The following is a transcript of WWL correspondent Garland Robinette's interview with Nagin on Thursday night. Robinette asked the mayor about his conversation with President Bush:I call on the President right now to do everything that he can to help New Orleans. Mobolize the troops right now. Get them out of Iraq as soon as frickin' possible. I don't want to blame him for the flooding and all but he leaves me no choice. It was because of him misleading us that we went to Iraq and cut the funds for FEMA and the levees in New Orleans. They knew it would be bad if New Orleans was going to be hit was a Catgeory 4 or 5 hurricane. I've read a ton of death threats against him (on other blogs). Mr. President, get off your lazy @$$ and do something! The President has crappy ratings and they will get worse. People are killing, and people are dying. New Orleans needs our help.
NAGIN: I told him we had an incredible crisis here and that his flying over in Air Force One does not do it justice. And that I have been all around this city, and I am very frustrated because we are not able to marshal resources and we're outmanned in just about every respect.
You know the reason why the looters got out of control? Because we had most of our resources saving people, thousands of people that were stuck in attics, man, old ladies. ... You pull off the doggone ventilator vent and you look down there and they're standing in there in water up to their freaking necks.
And they don't have a clue what's going on down here. They flew down here one time two days after the doggone event was over with TV cameras, AP reporters, all kind of goddamn -- excuse my French everybody in America, but I am pissed.
WWL: Did you say to the president of the United States, "I need the military in here"?
NAGIN: I said, "I need everything."
Now, I will tell you this -- and I give the president some credit on this -- he sent one John Wayne dude down here that can get some stuff done, and his name is [Lt.] Gen. [Russel] Honore.
And he came off the doggone chopper, and he started cussing and people started moving. And he's getting some stuff done.
They ought to give that guy -- if they don't want to give it to me, give him full authority to get the job done, and we can save some people.
WWL: What do you need right now to get control of this situation?
NAGIN: I need reinforcements, I need troops, man. I need 500 buses, man. We ain't talking about -- you know, one of the briefings we had, they were talking about getting public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out here.
I'm like, "You got to be kidding me. This is a national disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."
That's -- they're thinking small, man. And this is a major, major, major deal. And I can't emphasize it enough, man. This is crazy.
I've got 15,000 to 20,000 people over at the convention center. It's bursting at the seams. The poor people in Plaquemines Parish...We don't have anything, and we're sharing with our brothers in Plaquemines Parish.
It's awful down here, man.
Bob Hill wrote Thursday's column about the pardon game. Roughly 73% oppose the pardons that Fletcher made.
Boston closed out August with an 18-9 record.
President Votruba released a statement yesterday:
We have all seen images of the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina on the coastal and inland communities of Mississippi and Louisiana. We grieve for the lives lost and the people suffering because of this catastrophic force of nature, and offer our sympathy to those impacted directly or indirectly by this tragedy.Israel has offered their assistance to America in our time of need.
As a campus community, we embrace efforts to bring relief and comfort to those in need, and are actively coordinating the efforts of students, faculty, staff, and alumni to support the relief effort. In addition, we have joined forces with our peer institutions to coordinate an effective response from the Greater Cincinnati higher education community. Our efforts will be coordinated with similar projects at Xavier University, the University of Cincinnati, Thomas More College, College of Mount St. Joseph, Gateway Technical and Community College, and Cincinnati State Technical and Community College.
We are developing an NKU Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, which will provide a single and convenient process for you to contribute to relief efforts. Funds collected by NKU will be distributed to the American Red Cross. Our hope is that students, faculty, staff, and alumni will see this as a viable option for providing tax-deductible financial support to critical relief programs. You will receive details of this coordinated response shortly.
In addition, the Division of Student Affairs is working with student organizations, including the Student Government Association, to coordinate several projects related to disaster relief. The Music, Theater and Art departments will also be sponsoring a special fund raising performance to assist in this effort. We know that there are likely other relief efforts already underway across campus, and ask that you bring these efforts to the attention of our Dean of Students office.
Finally, NKU will be offering special arrangements to enroll students who will not be able to attend classes at their home institutions which have been shut down due to the Hurricane Katrina. Students seeking to enroll should make immediate contact with the NKU Office of Admissions. NKU will be as flexible as possible to enroll these students.
Thank you in advance for your caring and understanding at this difficult time. Please look to your email and to the NKU website for information about how you may participate in our effort to ease the suffering of those affected by this terrible natural disaster. Kent Kelso, Dean of Students, will serve as the campus coordinator for our NKU relief efforts.
Dear Mr. President,Places to give:
On behalf of my Government and the people of Israel, I wish to express my sincerest condolences on the horrible tragedy that has befallen the United States, especially the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
I would like to offer Israel’s assistance in volunteering our medical teams which include hundreds of doctors, nurses, technicians, and other experts that specialize in trauma, natural disasters and public health. We also offer field hospitals, medical kits and equipment for temporary housing, re-enforcement for hospitals, or any other assistance that you may require. I was informed by my security establishment that these teams and equipment can be ready in 24 hours. During these difficult times, we, the people of Israel, stand firmly by your side in a show of solidarity and friendship.
Sincerely, Ariel Sharon
Red Cross: 1-800-HELP-NOW or www.redcross.org
Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: www.la-spca.org
From moveon.org:
This morning, we've launched an emergency national housing drive to connect your empty beds with hurricane victims who desperately need a place to wait out the storm. You can post your offer of housing (a spare room, extra bed, even a decent couch) and search for available housing online at:
http://www.hurricanehousing.org
Housing is most urgently needed within reasonable driving distance (about 300 miles) of the affected areas in the Southeast, especially New Orleans.
Activist & New Orleans native Richard Hoefer (of www.demspeak.com) has developed a tool to help survivors and family members get needed information: http://KatrinaTOUCHBASE.com
WHAS-TV has a drive going at National City Banks or its website...http://www.whas11.com/.
The University of Kentucky has opened its doors to our brothers and sisters affected by the incident in the bayou.
The President undercut funding.
President Bush repeatedly requested less money for programs to guard against catastrophic storms in New Orleans than many federal and state officials requested, decisions that are triggering a partisan debate over administration priorities at a time when the budget is strained by the Iraq war.Next week on The Daily Show:
Even with full funding in recent years, none of the flood-control projects would have been completed in time to prevent the swamping of the city, as Democrats yesterday acknowledged. But they said Bush's decision to hold down spending on fortifying levees around New Orleans reflected a broader shuffling of resources -- to pay for tax cuts and the Iraq invasion -- that has left the United States more vulnerable.[...]
In recent years, Bush repeatedly sought to slice the Army Corps of Engineers' funding requests to improve the levees holding back Lake Pontchartrain, which Katrina smashed through, flooding New Orleans. In 2005, Bush asked for $3.9 million, a small fraction of the request the corps made in internal administration deliberations. Under pressure from Congress, Bush ultimately agreed to spend $5.7 million. Since coming to office, Bush has essentially frozen spending on the Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for protecting the coastlines, waterways and other areas susceptible to natural disaster, at around $4.7 billion.
As recently as July, the White House lobbied unsuccessfully against a plan to spend $1 billion over four years to rebuild coastlines and wetlands, which serve as buffers against hurricanes. More than half of that money goes to Louisiana.
At the same time, the president has reorganized government to prepare for possible terrorist attacks, folding emergency-response agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency into the Department of Homeland Security. Bush said government functions needed to be streamlined to allow for better communications among agencies and speedier responses to terrorist attacks and other crises.
"Flood control has been a priority of this administration from Day One," said White House press secretary Scott McClellan, adding that the administration in recent years has dedicated a total of $300 million for flood control in the New Orleans area. Beyond that, he dismissed questions about specific projects as mere partisan sniping. "This is not a time for finger-pointing or playing politics," McClellan said.
The Corps of Engineers, which worked closely with White House officials on its response, went to the defense of the administration, denying that additional money would have made a difference this week because the defenses of New Orleans were designed to withstand a Category 3 storm, not a Category 4 hurricane such as Katrina. "It was not a funding issue," said Carol Sanders, the chief spokeswoman for the corps. "It's an issue of the design capabilities of these projects."
But a growing number of Democrats are pointing to stalled relief efforts, substandard flood protection systems and the slow pace of getting military personnel to the hardest-hit areas as evidence of a distracted government.
"It is hard to say, but it is true: There was a failure by [Bush] to meet the responsibility here," said Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). "Somebody needs to say it."
Is the National Guard "depleted because so many Guard are in Iraq that we don't have the opportunity to activate civil control?" asked Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.). "That question has to be asked." Almost one in three National Guardsmen in Louisiana is serving in Iraq or war-related efforts, according to the National Guard.
Michael Parker, who was forced by Bush to resign as assistant secretary of the Army for civil works after accusing the White House of shortchanging the Corps of Engineers, said the culprit is not the president but government-wide resistance to investing long-term in projects such as flood control.
"You have watched during a period of 72 hours a modern city of New Orleans [become] a Third World country, and it is all because of the disintegration of infrastructure," Parker said. "Everybody is to blame -- it transcends administrations. It transcends party."
Parker, a former Republican congressman from Mississippi, said the biggest institutional obstacle to protecting levees and bridges and waterways is the Office of Management and Budget, which has sought to rein in the Corps of Engineers' budget under Bush and predecessors. Critics say the corps sometimes works with lawmakers to secure congressional spending authority on wasteful programs.
Local and federal officials have long warned that funding shortages in the New Orleans area would have consequences. They sounded the alarm as recently as last summer when they complained that federal budget cuts had stopped major work on New Orleans east bank hurricane levees for the first time in 37 years. Al Naomi, the senior project manager for the Army Corps of Engineers, reported at the time that he was getting only half as much money as he needed and that much of the funding was being used to pay contractors for past work.
"When levees are below grade, as ours are in many spots right now, they're more vulnerable to waves pouring over them and degrading them," Naomi told the Times-Picayune of New Orleans. Walter Maestri, the emergency management chief in Jefferson Parish (county), at the time linked the funding shortfall to the cost of the Iraq war. "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay," he told the newspaper. Maestri added, "For us, this levee is part and parcel of homeland security because it helps protect us 365 days a year."
One project that has drawn attention in recent days is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, commonly called SELA, which began a decade ago to improve flood protection in a network of improved drainage canals and pump stations in Orleans and Jefferson parishes.
The project, which is supposed to cost $744 million overall, has been shortchanged recently, according to advocates. The corps said it needed $62.5 million next fiscal year; Bush proposed $10.5 million.
This provoked howls of protest from the Louisiana congressional delegation. "All of us said, 'Look, build it or you're going to have all of Jefferson Parish under water,' " recalled former senator John Breaux, a Democrat who is a Bush ally. "And they didn't, and now all of Jefferson Parish is under water."
Monday, 9/5: Pre-empted
Tuesday, 9/6: DR. MARC SIEGEL, author of "False Alarm"
Wednesday, 9/7: SAMUEL L. JACKSON, star of "The Man"
Thursday, 9/8: TBD
Take action now to hold the President accountable.
It's been confirmed that the Astrodome is full and no one else is being allowed in.
Senator Landrieu released a statement:
We'll Need Your Help
By Mary Landrieu
The devastation left by Hurricane Katrina is unprecedented and nearly impossible to describe. Stabilizing, repairing and rebuilding New Orleans, southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region is not only a paramount concern for the thousands left heartbroken and homeless; it is also the largest economic challenge our country has ever faced from a natural disaster.
With the impact of Katrina's devastation being felt in some way in every community across the nation, our long-term recovery from this tragedy will require leadership, courage, patience and the prayers of all Americans. The administration and Congress must be committed to providing the resources necessary to rebuild the Gulf Coast and strengthen it for the future.
But while disasters like this one strike quickly, recovery is long and painful. In these first days, we are staying hopeful and confident while our immediate priority remains rescuing survivors and assisting the thousands of people that Katrina left homeless and jobless. Having toured Sri Lanka with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist after the Indian Ocean tsunami in December, it saddens me to report that the devastation I've seen here at home is equal to that which I witnessed half a world away.
Our nation came to the aid of the tsunami victims then, and to hurricane victims in Central America before. I am deeply moved to see us come together with the same love and fellowship today, as millions of Americans have rallied to support their brothers and sisters on the Gulf Coast.
I thank all Americans for their prayers and support in this difficult time and encourage those who can donate to the relief effort to do so. The American Red Cross is coordinating the outpouring of individual support from across the country, and may be reached at http://www.redcross.org or 1-800-HELP-NOW.
First published September 1, 2005 in the Washington Post.
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