Cable News Network
Nov. 3, 2005
WASHINGTON -- As Hurricane Katrina ripped into the Gulf Coast, the government's emergency management chief was making flippant remarks about his responsibilities, e-mails show.
|
|
Michael Brown
|
|
"Can I quit now? Can I come home?" former Federal Emergency Management Director Michael Brown wrote to Cindy Taylor, FEMA's deputy director of public affairs, the morning of the hurricane.
A few days later, Brown wrote to an acquaintance, "I'm trapped now, please rescue me."
As employees looked for direction and support on the ravaged Gulf Coast, Brown offered to "tweak" the federal response.
Brown resigned on September 12, 10 days after President Bush told him, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
Brown took over FEMA in 2003 with little experience in emergency management. He joined the agency in 2001 as legal counsel to his college friend, then-FEMA director Joe Allbaugh, who was Bush's 2000 campaign manager. When Allbaugh left FEMA in 2003 Brown assumed the top job.
Before joining the Bush administration, Brown spent a decade as the stewards and judges commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association.
The e-mails were obtained by Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Louisiana, and posted on his Web site.
Melancon, whose district south of New Orleans was devastated by the hurricane, said Brown's lack of leadership and concern is illustrated in more than 1,000 e-mails provided to the House committee now assessing responses to the disaster by all levels of government.
"In the midst of the overwhelming damage caused by the hurricane and enormous problems faced by FEMA, Mr. Brown found time to exchange e-mails about superfluous topics," including "problems finding a dog-sitter," Melancon said.
Melancon said that on August 26, just days before Katrina made landfall, Brown e- mailed his press secretary, Sharon Worthy, about his attire, asking: "Tie or not for tonight? Button-down blue shirt?"
A few days later, Worthy advised Brown: "Please roll up the sleeves of your shirt, all shirts. Even the president rolled his sleeves to just below the elbow. In this [crisis] and on TV you just need to look more hard-working."
On August 29, the day of the storm, Brown exchanged e-mails about his attire with Taylor, Melancon said. She told him, "You look fabulous," and Brown replied, "I got it at Nordstroms. ... Are you proud of me?"
An hour later, Brown added: "If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god," according to the congressman.
The e-mails came from Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff, who oversees FEMA, following a request by Melancon and Rep. Tom Davis, R-Virginia, chairman of a House committee appointed to investigate what went wrong during Katrina, Melancon said.
Although Chertoff has not turned over all the documents requested by the committee, Melancon charged that the material received so far contradicts testimony by Brown before the committee in which he described himself as an effective leader.
Brown resigned amid accusations that FEMA acted too slowly after Katrina hammered Louisiana and Mississippi, killing more than 1,200 people. He defended the government's response and blamed leaders in Louisiana for failing to act quickly as the hurricane approached.
He acknowledged he made some mistakes as FEMA's director, but he stressed that the agency "is not a first responder," insisting that role belonged to state and local officials.
Brown could not be reached for comment Wednesday night on the e-mails and Melancon's charges.
The lawmaker cited several e-mails that he said show Brown's failures.
For instance, two days after Katrina, Marty Bahamonde, one of the only FEMA employees in New Orleans, wrote to Brown that "the situation is past critical."
"Here are some things you might not know. Hotels are kicking people out, thousands gathering in the streets with no food or water. Hundreds still being rescued from homes," Bahamonde said.
"The dying patients at the DMAT (Disaster Medical Assistance Team) tent being medivac. Estimates are many will die within hours. Evacuation in process. Plans developing for [Superdome] evacuation but hotel situation adding to problem. We are out of food and running out of water at the dome, plans in works to address the critical need.
"FEMA staff is OK and holding own. DMAT staff working in deplorable conditions. The sooner we can get the medical patients out, the sooner we can get them out. Phone connectivity impossible."
Brown's entire response was: "Thanks for the update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?"
Two days later, on September 2, Brown received a message with the subject "medical help." At the time, thousands of patients were being transported to the New Orleans airport, which had been converted to a makeshift hospital. Because of a lack of ventilators, medical personnel had to ventilate patients by hand for as long as 35 hours, according to Melancon.
The text of the e-mail reads: "Mike, Mickey and other medical equipment people have a 42-foot trailer full of beds, wheelchairs, oxygen concentrators, etc. They are wanting to take them where they can be used but need direction.
"Mickey specializes in ventilator patients so can be very helpful with acute care patients. If you could have someone contact him and let him know if he can be of service, he would appreciate it. Know you are busy but they really want to help."
Melancon said Brown didn't respond for four days, when he forwarded the original e- mail to FEMA Deputy Chief of Staff Brooks Altshuler and Deputy Director of Response Michael Lowder.
The text of Brown's e-mail to them read: "Can we use these people?"
Melancon also charged that few of the e-mails from Brown show him assigning specific tasks to employees or responding to pressing problems.
On September 1, FEMA officials exchanged e-mails reporting severe shortages of ice and water in Mississippi. They were to receive 60 trucks of ice and 26 trucks of water the next day, even though they needed 450 trucks of each.
Robert Fenton, a FEMA regional response official, predicted "serious riots" if insufficient supplies arrive.
Brown was forwarded the series of e-mails about the problem, but no response from him is shown in the e-mails provided to the committee, Melancon said.
Katrina came ashore along the Louisiana-Mississippi state line, after being downgraded from a Category 5 to a Category 4 storm. It flooded 80 percent of New Orleans. It was followed about a month later by Hurricane Rita, which caused more damage and flooding.
Melancon and several other Democrats from districts directly affected by Katrina were invited to participate as a ex-officio members of the Katrina investigative committee, though they have no formal role. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi refused to appoint any Democrats to the panel after GOP leaders rebuffed Democratic demands for an independent probe.
As originally published
Michael Brown
|
| All republished material is copyrighted by its original publisher.
It is reprinted by Unknown News without permission, solely for purposes of criticism, comment, and news reporting, in accordance with the Fair Use Guidelines of copyright material under § 107 of U.S.C. Title 17:
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include --
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors. |
|
|
There's much more than this at Unknown News.
|
|
Commentary:
You know what happens, when beer buddies and completely unqualified cronies are given life-or-death leadership positions in a completely crooked government?
People die.
So make no mistake: We're not talking about old-fashioned cronyism, where a president's college roommate gets to be Ambassador to Timbuktu. That's traditional, low-level cronyism.
No, we're talking about cronyism on a previously unimagined level, where utterly unqualified hacks are given ultimate authority over search-and-rescue after catastrophes. Life and death.
Not just Michael Brown, but the entire Bush-appointed hierarchy at FEMA -- that's the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- had basically no experience in any position remotely related to emergency management when they joined FEMA.
This is beyond malfeasance. It's murder, by presidential appointment.
=Helen & Harry Highwater=
|
|
Sept. 2, 2005:
Who is this incompetent doofus running FEMA?
by Rachel R., Unknown News
Sept. 3, 2005:
FEMA chief had to be 'asked to resign' from previous job with horse club
Sept. 6, 2005:
FEMA head specifically ordered lackadaisical response to "near catastrophic" Hurricane Katrina
Sept. 7, 2005:
FEMA's top-level management stacked with Bush's cronies
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 27, 2005:
Former FEMA Head Brown commits obvious perjury before Congress
Oct. 21, 2005:
FEMA worker tells of his bosses' disinterest as situation worsened
Copies of Michael Brown's emails
PDF FILE (requires Adobe Acrobat)
Aug. 29, 2005:
As Katrina strikes, FEMA urges first-responders not to respond
Sept. 1, 2005:
With Gulf Coast in ruins, Homeland Security Chief hosts on-line chat
Sept. 2, 2005:
Emergency crews turned back by FEMA:
They lacked "the required paperwork"
Sept. 2, 2005:
FEMA won't allow airboats to rescue Katrina victims
Sept. 3, 2005:
FEMA turned back 500-boat rescue flotilla
Sept. 3, 2005:
Thousands of New Orleans refugees held at gunpoint,
not allowed to leave growing hell of Superdome
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 3, 2005:
Homeland Security stops Red Cross from bringing food for New Orleans
with comments by Sir J and Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 4, 2005:
Red tape keeps hundreds of doctors from helping hurricane survivors
Sept. 4, 2005:
Homeland Security Chief says New Orleans disaster couldn't have been predicted
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 4, 2005:
College sophomores used fake press passes to circumvent FEMA's rescue roadblocks
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 4, 2005:
FEMA turns down water, fuel for New Orleans, cuts area's emergency communication line
Sept. 5, 2005:
Firefighters waited five days for FEMA's OK to enter New Orleans, then gave up, returned to Houston
Sept. 6, 2005:
No food drops planned for New Orleans
with comments by Helen & Harry Highwater
Sept. 6, 2005:
As New Orleans waits, FEMA sends firefighters to seminar, assigns them to hand out fliers
Sept. 7, 2005:
International offers of help came immediately, but U.S. approval was delayed by days
Sept. 8, 2005:
FEMA contractors arrested for looting
with comments by Underground Panther in the Sky
Sept. 8, 2005:
Canadian search-and-rescue team first to reach New Orleans suburb
Sept. 9, 2005:
"Mission accomplished" in New Orleans
by Harry Highwater, Unknown News
Sept. 10, 2005:
FEMA sent back German plane carrying fifteen tons of food for hurricane victims
Sept. 11, 2005:
New Orleans doctors had to kill their patients
Sept. 11, 2005:
Sheriff threatens to arrest FEMA officials
Countermands FEMA order that stores remain closed
Sept. 13, 2005:
Chertoff delayed federal response to Katrina disaster, memo shows
Sept. 14, 2005:
Feds delayed Nat'l Guard's hurricane response for days
Sept. 16, 2005:
Truckloads of ice for Katrina victims trucked everywhere except to victims
Sept. 16, 2005:
Doctor says FEMA ordered him to stop treating hurricane victims
Sept. 23, 2005:
FEMA subcontracted evacuation buses, ignored bus-owners' group's offers of help
Sept. 28, 2005:
FEMA's $236-million deal with Carnival Cruise Lines
|
|
Say it with a bumper sticker
$3 each, or two for $5
|
