Max Cleland states coverup of murdered people with bodies still in a ware

[frankly_fedup2]

house. I had stated a short post below; however, since I did a mini transcript, I thought I would bring it up as a new post for those who missed it.

The gray-shaded areas are what Max Cleland said verbatim. The others talking back and forth I got the best I could.

I forgot my VCR in the den is set for recording Real Time every week. Glad I could get exactly what Cleland said. I just haven't seen any of this in the news. Time for some research, huh?

I got the tape and this is what Max Cleland said on Real Time with Bill Marhs.

. . . but I think New Orleans has a real challange on its hands, not just in recovering from the disaster (the natural disaster); but what has happened to the police department there, and what has happened in the wake of lawlessness breaking out after the hurricane came thru.

I understand that about half of the New Orleans Police Department evaporated as the hurricane came thru, but about 25 percent of that Police Department went on a rampage and looting.

Then, of course, in the Charity Hospital, they have a Trauma Center, a few days after the hurricane went thru, a number of bodies wound up there, assassinated with bulletts in the back of their head. Those corpses are over in a warehouse now and nobody has really seen them but the pathologist who told a friend of mine who told me. So we have a massive coverup here, I think, that has to be investigated independently. That's why the attorney general of Louisianna has now called for what I think is needed, and that is an independent investigation . . .

. . .Bill Mahr interrupts trying to make a joke, kind of, about a viewing they just watched of the cops beating up that 64-year-old black man. Bill Mahr says: "So this guy on the tape. . . this guy got off easy is what you are saying?" (a little chuckling from the audience)

Max Cleland then says: "In a strange, perverse way because, uh, a lot more has gone on then what we saw here on the tape."

Then another guest, a lady, was talking about how these videos yada, yada, yada. Bill Mahr said "really if every black person had a camera in America, we could have a show every week with that.

Another guest, Larry Miller, started talking about New Orleans was a place people went because they loved New Orleans. They knew the kind of things that went on in New Orleans. New Orleans wasn't like a place you would take your family for a vacation. Before the hurricane those that loved New Orleans already knew the city of New Orleans was full of corruption, sex, drugs, alcohol, and gambling. The previous governor of New Orleans is in jail due to corruption he was involved with in of New Orleans.

Max Cleland brings up this coverup again and states this is why we need an independent investigation, and Bill Mahr seems to want to get passed these accussations quickly.

. Max Cleland ended the discussion regarding what he was previously stating. "I think the point now is that you can't build a new, New Orleans on corruption and lies. You have to have a transparency here that penetrates exactly what has happened and find out what has happened, that's why the independent investigation is needed, that's what the attorney general of Louisiana says, and I think that is exactly what is needed."

Bill Mahr completely changes the subject about Iraq about how it is morning time in Iraq now and the first people are getting blown up at the polls (audience laughter).

[AtomicKitten]

1. This was news to me.

I was quite startled to hear Max talk about it, but I'm glad he did. I want to know more about this.

What the hell happened to investigative journalism in this country?

[jobycom]

2. Cleland's repeating third hand stories

And there have been so many false rumors flying around that it's easy to dismiss them. In the days after the hurricane there were rumors about hundreds of bodies in Slidell floating in the lake, hundreds to thousands in Hancock County hanging from trees, etc. I've vowed not to trust anything that I don't hear from a first hand source that I can verify.

Having said that, Cleland has high standards, so maybe he knows that this story is trustworthy. Bottom line is, he's right. There were too many deaths to not have a thorough investigation.

Maher was worried, I suspect, about creating more rumors when he had no way to verify them. If Cleland had said "I have photos," maybe he would have pursued it. But even a former Senator and a war hero who says "A friend told me that he heard from a pathologist" needs more evidence than that. I've heard a lot of rumors, even second hand, and most have proven false.

Investigate. I've never seen America so sloppy. No one even cares how many murders occured, even how many deaths occured? We used to exhume forty year old skeletal remains from Viet Nam and do DNA tests to identify the little dust and bone fragments so the family could bury them. We used to spend more money on body recoveries after tragedies than some nations spend on entire rescue operations. This is pathetic. It used to be that the Feds would DEMAND an investigation into events like 9-11 and Katrina, but under Bush, they do everything they can to block them. I can't believe what's happening to us.

[Hekate]

3. Maybe Cleland can get to the pathologist himself

That way he'd have it first-hand. Max Cleland's voice is one I respect.

As for Bill Maher -- he's often too flippant for me. I like Jon Stewart better -- as a general rule, if he's interviewing a serious person, he gives them a bit of serious time. I mean, Bishop Desmond Tutu came on the show once, for God's sake.

Hekate

[jobycom]

5. Agreed on both

The only reason I didn't dismiss the rumor out of hand was because it was Cleland. If he could get the pathologist to testify, he'd have a strong argument for getting and independent investigation.

As for Maher, I agree. He's always out for a laugh more than the truth, whereas Stewart seems the opposite--he uses his comedy to reveal the truth. He's a much more serious thinker, with a more developed ideology, than Maher.

[frankly_fedup2]

7. That's why I felt the need to post this. Max Cleland has a lot of clout.

I cannot imagine him making this up. But Mahr just brushed over it like it was nothing. That I found suspicious.

Then the Washington Post article in my first post listed below tells a story regarding this.

That is what I do not understand about the news media anymore. Unless it is a complete disaster, they will have an article on a major issue and never hear anymore. The same with the television media.

Nope, that last sentence I take back (Refer to Gary Condit, Shandra Levy, Laci Peterson. Of course, this is the cable networks).

If they are the alphabet networks, they tend to report once, maybe twice, but nothing like the cables do.

[pacalo]

4. Excellent, excellent post, jobycom.

The rumors are unbelievable. I got an e-mail forward the other day titled "The evacuees in Houston" about how "ungrateful" they were, according to "a volunteer". The guy's claims were so unbelievable I checked at snopes.com to see if it might be listed; it was, & it was debunked (http://www.snopes.com/katrina/personal/volunteer.asp).

We do need an independent investigation to get to the truth. Those who support * are so rabid that they'll say anything to divert the blame from him.

[fooj]

6. There are bodies in a warehouse in Mississippi...

I (and many others here) saw about a dozen 18-wheelers that were lined up with headlights on...heard the interview with the coroner telling the reporter that all bodies would be treated with the utmost respect. This was about 2 days after Katrina actually hit. They played it a few times and then POOF! Gone.

Peace.

[ms liberty]

8. I wonder if it's connected to this?

Jeremy Scahill, who's a producer for Democracy Now!, reported that when he was in NOLA he interviewed some private mercs, I don't remember if it was Blackwater or BAT. He said these particular guys told him they had shot and killed some guys on a bridge, they were black, and were described by the mercs as having shot a them. Jeremy Scahill seemed rather skeptical about just how much of it was true, he didn't seem to doubt the guys would do it, just that it went down that way. His report on it gave me the impression the guys were kind of bragging about it.

[DemBones DemBones]

9. As pointed out in your other thread, any witnesses to

crimes related to Katrina (deliberate killings, detonating the levee to flood the 9th Ward and protect the "better" areas, police looting) have been scattered all over the country (40 states, according to an article I read yesterday.) Forty states? Why such a widespread diaspora? Will they be helped to return to their home city?

It's not a :tinfoilhat: conspiracy theory to think there's something suspicious about scattering the refugees across the country like that, separating many from family members.

I have also read that more than 9,000 people are listed as missing. Of course. with the ridiculous SNAFU that evacuation/relocation has been, many of those may be alive but hundreds of miles from family who are looking for them.

Let me remind everyone that no expense was spared when it came to identifying victims of 9/11, most of whom were neither poor nor black. What's being done about identifying Katrina victims?

There's a lot that smells bad about what happened in NOLA and it's not just the smell of death.

The news media seems to have "moved on" with regard to Katrina, though they certainly haven't forgotten the girl missing in Aruba.

[formernaderite]

10. sounds almost like he was blaming the police...

if I'm following your transcript correctly...first rampage and looting by the cops then shootings. There seem to be an awful lot of scandals revolving around the police down there. I guess I'm not surprised the Chief quit.