More evidence of Blanco's failure to act after Katrina

AP via USA Today:

Bodies of people killed by Hurricane Katrina went uncollected for more than a week in the New Orleans area as the federal government waited for Louisiana's governor to decide what to do with them, according to memos released Thursday by a Republican-led House committee.

The 38 pages of e-mail between FEMA representatives and Pentagon officials contradict the contention by Louisiana's Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco, two weeks after Katrina hit on Aug. 29, that the federal government was moving too slowly to recover the bodies.

They also underscore ongoing political tensions between the Republican Bush administration and Democratic state and local officials over the botched response to Katrina, which killed more than 1,000 people in Louisiana. They were released by a House panel that many Democrats have shunned, chaired by Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., that is investigating the government's sluggish preparations and reaction to the storm.

The memos indicate that morgues were not ready to receive bodies until Sept. 7 — two days after the first memo complaining about Blanco's inaction, and nine days after Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast.

...

"Believe organized collection must begin today once morgue is operational or it will become evident to media that plan for collection is not in place," Jordan wrote in the e-mail, which was sent to Brown and Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honore, the military coordinator for the disaster.

But the morgue did not open until two days later, according to the Sept. 7 e-mail from Jordan.

"First morgue site is fully operational," Jordan wrote to the Pentagon officials. "...Believe media and family member interest will continue to cause security concerns."

Nearly a week later, on Sept. 13, Blanco lashed out at the federal government, accusing it of moving too slowly in recovering the bodies and saying it was disrespectful to wait so long.


You can usually tell when a Democrat has really screwed up. They start blaming others rather than taking responsibilities. On thing has been consistent throughout the Katrina mess, Blanco had difficulty making decisions in a crisis, which tended to make matters worse. As the mess she made grew, she and other Louisiana politicians blamed the adminsitration and the biased media did not challege them, because they wanted to hurt the President politically.

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