so, it's a *military junta refusing aid* to cyclone victims -- who refused the Katrina aid?

[nashville_brook]

"We're prepared to move US naval assets to help find those who lost their lives, to help find the missing, to help stabilise the situation," Mr Bush said last night. "But in order to do so, the military junta must allow our disaster assessment teams into the country."


gee -- woulda been nice if Lord Pissypants had the same resolve to accept Katrina aid.


http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/28061

Federal Refusal of Hurricane Aid Outrages Louisiana Governor


30 Apr 2007 // BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, April 30, 2007 (ENS) - Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said today she is "disappointed and frustrated" by the refusal of the federal government to accept millions of dollars in aid and other assistance offered by U.S. allies in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Bush administration turned down multiple offers of aid and support from U.S. allies, according to more than 10,000 pages of cables, telegraphs and emails from U.S. diplomats obtained by a nonprofit watchdog group under the Freedom of Information Act.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, CREW, provided the documents to the "Washington Post," which reported their existence on Sunday.

"It is shocking to know that while thousands across Louisiana and the Gulf Coast were suffering from the greatest disaster in U.S. history, the federal government repeatedly refused to accept or wasted the aid our citizens so desperately needed," Governor Blanco said.

According to the documents, the Bush administration turned down 54 of the 77 offers from three of its biggest allies - Canada, England and Israel.

"As our people were fighting for survival, governments around the world tried to help us, but our own federal government turned them away," the governor said. "This latest revelation of incompetence burns the wounds our people are desperately trying to heal."

Records show that allies offered $854 million in cash and contributions of oil that was to be sold for cash, but only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction.






http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/28926

Overseas Katrina aid rejected by America

13 Jun 2007 // On a September 1, 2005 broadcast of “Good Morning America,” President George W. Bush said that the country was prepared to handle all Hurricane Katrina aid internally. “I do expect a lot of sympathy and perhaps some will send cash dollars,” the President said of foreign governments, “But this country’s going to rise up and take care of it.”

Over 20 months later, more reports are coming forth that the United States government officials were turning down numerous offers of aid from foreign allies, while images of death, suffering and destruction went throughout the world..

According to news reports, allies offered $854 million in cash, and in oil that was to be sold for cash, but only $40 million has been used. Most of the aid went uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups, such as the Red Cross, which has been under fire post-Katrina for its apathy towards helping the hurricane survivors. Also on the list of rejected items were supplies and services such as cell phone systems, medicine and cruise ships which were halted, refused or wasted.

U.S. taxpayers have carried the weight of the government’s poor recovery efforts to the tune of $125 billion in taxes post-Katrina. Since 2005, news reports have circulated that the government had rejected aid from several foreign nations. Administration officials acknowledged in February 2006 that they were ill prepared to coordinate and distribute foreign aid and that only about half the $126 million received had been put to use.

(snip)

There are 77 recorded offers made from three of America’s strongest allies: Britain, Canada and Israel. However, 54 of those offers were declined, according to The Washington Post.

In one e-mail dated September 7, 2005, one U.S. Official wrote: “Bottom line—U.S. cannot accept help of foreign medical professionals or foreign drugs for liability reasons. Only assistance of that type we are prepared to accept is forensics to deal with identification of human.”





http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/28/AR2007042801113.html

Most Katrina Aid From Overseas Went Unclaimed

(snip)

Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors. Most of the aid went uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross. The rest has been delayed by red tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent.

In addition, valuable supplies and services -- such as cellphone systems, medicine and cruise ships -- were delayed or declined because the government could not handle them. In some cases, supplies were wasted.

The struggle to apply foreign aid in the aftermath of the hurricane, which has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $125 billion so far, is another reminder of the federal government's difficulty leading the recovery. Reports of government waste and delays or denials of assistance have surfaced repeatedly since hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck in 2005.




http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/04/us_didnt_use_most_foreign_katr.html

U.S. didn't use most foreign Katrina aid


Unable to deal with an unexpected outpouring of post-Katrina assistance,
Washington did not accept most donations from other governments.


WASHINGTON -- Only a small fraction of the more than $800 million in Hurricane Katrina assistance offered by foreign governments was used by federal agencies, according to documents released Sunday by a private watchdog group.

Rejected were the offers of foreign governments to send medical teams, search-and-rescue units, body bags, bottled water, food, fuel and even offers of specially trained rescue dogs from Poland, according to documents obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Also turned down or stalled by bureaucratic delays were offers of two cruise ships by the Greek government for use as medical facilities and to house workers and displaced residents.

The United States didn't have a system to process so many simultaneous offers of assistance, and if another disaster of the scale of Katrina occurred, it still would be unable to accept most aid, said Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director.






http://benfrank.net/blog/katrina_lack_of_response_archive


Airboaters stalled by FEMA
500 Florida airboat pilots have volunteered to rescue Hurricane Katrina victims, transport relief workers and ferry supplies. But they aren’t being allowed in. And they’re growing frustrated.

FEMA prevents water, fuel delivery- cuts communication lines!
On Meet the Press, the president of Jefferson Parish in New Orleans, Aaron Broussard, said that FEMA turned away aid and cut their communication lines!

Paperwork from DC late to arrive- prevents National Guard from helping
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state’s National Guard last Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn’t come from Washington until late Thursday.

Guardsmen ‘played cards’ amid New Orleans chaos: police official
A top New Orleans police officer said that National Guard troops sat around playing cards while people died in the stricken city after Hurricane Katrina.

FEMA Chief Brown caught in a LIE.
In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, “We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day.” Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.






http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8R0A6E00&show_article=1&cat=0


Katrina Aid Goes Toward Football Condos

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) - With large swaths of the Gulf Coast still in ruins from Hurricane Katrina, rich federal tax breaks designed to spur rebuilding are flowing hundreds of miles inland to investors who are buying up luxury condos near the University of Alabama's football stadium.

About 10 condominium projects are going up in and around Tuscaloosa, and builders are asking up to $1 million for units with granite countertops, king-size bathtubs and 'Bama decor, including crimson couches and Bear Bryant wall art.

While many of the buyers are Crimson Tide alumni or ardent football fans not entitled to any special Katrina-related tax breaks, many others are real estate investors who are purchasing the condos with plans to rent them out.

And they intend to take full advantage of the generous tax benefits available to investors under the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005, or GO Zone, according to Associated Press interviews with buyers and real estate officials.

The GO Zone contains a variety of tax breaks designed to stimulate construction in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. It offers tax-free bonds to developers to finance big commercial projects like shopping centers or hotels. It also allows real estate investors who buy condos or other properties in the GO Zone to take accelerated depreciation on their purchases when they file their taxes.

The GO Zone was drawn to include the Tuscaloosa area even though it is about 200 miles from the coast and got only heavy rain and scattered wind damage from Katrina.

The condo deals are perfectly legal, and the tax breaks do not take money away from Katrina victims closer to the coast because the depreciation is wide open, with no limits per state.

[nashville_brook]

1. don't miss this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3261691&mesg_id=3261691


U.S. "outraged" by Myanmar's response to cyclone (Burma's response is the same as the Bush junta's! Bush kept international aid out of New Orleans after 'Hurricane Katrina' (blown levies?) so that he could bring in KBR and Blackwater and kill as many poor people and minorities as possible.)

(snip)


Katrina: Authorities bar Red Cross from NOLA; Blackwater gets carte blanche By Xeni Jardin 09 Sep 2005 Armed with assault rifles, contractors from private security firm Blackwater are patrolling the black-water-flooded streets of New Orleans. Meanwhile, unarmed Red Cross workers toting food and medicine have been unable to enter the city for days...

more at link

[annabanana]

2. k&r. . . . . . .. n/t

[nashville_brook]

3. thanks, glad i'm not the only one made crazy with the cyclone coverage.

[malaise]

4. Or this one

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3262280

[Disturbed]

5. The hypocrisy of the Busholini has no bounds.

The Regime is full of Sociopaths from the selected, so called Pres., on down.

[nashville_brook]

6. one would think the MSM would do a little self-reflection -- sure, it's outrageous

when a country refuses aid. why didn't they make a fuss over US refusals during Katrina? it looks to me like CREW had to pound the drum on this. could be wrong -- but doesn't seem like there was much discussion at the time about our "inability" to take foreign aid.

[nichomachus]

7. Who? Why, Commander Bunnypants. That's who.

[nashville_brook]

8. watch Geraldo's Katrina Superdome MELTDOWN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moFv2zGF4Gk

[nashville_brook]

9. BLACKWATER replaces non-profit relief efforts in NOLA (oh, and they didn't do any relief, either)

http://www.alternet.org/katrina/25858/

Blackwater Down
The frightening -- and possibly illegal -- presence of heavily armed private forces in New Orleans only demonstrates what everyone already feared: the utter breakdown of the government.


The men from Blackwater USA arrived in New Orleans right after Katrina hit.

The company known for its private security work guarding senior US diplomats in Iraq beat the federal government and most aid organizations to the scene in another devastated Gulf. About 150 heavily armed Blackwater troops dressed in full battle gear spread out into the chaos of New Orleans. Officially, the company boasted of its forces "join the hurricane relief effort." But its men on the ground told a different story.

Some patrolled the streets in SUVs with tinted windows and the Blackwater logo splashed on the back; others sped around the French Quarter in an unmarked car with no license plates. They congregated on the corner of St. James and Bourbon in front of a bar called 711, where Blackwater was establishing a makeshift headquarters. From the balcony above the bar, several Blackwater guys cleared out what had apparently been someone's apartment. They threw mattresses, clothes, shoes and other household items from the balcony to the street below. They draped an American flag from the balcony's railing. More than a dozen troops from the 82nd Airborne Division stood in formation on the street watching the action.

Armed men shuffled in and out of the building as a handful told stories of their past experiences in Iraq. "I worked the security detail of both Bremer and Negroponte," said one of the Blackwater guys, referring to the former head of the US occupation, L. Paul Bremer, and former US Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte. Another complained, while talking on his cell phone, that he was getting only $350 a day plus his per diem. "When they told me New Orleans, I said, 'What country is that in?'" he said. He wore his company ID around his neck in a case with the phrase Operation Iraqi Freedom printed on it.

In an hourlong conversation I had with four Blackwater men, they characterized their work in New Orleans as "securing neighborhoods" and "confronting criminals." They all carried automatic assault weapons and had guns strapped to their legs. Their flak jackets were covered with pouches for extra ammunition.

When asked what authority they were operating under, one guy said, "We're on contract with the Department of Homeland Security." Then, pointing to one of his comrades, he said, "He was even deputized by the governor of the state of Louisiana. We can make arrests and use lethal force if we deem it necessary."The man then held up the gold Louisiana law enforcement badge he wore around his neck. Blackwater spokesperson Anne Duke also said the company has a letter from Louisiana officials authorizing its forces to carry loaded weapons.

"This vigilantism demonstrates the utter breakdown of the government," says Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. "These private security forces have behaved brutally, with impunity, in Iraq. To have them now on the streets of New Orleans is frightening and possibly illegal."

Blackwater is not alone. As business leaders and government officials talk openly of changing the demographics of what was one of the most culturally vibrant of America's cities, mercenaries from companies like DynCorp, Intercon, American Security Group, Blackhawk, Wackenhut and an Israeli company called Instinctive Shooting International (ISI) are fanning out to guard private businesses and homes, as well as government projects and institutions. Within two weeks of the hurricane, the number of private security companies registered in Louisiana jumped from 185 to 235. Some, like Blackwater, are under federal contract. Others have been hired by the wealthy elite, like F. Patrick Quinn III, who brought in private security to guard his $3 million private estate and his luxury hotels, which are under consideration for a lucrative federal contract to house FEMA workers.