Please, help me compile a list of all the rescuers and supplies FEMA

[Miss Chybil]

turned back, or held at bay. I have a few instances here, but daily I read of more and more. The search function is not working. I will add more as I find them. Please, add the ones you find to this thread. Thanks.


http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWLBLOG.ac3fcea.html

3:32 P.M. Ben Morris, Slidell mayor: We are still hampered by some of the most stupid, idiotic regulations by FEMA. They have turned away generators, we've heard that they've gone around seizing equipment from our contractors. If they do so, they'd better be armed because I'll be damned if I'm going to let them deprive our citizens. I'm pissed off, and tired of this horse$#@@."
3:11 P.M. - From all corners of this country, hundreds of would-be rescuers are wending their way to the beleaguered Gulf Coast in buses, vans and trailers. But government red tape has hampered many who ache to help Katrina's victims.
Louisiana's Jefferson Parish is desperate for relief, but parish President Aaron Broussard says officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency turned back three trailer trucks of water, ordered the Coast Guard not to provide emergency diesel fuel and cut emergency power lines.
Why? FEMA has not explained. But the outraged Broussard said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the agency needs to bring in all its "force immediately, without red tape, without bureaucracy, act immediately with common sense and leadership, and save lives."
The government says it is doing the best it can in the face of a massive and complicated disaster.
"Even as progress is being made, we know that victims are still out there and we are working tirelessly to bring them the help they need," said Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Some of the delays can be explained by the need to control a volatile situation. Long lines of volunteers are being stopped on freeways on their way into New Orleans.
"Anyone who self-responded was not being put to work. The military was worried about having more people in the city. They want to limit it to the professionals," said Kevin Southerland, a captain with Orange Fire Department in Orange County, Calif., a member of one of eight 14-member water rescue teams sent to New Orleans at FEMA's request.

Daley 'shocked' as feds reject aid
http://www.suntimes.com/output/hurricane/cst-nws-daley03.html

A visibly angry Mayor Daley said the city had offered emergency, medical and technical help to the federal government as early as Sunday to assist people in the areas stricken by Hurricane Katrina, but as of Friday, the only things the feds said they wanted was a single tank truck.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/387
Negligence of the highest order: "FEMA turned them back."

Partial Transcript:
MR. RUSSERT: Hold on. Hold on, sir. Shouldn't the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of New Orleans bear some responsibility? Couldn't they have been much more forceful, much more effective and much more organized in evacuating the area?
MR. BROUSSARD: Sir, they were told like me, every single day, "The cavalry's coming," on a federal level, "The cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming." I have just begun to hear the hoofs of the cavalry. The cavalry's still not here yet, but I've begun to hear the hoofs, and we're almost a week out.
Let me give you just three quick examples.
1. 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.
2. 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 a word.
"FEMA says don't give you the fuel."
3. 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--American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.

[Pirate Smile]

1. Here is a Diary compiling this information on Daily Kos:

Can FEMA Do Anything Right?

by DavidNYC
Mon Sep 5th, 2005 at 13:04:55 PDT

Just take a look at this list of stories:

FEMA won't accept Amtrak's help in evacuations


FEMA turns away experienced firefighters

FEMA turns back Wal-Mart supply trucks

FEMA prevents Coast Guard from delivering diesel fuel

FEMA won't let Red Cross deliver food

FEMA bars morticians from entering New Orleans


We know FEMA's budget and operations have been gutted. We know FEMA's currently run by a washed-up hack attorney who couldn't even get a job at Jacoby & Myers. But this is beyond outrageous. I am sure there are plenty more stories like this; I collected these in just ten minutes on Google News and DKos. Looking at this list, it would be hard to blame you if you thought FEMA actively wanted rescue and relief operations to fail.

Of course, that's not the case - but these ranks failures transcend even the corrupt indifference we've grown sadly accustomed to over the past five years. If there's any hope for the recovery efforts, it'll come from guys like Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré and Clinton-era FEMA director James Lee Witt, not criminal incompetents like Michael D. "Brownie" Brown.

P.S. If you know of any more stories like the above, list them in the comments - along with links - and I'll add them to the list.

Update <2005-9-5 17:10:50 by DavidNYC>:

FEMA blocks 500-boat citizen flotilla from delivering aid

FEMA fails to utilize Navy ship with 600-bed hospital on board

FEMA to Chicago: Send just one truck

FEMA turns away generators (See entry from 3:32 P.M. by Ben Morris, Slidell mayor)

FEMA: "First Responders Urged Not To Respond"

That last one sounds like an Onion headline, but, believe it or not, it's straight from FEMA's website. See also this post at Kossack 8051FSW's blog "Constructive Interference" for an even bigger list, including some not on this one. I think at this point, I'll stop updating this list, but feel free to keep adding new stories in the comments below.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/5/16455/30830

[mom cat]

2. nominated..please rate this up so we can keep research alive.

[understandinglife]

3. Here is how 3 students subverted FEMA ... and everyone else ..

... to get stuff done. This story 'frames' the 'coordinated indifference' about as well as will be required to bring dereliction of duty charges against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and many, many more.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4571410&mesg_id=4650190


Peace.

[texpatriot2004]

4. kick n/t

[texpatriot2004]

5. another DU thread on rejected aid

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4610580&mesg_id=4610580