Re: Interview with the Mayor of New Orleans


"Victor S. Miller" <victor@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:m3u0h46n3s.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> See http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/katrina.nagin/index.html
>
> Below is a transcript (lifted from Dailykos). Rather amazing reading.
>
> Transcript of NOLA mayor Ray Nagin's interview with Garland Robinette
> of WWL Radio.
>
> Ray Nagin: ... and to give me executive powers, to authorize me to
> dictate and to manage military resources down here, and I'll fix this
> for you.
>
> [unintelligible]
>
> You call him right now, and you call the governor, and you tell them
> to delegate the powers that they have to the mayor of New Orleans and
> we'll get this damn thing fixed.
>
> [unintelligible]
>
> It's politics, man, and they're playing games and they're spinning,
> they're out there spinning for the cameras.
>
> Garland Robinette: But can't they just, if nothing else, look at 25
> per cent of their energy coming from the state, is not flowing through
> the pipelines. We're on the verge of anarchy. Can't they understand,
> if nothing else, they're going to be hurt politically?
>
> RN: I don't know what they're doing. I mean the air conditioning must
> be good, because I haven't had any in five days. Maybe there's some
> smoke coming out of the air conditioning unit that's clogging some
> folks' vision.
>
> GR: Have you talked with the president?
>
> RN: I've talked directly with the president --
>
> GR: What did he say?
>
> RN: -- I've talked to the head of Homeland Security, I've talked to
> everybody under the sun. I've been out there, man, I flew these
> helicopters, been in the crowds, talking to people, crying, don't know
> where their relatives are. I've done it all, man, I tell you man,
> Garland, I keep hearing that it's coming. This is coming, that is
> coming, and my answer to that today is: B.S. Where is the beef?
> Because there's no beef in this city, there is no beef anywhere in
> southeast Louisiana, and these goddamn ships that are coming, I don't
> see them.
>
> GR: What did you say to the president and what did he say to you?
>
> RN: I basically told him we had an incredible crisis here, and that
> his flying over in Air Force One does not do it justice. And that I
> have been all around this city, and I am very frustrated because we
> are not able to marshall resources, and we're outmanned in just about
> every respect.
>
> You know the reason why the looters got out of control? Because we
> had most of our resources saving people, thousands of people, that
> were stuck in attics, man... old ladies... when you pull off the
> doggone ventilator vent, and you look down there, and they're standing
> there in water up to their fricking neck...!
>
> And they don't have a clue what's going on down there. They flew down
> here one time, two days after the doggone event was over, with TV
> cameras, AP reporters, all kinds of goddamn -- excuse my French,
> everybody in America, but I am pissed.
>
> GR: Did you say to the President of the United States, I need the
> military in here?"
>
> RN: I said I need everything. I will tell you this, I'll give the
> President some credit on this: he sent one John Wayne dude that can
> get some stuff done, and his name is [Lieutenant] General [Russel]
> Honore. And he came off the doggone chopper, and he started cussing
> and people started moving. And he's getting some stuff done. They
> ought to give that guy -- if they don't want to give it to me, give
> him full authority, to get the job done and we can save some people.
>
> GR: What do you need right now to get control of this situation?
>
> RN: I need reinforcements. I need troops, man. I need 500 buses.
> Man, they were talking about... you know, one of the briefings we had,
> they were talking about getting public school bus drivers to come down
> here ... I'm like, you've got to be kidding me! This is a national
> disaster! Get every doggone Greyhound busline in the country, and get
> their asses moving to New Orleans. That's them thinking small,
> man.... this is a major major major deal!
>
> And I can't emphasize this enough, man -- this is crazy! I've got
> 15,000-20,000 people over at the Convention Centre, it's bursting at
> the seams. The poor people in Plaquemines parish... they're
> air-vacc'ing people over here in New Orleans... we don't have
> anything and we're sharing with our brothers in Plaquemines parish.
> It's awful down here, man.
>
> GR: Do you believe that the President is serious, holding a news
> conference on it, but can't do anything until [Louisiana Governor]
> Catherine Blanco requests him to do it, and do you know whether or not
> she's made that request?
>
> RN: I have no idea what they're doing, but I'll tell you this. You
> know, God is looking down on all this... and if theyre not doing
> everything in their power to save people, they are going to pay the
> price. Because every day that we delay, people are dying... and
> they're dying by the hundreds, I'm willing to bet you.
>
> We're getting reports in calling that are breaking my heart, from
> people saying, 'I'm in my attic...I can't take it any more. The
> water's up to my neck. I don't think I can hold out. And that's
> happening as we speak.
>
> And you know what really upsets me, Garland. We told everybody the
> importance of the 17th Street Canal issue. We said, please, please
> take care of this, we don't care what you do, figure it out.
>
> GR: Who did you say that to?
>
> RN: Everybody -- the governor, Homeland Security, FEMA... you name it,
> we said it.
>
> They allowed that pumping station, next to Pumping Station 6, to go
> underwater. Our sewage and waterwork people [unclear] stayed there
> and endangered their lives. And what happened when that pumping
> station went down, the water started flowing again in the city, and
> started getting to levels that probably killed more people.
>
> In addition to that, we had water flowing through the pipes in the
> city, that's a power station over there. So there's no water flowing
> on the east bank of Orleans Parish, so critical water supply was
> destroyed because of lack of action.
>
> GR: Why couldn't they drop the 3,000-pound sandbags or the containers
> that they were talking about earlier? Was it an engineering feat that
> could not be done?
>
> RN: They said it was some pulleys that they had to manufacture but you
> know, in a state of emergency, man, you are creative, you figure out
> ways to get stuff done. Then they told me that they went overnight,
> they built 17 concrete structures, and they had the pulleys on them
> and were going to drop them.
>
> I flew over that thing yesterday [Wednesday] and it's in the same
> shape as it was after the storm hit. There's nothing happening. And
> they're feeding the public a line of bull. And they're spinning and
> people are dying down here.
>
> GR: If some of the public called, and they're right, that there's a
> law that the president, that the federal government, can't do anything
> without local or state request, would you request martial law?
>
> RN: I've already called for martial law in the city of New Orleans.
> We did that few days ago.
>
> GR: Did the governor do that, too?
>
> RN: I don't know. I don't think so. We called for martial law when
> we realized that the looting was getting out of control and we
> redirected all of our police officers back to patrolling the streets.
> They were dead tired from saving people. They worked all night
> because we thought this thing was going to blow wide open last night,
> and so we redirected all of our resources and we held... I'm not sure
> we can do that another night, with the current resources.
>
> I'm telling you right now, they're showing all these reports of
> looting, people doing all that weird stuff, and they are doing that.
> But people are desperate. They're trying to find food and water. The
> majority of them.
>
> You have some knuckleheads out there, taking advantage of the
> lawlessness, this situation where, you know, we can't really control
> it, and they're doing some awful, awful things. But that's a small
> [minority] of the people. Most people are looking to try and survive.
>
> Nobody's talked about this: drugs flow in and out of New Orleans and
> the surrounding metropolitan area so freely they were scaring me.
> That's what we have an escalation in murders. People don't want to
> talk about this, but I'm going to talk about it. You have drug
> addicts that are now walking around this city, looking for a fix.
> That's the reason why they were breaking into hospitals and drug
> stores. They're looking for something to take the edge off of their
> jones, if you will. And right now they don't have anything to take
> the edge off, and they've finally probably found guns. So what you
> see is drug-starving, crazy addicts, drug addicts, that are wreaking
> havoc. And we don't have the manpower to adequately deal with it. We
> can only target certain sections of the city, and form a perimeter
> around them, and hope to God that we're not overrun.
>
> GR: You and I must be in the minority, because apparently there's a
> section of our citizenry out there that thinks because of a law that
> says the federal government can't come in unless requested by the
> proper people, that everything that's been going on to this point has
> been as good as it can possibly be.
>
> RN: Really?
>
> GR: I know you don't feel that way.
>
> RN: Well... did the tsunami victims request? Did they go through a
> formal process to request? Did Iraq -- did the Iraqi people request
> that we go in there? Did they ask us to go in there?
>
> What is more important? I tell ya man, I'm probably going to be in a
> whole bunch of trouble, I'm probably going to be in so much trouble it
> ain't even funny. You probably won't even want to deal with me after
> this interview is over.
>
> GR: You and I will be in the funny place together.
>
> RN: But -- we authorized $8 billion to go to Iraq, lickety-quick.
> After 9/11, we gave the president unprecedented powers --
> lickety-quick -- to take care of New York and other places. Now you
> mean to tell me that a place where most of the oil is coming
> through... a place that is so unique, when you mention New Orleans
> anywhere around the world, everybody's eyes light up... you mean to
> tell me that a place where you probably have thousands people that
> have died, and thousands more that are dying every day, that we can't
> figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need? Come on,
> man.
>
> You know I'm not one of those drug addicts, I am thinking very
> clearly. And I don't know whose problem it is. I don't know whether
> it's the governor's problem, I don't know whether it's the president's
> problem. But somebody needs to get their ass on a plane, and sit
> down, the two of them, and figure this out right now."
>
> GR: What can we do here?
>
> RN: Keep talking about it.
>
> GR: Okay, we'll do that What else can we do?
>
> RN: Organize people to write letters, make calls to their congressmen --
>
> GR: Emails...
>
> RN: -- to the president, to the governor. Fill their doggone offices
> with requests to do something. This is ridiculous.
>
> I don't want to see anybody do any more goddamn press conferences.
> Put a moratorium on press conferences. Don't do another press
> conference until the resources are in this city, and they come down to
> this city, and stand with us, with their military trucks and troops
> that we can't even count. Don't tell me there are 40,000 people
> coming here, they're not here! It's too goddamn late!
>
> Get off your asses and let's do something. Let's fix the biggest
> goddamn crisis in the history of this country!
>
> GR: I'll tell you, right now, you're the only politician that's
> called, and called for arms like this. And whatever it takes, the
> governor, the president... whatever law precedent it takes, whatever
> it takes... I bet that the people listening to you are on your side.
>
> RN: Well, I hope so, Garland. I am just... I'm at the point now,
> where it don't matter. People are dying. They don't have homes.
> They don't have jobs. The City of New Orleans will never be the same.
> And it's time.
>
> (Then there's silence. Background studio noise comes up as the
> microphones self-adjust to pick something up. You hear
> sniffling... Nagin's in tears. Interviewer too.)
>
> GR: We're both pretty speechless here.
>
> RN: I don't know what to say. I've got to go. Okay. Keep in touch.

This breaks my heart. You know what I said earlier about good people being
manipulated by the sleazeballs? Case in point.
--
Moni
>


.

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