[Rhodes22-list] Berkeley East?

[Brad Haslett]

Rummy,

I'm running a bit short on time but I've got just enough time to answer your
question, YES!  Bush 43 spoke with both Blanco and Nagin two days in advance
and explained that his advisers strongly suggested evacuating NOLA.  NOLA
had a plan on the shelf, a plan sponsored and paid for with federal funds
and tested a year prior.  It remained on the shelf.  After the levees
failed, our armed forces were all over NOLA because they were poised for
just such an event.  The massive movement of temporary housing to the Gulf
area immediately after Katrina was a sight to behold.  I-57 and I-55 was
clogged with RVs being towed South.  The National Guard was everywhere
maintaining civil order (as opposed to now - NOLA has had 21 murders since
Jan 1 and this is only Feb 9).  The collection of "big yellow equipment" to
clear roads, organized and paid for by the federal government, was the
single largest collection of construction equipment I've ever witnessed or
probably ever will again.  Given the size and scope of the event, I think
the feds did the best anyone could ask for under the circumstances.  The
NOLA local government completely broke down, before, during, and after
Katrina.  Over on the Mississippi side (where Katrina actually hit), the
state and local governments performed admirably.  Here's the bottom line
Rummy - if you live on a coastal area, 6 feet below sea level, and a CAT 5
hurricane is bearing down on you, you get the hell out of town.  Katrina did
NOLA a favor by convincing all sane and rational people to evacuate on their
own.  The levee system was a disaster waiting to happen after 100 years of
poor engineering and local corruption.  Had they failed while the city was
fully populated the death toll would have been in the tens of thousands.

I'll be happy to argue this issue to your hearts content when I have time.
You will lose.  Better yet, come visit me on the coast and I'll give you a
tour.  One look around is worth more than a thousand newspapers.

Brad

On Feb 9, 2008 8:09 AM, <R22RumRunner at aol.com> wrote:

> Brad,
> Let me see if I understand your position. You are saying that our
>  government
> did an outstanding job in their effort to help the people after  Katrina?
>
> Rummy
>
>
> In a message dated 2/9/2008 8:40:37 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> flybrad at gmail.com writes:
>
> Contrary  to popular belief because of MSM spin, our armed forces were all
> over NOLA  after Katrina.  The National Guard had headquarters set-up on
>  the
> fourth floor of the SuperDome parking garage.  One of my  co-workers, an
> Air
> Force reservist, personally flew the mission to move a  temporary hospital
> to
> the Mississippi Gulf Coast the very next day, as soon  as the weather
> cleared.  Another co-worker, a Marine, evacuated his  reserve units
> helicopters to Dallas and returned to NOLA immediately after  the storm.
>  The
> US Coast Guard flew thousands of rescue missions.The  Navy had ships off
> the
> coast that delivered water via helicopter. When my  company arrived on the
> MS
> coast, the National Guard kept the beach area  secure for months. I say to
> any city who doesn't welcome our armed forces -  fend for yourselves
> during
> the next natural disaster.  Toledo, you're  next!
>
> Brad
>
> --------------------
>
> Article published  February 9, 2008
>
> Mayor to Marines: Leave downtown
> He says urban  exercises scare people
> [image:  Photo]
>
> <javascript:NewWindow(600,400,'/apps/pbcs.dll/misc?url=/templates/zoom.pbs&Sit
> e=TO&Date=20080209&Category=NEWS16&ArtNo=802090394&Ref=AR');>
> Staff  Sgt. Andre Davis talks to his commanding officer as he leaves the
> Madison  Building after Mayor Carty Finkbeiner requested that the Marines
> leave the  downtown location.
> ( THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH )
>
> <javascript:NewWindow(600,400,'/apps/pbcs.dll/misc?url=/templates/zoom.pbs&Sit
> e=TO&Date=20080209&Category=NEWS16&ArtNo=802090394&Ref=AR');>
>
> Zoom<javascript:NewWindow(600,400,'/apps/pbcs.dll/misc?url=/templates/zoom.pbs
> &Site=TO&Date=20080209&Category=NEWS16&ArtNo=802090394&Ref=AR');>|
> Photo
> Reprints  <http://www.toledoblade.com/printroom>
>
> By JC REINDL  <jcreindl at theblade.com>
> BLADE STAFF WRITER
>
> A company of Marine  Corps Reservists received a cold send-off from
> downtown
> Toledo yesterday by  order of Mayor Carty Finkbeiner. The 200 members of
> Company A, 1st  Battalion, 24th Marines, based in Grand Rapids, Mich.,
> planned to spend  their weekend engaged in urban patrol exercises on the
> streets of downtown  as well as inside the mostly vacant Madison Building,
> 607 Madison Ave.  Toledo police knew days in advance about their plans for
> a
> three-day  exercise. Yet somehow the memo never made it to Mayor
> Finkbeiner,
> who  ordered the Marines out yesterday afternoon just minutes before their
> buses  were to arrive. "The mayor asked them to leave because they
>  frighten
> people," said Brian Schwartz, the mayor's spokesman. "He did not  want
> them
> practicing and drilling in a highly visible area." So after a  brief stop
> at
> a friendly base in Perrysburg Township, the Marines by early  evening were
> back on their way home to Grand Rapids. "I wish they would  have told us
> this
> four hours ago," Staff Sgt. Andre Davis said. Sergeant  Davis, who
> traveled
> ahead of the five-bus convoy, stepped from his vehicle  into downtown
> about
> 3:20 p.m. and was told by a city employee that the  mayor wanted him and
> his
> soldiers packed up and out by 6 p.m. Members of  the 1st Battalion, 24th
> Marines have trained periodically in downtown  Toledo since at least 2004
> and
> most recently in May, 2006. Past exercises  have involved mock gun fights,
> ambushes, and the firing of blank  ammunition. The Marines' buses set a
> course for their battalion's Weapons  Company headquarters in Perrysburg
> Township as soon as they heard of the  mayor's decision. The Reservists'
> visit was no surprise to Toledo police,  who Tuesday issued a news release
> to
> media outlets on behalf of the Marines  that asked Toledoans not to be
> startled by the sight of camouflaged  soldiers toting M16 rifles. Police
> officers were awaiting the Marines'  arrival yesterday afternoon and had
> set
> up a roadblock at Madison Avenue  and Huron Street. "There was apparently
> a
> break in communication somewhere  between the mayor and the police
> department," Mr. Schwartz said. "Where  that break was, we don't know
> yet."
> Maj.
> Jeffrey O'Neill, the company's  commanding officer, said he was
> disappointed
> by how events played out  yesterday, especially because Toledo had been a
> gracious host for Marine  exercises in the past. "You can go to military
> ranges for live fire  [exercises], but there's no way to duplicate the
> urban
> jungle unless you  actually train inside a city," Major O'Neill said. Mr.
> Schwartz said the  Marines declined Mayor Finkbeiner's alternative offer
> for
> them to practice  their urban patrol tactics inside the former Jones
> Junior
> High School, 550  Walbridge Ave. Major O'Neill said he was not aware of
> such
> an offer. A pair  of Marines spent the better part of yesterday setting up
> the Madison  Building with generators, heaters, radios, and food to become
> the unit's  overnight headquarters. After receiving the mayor's request to
> leave, they  began the task of moving the equipment back into an armored
> Humvee. Lance  Cpl. Brandon Bukrey-McCarty, 22, recalled taking part in
> the
> company's 2006  urban patrol exercise in downtown Toledo. He said he
> learned
> skills during  that exercise that proved useful during the unit's
> deployment
> to Fallujah,  Iraq, in 2006-2007. "It was extremely helpful," Corporal
> Bukrey-McCarty  said. The training "got me used to looking up on rooftops,
> looking around  every alley, every open door." Sergeant Davis and other
> company leaders  estimated the total cost of the aborted training
> exercise,
> including  travel, at roughly $10,000. Before he left downtown for
>  Perrysburg
> Township, Major O'Neill said he was not sure what type of  training, if
> any,
> his unit could undertake without access to downtown  Toledo. "But we're
> Marines," Major O'Neill said. "We'll adapt and  overcome."
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