that most people are reckoning is how after 9-11 we have been promised that every contingency and plan has been made to protect not just individual buildings and cities, but that the whole picture of the greater economic safety of the nation has been well considered and refined to react to any, including the most dire of situations.

At issue is whether the lessons of 9-11 have been ignored as part of a cut-rate shortcut approach to governance and protection of the nation and its people.

Given you have a moment to give a question some thought I'd ask if you feel, boots on the ground, as a cop, if the plan your commanders are working from is less a complete action response and more in reference to further studies to be completed or even am appendix missing altogether.

....

Faith Based Disaster Prevention!



... and a shameless kick... BTW if the obviousness of the lack of plan from this fact strikes you as much as it did me, give the post a nudge or two to get some more visibilty too - thanks )

[Trevelyan]

9. Kick A few people on AOL messageboards say bush is doing a stellar job

some of the others are beginning to wonder.

Your post was good but if you could simplify it a bit, it might be helpful for me to post on neutral sites like AOL and YAHOO message boards for those who are beginning to wonder.

[POLEIS]

10. Everyone's town or city is supposed to be prepared right?

the absence of a clue about what would happen if the levee was not patched ASAP should give every citizen pause as to how complete their own town or city's emergency plan is.

Please help me get more feedback to make this more AOL and Yahoo digestable.

Many thanks!

p.s. the key to this is it isn't about bush's performance before the cameras, its about how we can each actually MEASURE how safe we and our families actaully are in the places we live and work.

[Imagevision]

3. If terrorists blew up the levee - Same results would have occured

How would Bush have responded if terrorists blew up the levee?
A.)Would the response still have had the same time frame?
B.)Would Bush have continued on to San Diedo?
C.)Would Bush still have time to do Guitar photo-op?
Summary: The response time as we've seen would still have been the same

[FULL_METAL_HAT]

4. Not about bush, about the planning ... does this show there is no plans at

all?

There is supposed to be plans for all kinds of terrorism disasters ... does this show that there actually may be no real plans?

I'm actually not worried about terrorists, but saying someone has a plan and shelling out huge sums for that 'protection' to turn out to be undone is something that can effect any of us in our hometowns -- if FEMA didn't have this contingency planned for, maybe your home town/state's plan is also worthless?

This strikes us all in our own neighborhoods if all the FEMA money has been blown.

[northerdar]

7. Lately there have been many news stories on missing money

that the Republicans are suppose to be accountable for:

$9 billion dollars in Iraq, the Rare Coin INvestment Scam in Ohio, The Haliburton over charging of the government.

It would not surprise me that FEMA already used up the funds by giving contracts out to all of BUsh's donors to do who knows what.

I hope that there will be some good accountants on the backs of Haliburton's clean up and restoral in New Orleans.

Good point, Full_Metal_Hat

[madrchsod]

6. duhhhhh ----if i remember correctly

some stupid fuck did blow up a levee in southern il during the 1993 mississippi flood. he didn`t use nothing more than dynamite.

[northerdar]

11. BushCo is trying to weasel out again.. They didn't know????

see http://www.mydd.com/story/2005/9/4/14587/56525

Chertoff said.
It was on Tuesday that the levee -- may have been overnight Monday to Tuesday -- that the levee started to break. And it was midday Tuesday that I became aware of the fact that there was no possibility of plugging the gap and that essentially the lake was going to start to drain into the city


This is good
No one could have predicted the levees would break"

Led Zepplin 1971:

If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break,
When The Levee Breaks I'll have no place to stay.

Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan,
Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home,
Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well.

Don't it make you feel bad
When you're tryin' to find your way home,
You don't know which way to go?
If you're goin' down South
They got no work to do,
If you don't know about Chicago.

Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
Now, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.

All last night sat on the levee and moaned,
Thinkin' about me baby and my happy home.
Going, going to Chicago... Going to Chicago... Sorry but I can't take you...
Going down... going down now... going down....

Kudos to Anderson Cooper for trying to get straight answers from the "officials". I still remember Mike Brown's interview with Soledad O'Brien...He had W's frozen in the headlamps eyes. and he became deaf as well. Must be the hazards of the job. Not so easy after being a chairman of Arabian Horses.

[shireen]

12. possible to build terrorist-proof levees in NO

It's a simple idea: simply make them really wide. Create 1/4 to 1/2 mile-wide reinforced mostly-earthen barriers between the water and the city. Plant the surface to create waterside park-like settings for recreational purposes, biking trails, parking, even businesses like restaurants, stores, etc.. Barriers like that would be really hard to breach with hidden explosives.

The Netherlands and Singapore have lots of experts in land reclamation. Someone needs to talk to them.

Oh, yes -- and most important, the coastal wetlands must be restored!!!!!

[POLEIS]

13. I think there may be something concrete that ANYONE can do

Everyone is in the same boat, vis a vis the state of unpreparedness that's probably the reality in just about every town and city across the country (there's about 42,500)...

[POLEIS]

14. NIMBY POPP -- A time to Ask for 'Proof of Preparedness'

NIMBY POPP -- A time to Ask for 'Proof of Preparedness'

"Not In My Back Yard - Proof of Preparedness Planning"
Something you and everyone can do this week - a call to every concerned citizen


The proof is in the pudding. Today, Sunday September the fourth, we have a toxic gumbo of living and dying proof that government planning for states of emergency are more promise than actual preparation.

For four years less seven days, our nation has made unasked sacrifice after sacrifice in the name of retaliation and protection from chaos and terrorism. The steep price paid was supposed to buy absolutely the very best of everything to prevent and recover from any and all threats to the safety of our proud people.

Your town is where on the overall list of "most threatened"? Do you feel any more comfortable that the emergency-preparedness documents in the safe in your city hall may be as obviously inadequate as whatever the Department of Homeland Security has been using to protect one of America's biggest economic and strategic ports?

You personally have no way to take FEMA to task, to get any kind of an answer from DHS, or to get Ray Nagin to tell you why no one in the billion dollar administration had a clue about the danger of the levee breech.

However, there is something you personally can do no matter where you live, and no matter your station or background.

You can ask what the plan is, for where you and your family live and work.

This week, ask your own town mayor to prove your own emergency preparedness plan is in hand, complete, vetted, and most of all, useful. You paid for it through direct municipal tax and through the trickle down of your federal and state taxes.

A suggestion if they bemoan a lack of funds to do their job right: tell them you are able to help, and that you figure just about everyone in your town would also like to help make security and safety an actuality for your home land.

Ultimately why we, the people, are not included in the list of those who can help our fellow neighbor when fortune smiles on us to be on the outside of a disaster zone, is a question that no longer can go unanswered. If "professional" help is not prepared to help your town, after Katrina, your neighbors probably are.

Ask your mayor -- after all, it's their home too!



<p.s. full permission for you as a reporter to STEAL THIS PIECE if you actually care to write this for your home town readers, as well for anyone else to email, fax, snail, or passenger pidgon to your friends and loved ones who would like to make the lives of their loved ones a little safer next week by actually doing SOMETHING that makes a difference to their home -- asking for proof!>

[northerdar]

15. This is not just for Americans to do.

Hey, I'm Canadian. Last week I already notified my two government reps, Federal - MP and Provincial MPP. I emailed them to tell me what the plan was, and if there should be any revisions. I told them I don't want to be like those poor souls in New Orleans due to some disaster of Mother Nature. I don't want MY government sitting on their asses while I starve to death or die of thirst.

I also discuss this with ANYONE I meet, like the gas station attendant or grocery clerk or neighbors. I just start to talk about the price of gas with them and then go on to the Katrina victims. People ARE slowly waking up. I see the light in their eyes when we discuss this for the few minutes when I am with them.

I do think you might see more small militias forming. People will be feeling the government can't protect us and we are all on our own.

So every one of you start to ask for POPP from your govt officials and get your friends and family and those you meet in the street to think of doing too. It's for your own good.

[spooked911]

16. Maybe the terrorists were the Bush administration

I wouldn't put it past them.

Reasons:

1) contracts for Halliburton to rebuild

2) US troops get to "practice" martial law in a US city with real live US citizens.

Other reasons:

3) get Americans used to regular major disasters with thousands of people dying, as well as the presence of troops in US cities

4) the Bush administration gets to cement the incompetence excuse in every one's minds (really, 9/11 was just "incompetence", there was no government complicity)

5) getting rid of some poor black folks and their homes to make room for the wonders of economic redevelopment-- casinos and luxury hotels

6) so the Bush administration can militarize the weather (more than the US already has)

7) another excuse and distraction to pass noxious legislation

The beauty of it, just like Islamic terrorists attacking the WTC again, everyone EXPECTED a hurricane would eventually cause enough damage to break the levees, and so they had a perfect excuse when it happened-- plus it seems so counterintuitive that the Bush administration would benefit from this, thus hardly anyone will even think they had a hand in this disaster.

But look at it this way-- how many times does lightening like 9/11 and like Katrina strike, and both just happened to occur on Bush's watch?

It's too much of a coincidence.

[Trevelyan]

18. THE QUESTION IS WHAT CAN WE DO?

I think it was Ted Rall who wrote THE NORMALIZATION OF HORROR about the torture stories and the destruction of Falluja and other Iraqi cities.

DO NOT FORGET WHAT HAPPENED TO THESE PEOPLE AND LIKE AFTER THE BOGUS 2004 PRESIDENTIAL "ELECTION" WHEN KERRY DISAPPEARED (WAS SEEN BY THE LA TIMES CHATTING WITH DENNIS MILLER AT AN ARNOLD PARTY AND SCOOP NEW ZEALAND QUOTED THIS AND MADE MORE BITTER AND TRUE COMMENTS, WHILE HIS MUCH POORER SUPPORTERS WONDERED WHERE THE HELL KERRY WAS)and the next day, the reporters were kowtowing before bush's feet and everyone pretended that the election fraud which was obvious even then had not happened and that Bush "had always been president".

BTW Republican Judicial head Sensenbrenner with 6 other republicans have submitted a bill repealing the 22nd Amendment, that states that no one can serve more than 2 terms as president, you really think we will ever have more than bogus elections ever again if we don't start doing something NOW!!