UPDATE: See my next post for information on major discrepancies between the Major Garrett story and the Red Cross' own account. In short, Garrett fails to report that the Red Cross agreed with the state DHS decision. Furthermore, the Red Cross requested to enter the city on Thursday, whereas Garrett reports they were ready to enter the city on Monday afternoon.
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The right side of the blogosphere has just discovered that the Red Cross was not allowed into New Orleans by the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security. However, I'm not sure if they're aware that this story was publicized days ago by none other than Jesse Jackson.
There are multiple reports of Jesse Jackson complaining about the Red Cross being barred from the city. Here's an excerpt from the Houston Chronicle story:
Jackson also lambasted the Louisiana office of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, saying it should have let the Red Cross into New Orleans immediately after the hurricane passed one week ago.
Homeland security officials told the Red Cross not to enter the city because they were trying to get residents out, not encourage them to stay, because most of the city was still under water, and because armed gangs of looters were in the streets.
Marsha Evans, president of the American Red Cross, said today the agency was ready to go in. Its volunteers understood the danger and were willing to do their jobs, she said.
"The decision not to let them in was not sound," Jackson said. "The danger was exaggerated."
This was also reported on CNN's Larry King Live on September 2nd:
KING: We're back.
Joining us now in Washington is Marty Evans, the President and CEO of the American Red Cross. She traveled with the president today. The Red Cross is not in New Orleans, why?
MARTY EVANS, RED CROSS PRESIDENT AND CEO: Well, Larry, when the storm came our goal was prior to landfall to support the evacuation. It was unsafe to be in the city. We were asked by the city not to be there and the Superdome was made a shelter of last resorts and, quite frankly in retrospect, it was a good idea because otherwise those people would have had no shelter at all.
We have our shelters north of the city. We're prepared as soon as they can be evacuated, we're prepared to receive them in Texas, in other states, but it was not safe to be in the city and it's not been safe to go back into the city. They were also concerned that if we located, relocated back into the city people wouldn't leave and they've got to leave.
....
KING: Reverend Jesse Jackson last night was in New Orleans. Tonight he is in Baton Rouge. When you were critical last night, Jesse, some in the administration followed by saying this is not a time for criticism. That may be later but not now. How do you respond?
REV. JESSE JACKSON, RAINBOW-PUSH COALITION: Well, that's ridiculous. I mean the Red Cross' absence in New Orleans, the high point of the crisis is a disaster. It is a sin. We had no real plan for rescue and relief and relocation.
This was also reported on liberal blogs, such as Talk Left, Newshounds (they report this being publicized on the O'Reilly Factor on September 6th), and on a Daily Kos diary post entitled "LA Homeland Security *confirms* ARC kept out!" posted on September 2nd.
So it's obvious that this is something that Democrats, including Jesse Jackson, have been outraged about. There is also evidence of this story being covered by CNN, Fox News, and major newspapers. So let's see how some of the major right-wing blogs respond:
It's an interesting point: can you imagine the outcry that would result if people died because Republican officials prevented the Red Cross from supplying them with the necessities of life? I can't, actually. I think the hysteria would cause a media meltdown. But here we have Democrats doing exactly that, and it's a closely guarded secret unless you follow the conservative blogs. It would be fun to interview a liberal news person and ask why he or she isn't covering this part of the Katrina story.
I also asked Garrett why no other network is on this story. He can't offer an answer for that, even though he points out that this isn't a hard story to get, and Fox News needn't be credited. All CNN has to do (or MSNBC or CBS) is call the Red Cross and get a camera over there.
Of course that would interfere with the "blame Bush" conclusion being pushed by Jacked-up Jack Cafferty and Campbell Brown etc.
Others have even written posts on the subject entitled "Democrats Hiding Crimes of Katrina". A little research will show that Democrats have been interested in this story, and outraged once they've known about it. Only a little research could turn up the Jesse Jackson story.
So why report it this way? It must either be lazy research or a desire to turn the Katrina story into pin the blame on the Democrats in local government (while ignoring the mistakes by the federal government). Now it's possible that the state government is to blame here. But in a national disaster, who makes decisions at the Lousiana Department of Homeland Security. I don't know, and the only information I've found is from Daily Kos diarist Shock that asked Lt. Kevin Cowan what happened:
Me: "Who on your end made this agreement with the red cross?"
He checked with the Operations desk and came back and told me it was probably a decision between the director of their agency, General Landreneau, the Governor, and Mike Brown at FEMA. He said he didn't know the exact groups in these agencies that worked out the agreement, but "ultimately, they're the ones in charge who sign off on it". He said "it's all a coordinated effort and guidelines are established." The point is they "don't want to put anyone at undue risk".
We have no idea if this is accurate or not. But if this is true, then the "blame" for this mistake should be spread around to both state and federal agencies.
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