And it just keeps getting better

[Spider]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...801113_pf.html
Most Katrina Aid From Overseas Went Unclaimed

By John Solomon and Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, April 29, 2007; A01

As the winds and water of Hurricane Katrina were receding, presidential confidante Karen Hughes sent a cable from her State Department office to U.S. ambassadors worldwide.

Titled "Echo-Chamber Message" -- a public relations term for talking points designed to be repeated again and again -- the Sept. 7, 2005, directive was unmistakable: Assure the scores of countries that had pledged or donated aid at the height of the disaster that their largesse had provided Americans "practical help and moral support" and "highlight the concrete benefits hurricane victims are receiving."

Many of the U.S. diplomats who received the message, however, were beginning to witness a more embarrassing reality. They knew the U.S. government was turning down many allies' offers of manpower, supplies and expertise worth untold millions of dollars. Eventually the United States also would fail to collect most of the unprecedented outpouring of international cash assistance for Katrina's victims.

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 Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross.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.

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. Now, 20 months after Katrina, newly released documents and interviews make clear the magnitude of the troubles.

More than 10,000 pages of cables, telegraphs and e-mails from U.S. diplomats around the globe -- released piecemeal since last fall under the Freedom of Information Act -- provide a fuller account of problems that, at times, mystified generous allies and left U.S. representatives at a loss for an explanation. The documents were obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a public interest group, which provided them to The Washington Post.

In one exchange, State Department officials anguished over whether to tell Italy that its shipments of medicine, gauze and other medical supplies spoiled in the elements for weeks after Katrina's landfall on Aug. 29, 2005, and were destroyed. "Tell them we blew it," one disgusted official wrote. But she hedged: "The flip side is just to dispose of it and not come clean. I could be persuaded."

In another instance, the Department of Homeland Security accepted an offer from Greece on Sept. 3, 2005, to dispatch two cruise ships that could be used free as hotels or hospitals for displaced residents. The deal was rescinded Sept. 15 after it became clear a ship would not arrive before Oct. 10. The U.S. eventually paid $249 million to use Carnival Cruise Lines vessels.

And while television sets worldwide showed images of New Orleans residents begging to be rescued from rooftops as floodwaters rose, U.S. officials turned down countless offers of allied troops and search-and-rescue teams. The most common responses: "sent letter of thanks" and "will keep offer on hand," the new documents show.

Overall, the United States declined 54 of 77 recorded aid offers from three of its staunchest allies: Canada, Britain and Israel, according to a 40-page State Department table of the offers that had been received as of January 2006.

"There is a lack of accountability in where the money comes in and where it goes," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the public interest group, which called for an investigation into the fate of foreign aid offers. She added: "It's clear that they're trying to hide their ineptitude, incompetence and malfeasance."

In a statement, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said that the U.S. government sincerely appreciated support from around the world and that Katrina had proved to be "a unique event in many ways."

"As we continue our planning for the future, we will draw on the lessons learned from this experience to ensure that we make the best use of any possible foreign assistance that might be offered," Casey said.

Representatives of foreign countries declined to criticize the U.S. response to their aid offers, though some redirected their gifts.

Of $454 million in cash that was pledged by more than 150 countries and foreign organizations, only $126 million from 40 donors was actually received. The biggest gifts were from the United Arab Emirates, $100 million; China and Bahrain, $5 million each; South Korea, $3.8 million; and Taiwan, $2 million.

Bader Bin Saeed, spokesman for the Emirates Embassy in Washington, said that in future disasters, "the UAE would not hesitate to help other countries, whether the U.S. or any other state, in humanitarian efforts."

Kuwait, which made the largest offer, pledged $100 million in cash and $400 million in oil. But the Kuwaitis eventually gave their money to two private groups: $25 million to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, a project of the former presidents, and another $25 million to the American Red Cross in February 2006. They still plan to contribute another $50 million, said the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States, Salem Abdullah al-Jaber al-Sabah.

"It was based on my government's assessment of the fastest way to get money to the people that needed it," he said. "The Red Cross was on the ground and action-oriented."

In the White House's February 2006 Katrina report, U.S. officials said Kuwait's $400 million oil donation was to be sold for cash. Sabah said it was an in-kind pledge made when it appeared that U.S. refining capacity was devastated and that the American public would need fuel.

"We have to see what we have to do with that. When you pledge something in-kind, your intention is to give it in-kind. I do not think now the American people are in need of $400 million of fuel and fuel products," he said.

Of the $126 million in cash that has been received, most has not yet been used. More than $60 million was set aside in March 2006 to rebuild schools, colleges and universities, but so far, only $10.4 million has been taken by schools.

Half the $60 million was awarded last fall to 14 Louisiana and Mississippi colleges, but five have not started to claim the money. Only Dillard University in Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College have tapped their full awards, worth $6 million, U.S. Education Department officials said Friday.

Another $30 million was sent to Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes in Louisiana and to the state-run Recovery School District in New Orleans to build libraries, laboratories and other facilities for 130 public schools.

But none of that money has been used yet, said Meg Casper, spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Education. Allocations were just approved by the state board last week, she said, "so the money should start to flow."

The first concrete program officials announced in October 2005 -- a $66 million contract to a consortium of 10 faith-based and charity groups to provide social services to displaced families -- so far has assisted less than half the 100,000 victims it promised to help, the project director said.

The group, led by the United Methodist Committee on Relief, has spent $30 million of the money it was given to aid about 45,000 evacuees. Senate investigators are questioning some terms in the contract proposal, including a provision to pay consultants for 450 days to train volunteers for the work the committee was paid to do.

Jim Cox, the program director, said that the project is "right on track" but that its strategy of relying on volunteers foundered because of burnout and high turnover. He acknowledged that more people need help than are receiving it and said the program will be extended to March to use available funds.

"The resources aren't there, but these resources certainly are coming," Cox said.

[Spider]

ok Bushbots , and you guys know who you are , step up and tell me why this would happen ?

[Bronco Bob]

Keep this in mind the next time some right winger starts b****ing about how
much America does for the rest of the world and how ungrateful the rest
of the world is towards America.

[REB]

I don't think it has much to do with what party is in control of the WH. Both parties have created this hugh federal bureaucracy with endless red tape. Very few of them know their a$$ from a hole in the ground.

[clarkster]

i agree, i cant put this on Bush, its a collective group effort.
i have a hard time with katrina, because all i ever hear is that the govt failed to help, not the case. yes the govt was ill prepared, but thats more of a local/state govt **** up than anything else.
when the **** hit the fan, we rolled down there deep, 3 ships. 35 boats. the overwhelming majority of people we ran into didnt want to leave. they wanted to ride it out. theres more to the story and honestly, i cant even scratch the surface here. thats quite possibly the most corrupt, backwoods, cross burning govt ive ever heard about.

[bendog]

No, it's on bushii. WJC put in disaster relief pros at FEMA. Not that WJC was a great guy, but one reason Bushi lost Fla in 92 was hurricane Andrew, and the failure of FEMA. WJC made it a campaign issue. Bushii reverted to using FEMA as a means for paying back supporters.

Meanwhile, on the Gulf Coast, something like 90% of the people who's homes were reduced to slabs, are still living in trailers or displaced and waiting for insurance payouts. Thanks to Barbour and the congress, the casinos are back, and condos are ready to come back if the insurance companies ever settle with the state insurance commissioner on what the wind damage rates will be, but the homeowners are still ****ed, and we've got more illegal aliens and crappy mexican restaurants than I can shake a stick on ... I mean at.

Quality of life here post-Katrina just sucks. I got it good, but I had it a lot better.

I am a bit confused on the paragragh about money for universities and colleges. As is noted Miss Gulf Coast Comm College was severly damaged. A neighbor teaches biology there. But aside from wind damage at the Univ of Southern Miss (Favre's school) there wasn't much damage to universities and schools. Trees down, power out. But nothing really needing aid.

One thing that's pissed me off is FEMA's aid. Legally, I could have gotten reimbursed for a chainsaw I had to use to get limbs off my roof, but I didn't because others suffered so much more than me. (besides I ended up with a new roof from my insurance anyway) But then I see Rep Bennie Thompson complaining that FEMA's looking to recoup aide paid to people who didn't qualify. He says he wants to know why FEMA's "seeking these monies." A-Hole, FEMA's looking for the money cause crooks like you stole it.

[bendog]

Clarkster, Miss or La? Word from Brownie was that bushii was hard put, because they wanted to federalize the response in LA, but they wanted to let Barbour handle it in Miss.

In Miss, we were fine safety wise 48 hours after the storm. Barbour had the natl guard out with orders to shoot looters. The problems came later. With FEMA actually preventing aid from reachign the coast, and then with insurance companies. It's going to be dicey in the next couple of years with tax collections too, since a lot of folks on the coast don't have the same good jobs anymore. There's a lot of sales tax coming in from out of state workers rebuilding casinos and some condos, but once that leaves, there are a lot of questions.

[clarkster]

Originally Posted by bendog

Clarkster, Miss or La? Word from Brownie was that bushii was hard put, because they wanted to federalize the response in LA, but they wanted to let Barbour handle it in Miss.

In Miss, we were fine safety wise 48 hours after the storm. Barbour had the natl guard out with orders to shoot looters. The problems came later. With FEMA actually preventing aid from reachign the coast, and then with insurance companies. It's going to be dicey in the next couple of years with tax collections too, since a lot of folks on the coast don't have the same good jobs anymore. There's a lot of sales tax coming in from out of state workers rebuilding casinos and some condos, but once that leaves, there are a lot of questions.

NOLA, and say what you will, but parking 3 warships in the middle of downtown NOLA counts as federal aid if you ask me. as far as the money goes, thats a whole new can of crooked there,and i really dont know where or how it got screwed up.
FEMA, only thing i saw FEMA ****ing up was the rescue/recovery coordination. that and the locals wouldnt/couldnt take all the aid that was coming in. at Kamp Katrina, on any given day, there was 2-3 trucks full of ice,water, other **** going to waste because the locals didnt know/want to put it anywhere.
we kicked the Natl Guard/Army reserves out of the camp after about an hour of trying to get **** out to the people. they refused to issue it to us for dissemination to the people.
logistically it was a goat ****, and i hope they learned from it. no radios, nobody knows where anyones at, terrible use of available resources, inability to plan or get information out. hell FEMA didnt even know we were there. i went to FEMA HQ to findout where they wanted the 30 boats i had available,and they tried to send us to the refinery area. i was like ok, what protective equipment do you have? nothing. bend me over a rock, im not sending my kids in there then,and why do you want to send us there for anyways? no answer. thanks well, just continue with our original plan.

[bendog]

Lousiana was a mess, no doubt. The only break I give to bushii and fema is that even if they knew Louisiana was going to fail and federalizing the thing was the way to go pronto, doing the same in Miss would have made our lot worse

I was in NOLA three weeks ago for the first time since the storm. Pretty sad still.

[clarkster]

ill never set foot in that city again.

[TailgateNut]

Originally Posted by clarkster

ill never set foot in that city again.

what did the city "do" to you

[clarkster]

nothing really, just not a place that ill ever have real fond memories of. 2 weeks in a little rubber boat, wading through the 9th ward and orleans gardens, and really only seeing outsiders care about the people, and the people only really caring about their money. nah.

[TailgateNut]

Originally Posted by clarkster

nothing really, just not a place that ill ever have real fond memories of. 2 weeks in a little rubber boat, wading through the 9th ward and orleans gardens, and really only seeing outsiders care about the people, and the people only really caring about their money. nah.

I can only assume that when you've lost everything, it might be hard to "care".
How do you think you would respond if everything you owned was lost?

[bendog]

I dunno. In retrospect the people at the Dome did about as well as one can expect. But, you're right. The NOLA PD and Natl Guard were utterly useless. It's funny that when I drove in three weekends ago, I went under an overpass by the Dome and said "OMG, this is where those poor people were left to wait for buses."

btw, thanks for what you did.

[clarkster]

Originally Posted by TailgateNut

I can only assume that when you've lost everything, it might be hard to "care".
How do you think you would respond if everything you owned was lost?

hard to say, but i live simple rules-
-good friends and good neighbors are few and far between, theres nothing i wont do for them
-money aint everything.
-if you cant eat it, you dont need it(thats actually passed on from dad)
i guess after seeing it, id like to believe that, when you think youve got nothing, youve still got your life and your neighbors and your friends and most importantly, your integrity. b****ing about the govt not giving you money,and then blowing it on electronics/gambling/material things, gets you nowhere. when your community in its time of need is looting and stealing big screen tvs, instead of helping each other, it leads me to believe that were in big trouble.
on a good note, i met some fantastic people there and had the opportunity to work with even better people. and i got my dog from there too.

[clarkster]

Originally Posted by bendog

I dunno. In retrospect the people at the Dome did about as well as one can expect. But, you're right. The NOLA PD and Natl Guard were utterly useless. It's funny that when I drove in three weekends ago, I went under an overpass by the Dome and said "OMG, this is where those poor people were left to wait for buses."

btw, thanks for what you did.

yeah we drove by the dome everyday at the end there, and it was depressing. the overpasses, which we used for boat ramps not 1 week earlier were dry and showing the homeless that had nowhere to go.
the dome was at a glance the very worst of people. in its time of need its sad to think that some only thought of what they could get away with.

[clarkster]

Originally Posted by clarkster

yeah we drove by the dome everyday at the end there, and it was depressing. the overpasses, which we used for boat ramps not 1 week earlier were dry and showing the homeless that had nowhere to go.
the dome was at a glance the very worst of people. in its time of need its sad to think that some only thought of what they could get away with.

about the buses,
we scooped quite a few folks up and brought them back to the ship, only to have them turn around and leave again. we finally got to the point where we would just invite them to the ship for a hot meal and a shower. then they could leave.
pets, we ended up building a kennel out on the pier to keep pets that people had, only to have them up and leave without their animals they insisted they bring.

[Spider]

Originally Posted by clarkster

i agree, i cant put this on Bush, its a collective group effort.
i have a hard time with katrina, because all i ever hear is that the govt failed to help, not the case. yes the govt was ill prepared, but thats more of a local/state govt **** up than anything else.
when the **** hit the fan, we rolled down there deep, 3 ships. 35 boats. the overwhelming majority of people we ran into didnt want to leave. they wanted to ride it out. theres more to the story and honestly, i cant even scratch the surface here. thats quite possibly the most corrupt, backwoods, cross burning govt ive ever heard about.

the help after Katrina is where Bush is at fault .......... Follow me here , the Neo cons are out to prove parts of the Government doesnt work , mainly social depts.
best way is to prove incompetence , and say see , Government cant help , dwindled funding down to these depts. nd put the money elsewhere .......The after math of Katrina , was botched on purpose , Brownie did do a good job depending on your point of view ..............
Compassionate conservatism= Bomb the hell out of them , then drop food ......

[Garcia Bronco]

Originally Posted by clarkster

i agree, i cant put this on Bush, its a collective group effort.
i have a hard time with katrina, because all i ever hear is that the govt failed to help, not the case. yes the govt was ill prepared, but thats more of a local/state govt **** up than anything else.
when the **** hit the fan, we rolled down there deep, 3 ships. 35 boats. the overwhelming majority of people we ran into didnt want to leave. they wanted to ride it out. theres more to the story and honestly, i cant even scratch the surface here. thats quite possibly the most corrupt, backwoods, cross burning govt ive ever heard about.

When this was discussed ..I tried to tell people that the Military was there and they literally didn't believe me.

[clarkster]

Originally Posted by §Pide®

the help after Katrina is where Bush is at fault .......... Follow me here , the Neo cons are out to prove parts of the Government doesnt work , mainly social depts.
best way is to prove incompetence , and say see , Government cant help , dwindled funding down to these depts. nd put the money elsewhere .......The after math of Katrina , was botched on purpose , Brownie did do a good job depending on your point of view ..............
Compassionate conservatism= Bomb the hell out of them , then drop food ......

maybe youre right, but then again, i think we could all sit and spin it anyway we want to prove one side or the other was dicked. if i think about it hard enough, i could probably argue that the whole thing goes back 20 years.
obviously though, the administration wasnt prepared for a disaster like this. on any level. i dont know if id go as far to say that the whole thing was on purpose though.

[clarkster]

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

When this was discussed ..I tried to tell people that the Military was there and they literally didn't believe me.

we had that conversation just about daily there. whens the government going to send help? ummm, were right here.
then after a week to have that son-of-a-b**** mayor flat out tell the world that the federal government didnt send any help, i was like what? are you serious? were right here, i can literally hear everything youre saying.

[Spider]

Originally Posted by clarkster

maybe youre right, but then again, i think we could all sit and spin it anyway we want to prove one side or the other was dicked. if i think about it hard enough, i could probably argue that the whole thing goes back 20 years.
obviously though, the administration wasnt prepared for a disaster like this. on any level. i dont know if id go as far to say that the whole thing was on purpose though.

the people that got nailed by not leaving , yeah they are at fault , but Wal Mart trucks ( this makes it hard to hate wal Mart , but they was there ) were turned away from helping , less then 12 hours after Katrina ....... I know this cause one of my Brothers was one of those Wal Mart trucks ........ they was loaded with water , food , Blankets , medical supplies ...that isnt spin , that is fact ............ those trucks were turned away in the name of safety..................Wal Mart was johnny on the spot ...

[bendog]

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

When this was discussed ..I tried to tell people that the Military was there and they literally didn't believe me.

I believed you. I posted about the Navy helicopter ship that entered as the hurricane departed and started flying rescue missons even though neither the state nor fema had any clue they were there. Those guys were there faster than the coast guard, who flew for like 3 days straight, one mission after another. I didn't know there were three ships, though.

What still seems unbelievable to me is that the state/natl guard did not have the means of entering and exiting the city via some amphibious vehicles. There are 3 ways into the city. One is over a bridge over lake ponchatrain, which no sane person would try after a hurricane. The other two go over swamps. They have "swamp tours" for the tourists. I believe I posted a story about how the natl guard was missing some helicopters due to Iraq, but still that doesn't explain the failure. Everyone's known for years that the levies and pumps are more window dressing that protection.

I also still have a difficult time seeing how police officers can just say "no thanks" pack up and drive off and still think they should be cops. The corruption in NOLA is not to be underestimated.

FEMA screwed up too. But most of that was they just weren't prepared to do what post 9-11 they are supposed to do, which is coordinate aide from outside the directly effected area. In Miss they actually turned away the Illinois state police caravan. There were helicopters in Tex and NC that could have been used in Louisiana.

[clarkster]

Originally Posted by §Pide®

the people that got nailed by not leaving , yeah they are at fault , but Wal Mart trucks ( this makes it hard to hate wal Mart , but they was there ) were turned away from helping , less then 12 hours after Katrina ....... I know this cause one of my Brothers was one of those Wal Mart trucks ........ they was loaded with water , food , Blankets , medical supplies ...that isnt spin , that is fact ............ those trucks were turned away in the name of safety..................Wal Mart was johnny on the spot ...

i still fail to see how thats the federal governments(namely Bushs) fault. i mean you can say potato, and i can say potahto...

[Spider]

Originally Posted by clarkster

i still fail to see how thats the federal governments(namely Bushs) fault. i mean you can say potato, and i can say potahto...

it was FEMAS fault , who put Brownie in Charge ? incompetence , hell according o Barbra Bush , those people never had it so good ...... it doesnt take much to connect the dots ............ has nothing to do with potatoes ..........relief supplies was limited ,and streamed in late on purpose .........