It would appear that much of the vitriol and outrage levied against Bush and his FEMA chief was at least misdirected.
Ah yes, memories of FEMA-Katrina.
NYTimes-Katrina Confiscation
One year after Hurricane Katrina and the lessons remain painfully clear - the event paved the way for the standard government response to a crisis - sabotage the rescue efforts, dominate and enslave the victims, then reap the windfall from the tragedy.
Katrina was a trial balloon for widespread gun confiscation under the pretext of a crisis. Following the police chief's announcement that nobody would be "allowed" to be armed - re-writing the 2nd amendment in one sentence - police, national guard and private security thugs began confiscating firearms from owners whose homes were completely undamaged and unaffected by the hurricane in the high and dry areas of the city of New Orleans.
The New York Times reported that the only people allowed to keep their guns were the security squads that had been hired by wealthier residents of New Orleans, which was totally misleading because 99% of these thugs were hired by the federal government. A few billionaires with mansions were able to afford the security but the middle class were not. This report gave the impression that the middle class were not being targeted for gun confiscation and so those readers were put back to sleep.
Katrina was another example of what FEMA does best - deliberately sabotages a crisis and leaves people for dead. Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard's memorable emotional plea on Meet the Press went right to the heart of what FEMA were doing.
"We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. "FEMA says don't give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines."
Why would FEMA make an already terrible situation worse? Because after every purposefully botched rescue effort that is whitewashed as a lack of resources, FEMA get more funding and more power.
The agenda in New Orleans was about privatizing the police state. Although abuses regularly occur, law enforcement are at least supposed to operate within the realms of the constitution, a definition that can be shifted when private mercenaries are hired to dominate the population - as happened in New Orleans where we saw Blackwater security and even Israeli troops pointing guns at American citizens.
In addition to the Israelis, armed Mexican soldiers entered the US for the first time since 1846 to supposedly provide aid. Conditioning Americans to the perception that foreign troops on US soil policing US citizens in times of emergency is normal was one of the outcomes of this alarming precedent.
The Army Times reported that hurricane survivors who wouldn't leave New Orleans were to be treated as insurgents and that combat operations to eliminate them were undertaken. This is where the so-called 'relief' effort was directed towards - treating American citizens like terrorists and hunting them down simply for wanting to stay in their own homes. And once they were caught, FEMA treated evacuees as internees, registering them and giving them ID cards, preventing them from leaving the internment camps.
