The Katrina project: practice for the garrison state

2005-09-05

Richard Moore

Friends,

As more reports have been coming in, it becomes increasingly
clear that the response to Katrina has been a
well-orchestrated program, whose purpose has nothing to do
with helping the people of New Orleans. My original guess is
being strongly confirmed: "Overall, what I think we are seeing
is a live test of a martial law regime." As usual, I don't
base my analysis on any single event, or any single line of
inquiry:  there are many threads and they all lead to the same
spool.  And as usual, in understanding what this kind of episode
is about, we learn a lot about the regime's plans in general. At
the end of this posting I'll include some of the comments you 
folks sent in regarding the first posting.

btw> many of the articles cited here are also being posted to
newslog:
    http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?lists=newslog

---

* Planning for the garrison state

Perhaps we should begin by looking at what we know about
regime plans for the garrison state. There are two significant
threads that I know about in this regard. The first is the
absorption of FEMA into Homeland Security, and the apparent
abandonment of disaster relief as a Federal responsibility. The
second is the Pentagon plan whereby the military (i.e.,
NORTHCOM) is to take command in the U.S. in the event of a
'national emergency' - undoing the principle of Posse
Comitatus, whose purpose since 1878 has been to prevent a
domestic military takeover.

FEMA phase-out:
        http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090105J.shtml
       "Disasters keep coming but FEMA phased out"
         Eric Holdeman, Washington Post, Aug. 31, 2005
            ...The advent of the Bush administration in January 2001
            signaled the beginning of the end for FEMA. The agency's newly
            appointed leadership showed little interest in its work or in
            the missions pursued.... Then came the Sept. 11 attacks
            and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Soon
            FEMA was being absorbed.
             ...This year it was announced that FEMA is to "officially" lose
            the disaster preparedness function that it has had since its
            creation. The move is a death blow to an agency that was
            already on life support. In fact, FEMA employees have been
            directed not to become involved in disaster preparedness
            functions, since a new directorate (YET TO BE ESTABLISHED)
            will have that mission. [emphasis added]

NORTHCOM takeover:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/07/AR2005080700843.html
        washingtonpost.com 
        War Plans Drafted To Counter Terror Attacks in U.S. 
        Domestic Effort Is Big Shift for Military 
        - By Bradley Graham 
        Washington Post Staff Writer 
        Monday, August 8, 2005; A01 
            COLORADO SPRINGS -- The U.S. military has devised its
            first-ever war plans for guarding against and responding to
            terrorist attacks in the United States, envisioning 15
            potential crisis scenarios and anticipating several
            simultaneous strikes around the country, according to officers
            who drafted the plans.
            ...The war plans represent a historic shift for the Pentagon,
            which has been reluctant to become involved in domestic
            operations and is legally constrained from engaging in law
            enforcement. ...
            ..."In my estimation, [in the event of] a biological, a chemical
            or nuclear attack in any of the 50 states, the Department of
            Defense is best positioned -- of the various eight federal
            agencies that would be involved -- to take the lead," said
            Adm. Timothy J. Keating, the head of Northcom, which
            coordinates military involvement in homeland security
            operations.
            ...According to military lawyers here, the dispatch of ground
            troops would most likely be justified on the basis of the
            president's authority under Article 2 of the Constitution to
            serve as commander in chief and protect the nation. The Posse
            Comitatus Act exempts actions authorized by the Constitution....

We know from these kinds of reports that a fundamental shift
is underway as regards emergency management, with an increased
role for the military and a primary focus on response-
to-terrorism. Apparently, in New Orleans, we are
seeing the first major example of this new management model in
action.

As we shall see in the other threads, it seems that in an
emergency incident, the affected population is to be
considered the problem, rather than whatever afflicts them.
This should really be no surprise to us, if we understand the
real purpose behind the Patriot Acts and Homeland Security.
Within the context of the PNAC agenda, and the systematic
destruction of the American economy, it is clear that the new
management model is about controlling the domestic population
rather than anything to do with terrorism - or disaster relief.

In this report, we get an indication of how people are to be
treated once they come under the protection of our Federal
guardians...

http://www.dantewoo.com/blog/archives/2005/0902_notes_from_inside_ne.shtml
        Notes From Inside New Orleans
        by Jordan Flaherty
        Friday, September 2, 2005
            ...In the refugee camp I just left, on the I-10 freeway near
            Causeway, thousands of people (at least 90% black and poor)
            stood and squatted in mud and trash behind metal barricades,
            under an unforgiving sun, with heavily armed soldiers standing
            guard over them. When a bus would come through, it would stop
            at a random spot, state police would open a gap in one of the
            barricades, and people would rush for the bus, with no
            information given about where the bus was going. Once inside
            (we were told) evacuees would be told where the bus was taking
            them - Baton Rouge, Houston, Arkansas, Dallas, or other
            locations. I was told that if you boarded a bus bound for
            Arkansas (for example), even people with family and a place to
            stay in Baton Rouge would not be allowed to get out of the bus
            as it passed through Baton Rouge. You had no choice but to go
            to the shelter in Arkansas. If you had people willing to come
            to New Orleans to pick you up, they could not come within 17
            miles of the camp....

That is to say, once in the arms of your protectors you become
a prisoner, a refugee, to be herded like cattle. This really
doesn't make much sense in the context of Katrina, but it does
make sense as practice for a garrison state.

Think for a moment of how much has changed since 9-11. The
Bill of Rights is gone; international law is gone; the Geneva
convention is gone; Russian & China have been forced into a
defensive alliance; global war has become a real possibility -
all through the unilateral action of the neocons in
Washington. The changes have been awesome in magnitude, and
they have occurred rapidly - but the changes have been
incremental: one systematic step at a time.

Military control of the population has evidently been deemed
to be a necessary part of the overall agenda, based on the
developments with Homeland Security and NORTHCOM. As with
everything else, we can count on seeing incremental steps
toward this objective. Field tests are necessary and are to be
expected. I believe that the following reports will
demonstrate that the response to Katrina was engineered in
such a way as to provide that field test.

Just as there was no reason why interceptors were not
scrambled on 9-11 - other than the fact that they were
intentionally withheld - so there is no reason why disaster
relief was not provided in a more timely fashion (or at all) -
apart from it being intentionally withheld by Federal
authorities. Not only was there plenty of advance knowledge of
the hurricane and its strength, but FEMA itself had carried
out an exercise recently that anticipated precisely this
disaster. By withholding assistance, as they did, the Feds
created the horrific conditions that provided an excuse to
send in the troops, and to justify their new model of
behavior.

---

* Systematic prevention by the Feds of disaster relief efforts

In these reports, we see that the more local the agency, the
more people are acting in a spirit of generosity and
helpfulness - the best of all being citizen volunteers. But
whenever the Feds are involved, helping the suffering seems to
be no priority at all, or indeed a hindrance to their mission.

These reports cannot be attributed to incompetence. The
variety of these reports indicates a systematic policy of
preventing any relief efforts other than those provided, or
not provided, by the Federally-planned response. This is to be
expected in a field test, so as not to pollute the research.
Similarly, when they chose Hiroshima and Nagasaki as eventual
test sites for the Manhattan Project, they put the two cities
off limits for normal wartime bombing raids.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspecial/05blame.html?th&emc=th
        After Failures, Officials Play Blame Game 
        By SCOTT SHANE 
        Published: September 5, 2005 
            When Wal-Mart sent three trailer trucks loaded with water,
            FEMA officials turned them away, he said. Agency workers
            prevented the Coast Guard from delivering 1,000 gallons of
            diesel fuel, and on Saturday they cut the parish's emergency
            communications line, leading the sheriff to restore it and
            post armed guards to protect it from FEMA, Mr. Broussard said.
            ...furious state and local officials insisted that the real
            problem was that the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
            which Mr. Chertoff's department oversees, failed to deliver
            urgently needed help and, through incomprehensible red tape,
            even thwarted others' efforts to help.
               "We wanted soldiers, helicopters, food and water," said Denise
            Bottcher, press secretary for Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco
            of Louisiana. "They wanted to negotiate an organizational
            chart." 

        NY TIMES
        September 2, 2005
       "A Can't-Do Government"
        By PAUL KRUGMAN
            ...Before 9/11 the Federal Emergency Management Agency listed the
            three most likely catastrophic disasters facing America: a
            terrorist attack on New York, a major earthquake in San
            Francisco and a hurricane strike on New Orleans.
            ..."The New Orleans hurricane scenario," The Houston Chronicle
            wrote in December 2001, "may be the deadliest of all." It
            described a potential catastrophe very much like the one now
            happening. 
            ...Even military resources in the right place weren't ordered
            into action. "On Wednesday," said an editorial in The Sun
            Herald in Biloxi, Miss., "reporters listening to horrific
            stories of death and survival at the Biloxi Junior High School
            shelter looked north across Irish Hill Road and saw Air Force
            personnel playing basketball and performing calisthenics.
            Playing basketball and performing calisthenics!"

        http://rense.com/general67/DOME.HTM
        The People Of
        The Dome
        By Mitchel Cohen in Brooklyn
        Sep-4-2005
            ...Some tourists in the Monteleone Hotel paid $25,000 for 10
            buses. The buses were sent (I guess there were many buses
            available, if you paid the price!) but the military
            confiscated them (!) and would not let the people leave.
            Instead, the military ordered them to the now-infamous
            Convention Center.
            ...They even refused to allow voluntary workers who had rescued
            over 1,000 people in boats over the previous days to continue
            on Thursday, using the several gunshots (and who knows WHO
            shot off those rounds?) to say "It's too dangerous". The
            volunteers wanted to continue their rescue operations and had
            to be "convinced" at gunpoint to "cease and desist."
            ...There is something sinister going down -- it's not simply
            incompetence or negligence.
            ...How could FEMA and Homeland Security not have something so
            basic as bottled drinking water in the SuperDome, which was
            long a part of the hurricane plan? One police officer in
            charge of his 120-person unit said yesterday that his squad
            was provided with only 70 small bottles of water.
            ...Last year, New Orleans residents -- the only area in the
            entire state that voted in huge numbers against the candidacy
            of George Bush -- also fought off attempts to privatize the
            drinking water supply.
            ...One of the first acts of Governor Kathleen Blanco (a Democrat,
            by the way) during this crisis was to TURN OFF the drinking
            water, to force people to evacuate. There was no health reason
            to turn it off, as the water is drawn into a separate system
            from the Mississippi River, not the polluted lake, and
            purified through self-powered purification plants separate
            from the main electric grid. If necessary, people could have
            been told to boil their water -- strangely, the municipal
            natural gas used in stoves was still functioning properly as
            of Thursday night!
            ..Let me say this again: The government is intentionally not
            allowing food or water in.
            ...This is for real.

        From: "Stephanie McDowall" 
        Subject: Red Cross and the Mess in Houston
        Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2005 19:53:02 -0700
            ---<fwd>--- 
            ...The Red Cross is shutting down all shelters that are not
            under their control. One man brought 2000 hot dogs fully
            prepared and ready to eat. They turned him away at the dome.
            As he left he saw the people on the sides of the streets and
            decided to bring them this food. He was immediately told by
            the police that if he gave out one hot dog, he would be
            arrested and fined. They sent him away saying that only food
            being prepared by the Red Cross would be allowed to be handed
            out. But the Red Cross isn't trying to feed the people outside
            of the dome...

        http://rense.com/general67/jamin.htm
        http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/
        Wayne Madsen - •••@••.•••
            Who is jamming communications in New Orleans? Ham radio
            operators are reporting that communications in and around New
            Orleans are being jammed. In addition, perplexed ham radio
            operators who were enlisted by the Federal government in 911
            are not being used for hurricane Katrina Federal relief
            efforts. There is some misinformation circulating on the web
            that the jamming is the result of solar flares. Ham radio
            operators report that the flares are not the source of the
            communications jamming.
** Note>   ...Also, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is
            reporting that no aircraft over New Orleans have been fired on
            over New Orleans or anywhere else in the area. Are the reports
            of shots being fired at aircraft an attempt by the Bush
            administration to purposely delay the arrival of relief to the
            city's homeless and dying poor? The neocons have turned New
            Orleans into Baghdad on the Mississippi.
            
      http://rense.com/general67/cit.htm
        Citizen Flotilla Turned
        Back By Louisiana Department
        Of Wildlife & Fisheries
        By Elisabeth Bumiller and Adam Nagourney
        NY Times
        9-5-5
            ...A group of approximately 1,000 citizens pulling 500 boats left
            the Acadiana Mall in Lafayette this morning (Weds.) and headed
            to New Orleans with a police escort from the Jefferson Parish
            Sheriff´s Department. The "flotilla" of trucks pulling boats
            stretched over five miles. This citizen rescue group was
            organized by La. State Senator, Gautreaux from Vermilion
            Parish. The group was comprised of experienced boaters,
            licensed fishermen and hunters, people who have spent their
            entire adult life and teenage years on the waterways of
            Louisiana.
            ...The State Police waved the flotilla of trucks/boats through
            the barricades in LaPlace and we sped into New Orleans via
            I-10 until past the airport and near the Clearview exit. At
            that time we were stopped by agents of the La. Dept. of
            Wildlife & Fisheries. A young DWF agent strolled through the
            boats and told approximately half of the citizens that their
            boats were "too large" because the water had "dropped during
            the night" and that they should turn around and go home.
            ...We were pulling a large (24ft) shallow draft aluminum boat
            that can safely carry 12 passengers and had ramp access which
            would allow the elderly and infirm to have easier access to
            the boat. We politely informed the DWF agent that the local
            and national media had consistently reported that the water
            level had "risen" during the night which contradicted his
            statement to us that the water "was dropping" and no boat over
            16ft. in length would be allowed to participate in rescue
            operations.
            ...We then specifically asked the DWF agent that we (and other
            citizens in the flotilla) be allowed to go to the hospitals
            and help evacuate the sick and the doctors and nurses stranded
            there. We offered to bring these people back to Lafayette, in
            our own vehicles, in order to ensure that they received proper
            and prompt medical care.
            ...The DWF agent did not want to hear this and ordered us home...
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1153&slug=Katrina%20Congressman
        Seattle Post-Intelligencer 
        Friday, September 2, 2005
       "Congressman can't get Bush on the line"
        By DAVID PACE
        ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
            WASHINGTON -- Thousands of people stranded in two swamped
            parishes south of New Orleans are just as desperate for
            supplies as those trapped in the city but can't get the
            attention of federal disaster relief officials, their
            congressman said Friday.
                And to make matters worse, says Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La.,
            he was unable to deliver that message to President Bush during
            his visit to New Orleans because the president's security
            detail couldn't clear him to board Air Force One.
                After waiting 90 minutes Friday while a U.S. marshal using a
            satellite phone repeatedly tried, and failed, to contact
            Bush's plane - located just 300 yards away at New Orleans'
            Armstrong airport - a disgusted Melancon left.

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/09/bush-faked-levee-repair-for-photo-op.html
        Saturday, September 03, 2005
        "Bush faked levee repair for photo op yesterday"
        by John in DC - 9/03/2005 06:29:00 PM
        From a press release LA Senator Mary Landrieu sent out today:
            But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached
            17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with
            the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and
            significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this
            catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this
            morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that
            yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a
            Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed
            resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely
            piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast
            Louisiana and the Gulf Coast - black and white, rich and poor,
            young and old - deserve far better from their national
            government.

Could this be  part of why New Orleans, in particular, was chosen
for the field test?

        http://rense.com/general67/DOME.HTM [cited above]
             ...Last year, New Orleans residents -- the only area in the
            entire state that voted in huge numbers against the candidacy
            of George Bush -- also fought off attempts to privatize the
            drinking water supply.


---

* The racist angle

Overheard in Washington:
        http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=3548
        Voice of the White House September 1, 2005 
        TBR News.org - September 2, 2005 
            ...This afternoon, I was having lunch at the Cosmos Club out
            on Massachusetts Avenue. A good friend is a member of the posh
            club (that once was the elegant town home of Sumner Welles),
            and while at lunch, I was privy to a very vocal conversation
            at one of the big round center tables in the club dining room.
            ...One man was giving an overview of the situation to a group of
            his friends. The speaker was an undersecretary of an important
            department, well-liked by Bush and often in the White House to
            consult. The others ranged from an academic economist whose
            writings can be seen in a right wing paper and a number of
            Washington-based businessmen, all of whom are active and heavy
            contributors to the Bush White House.
            ...It is well known here that the Bush family and many of the top
            advisers at the White House are racists but instead of
            detesting Jews, in this case, they all detest blacks. Their
            rationale, aside from their view of racial superiority, is
            that blacks are all "welfare queens, unwed mothers and drug
            dealers." It was the very firmly stated view of the host that
            it was better for everyone that New Orleans was under water
            for the time being.
            ...In that way, we were told (and I was not the only person in
            the dining room who heard all this), this served to "chase out
            the niggers" and permit Bush-supporting businessmen from
            buying up the soon-to-be condemned sodden houses for five
            cents on the dollar from friendly insurance companies (which
            one of them was a CEO of) and put up an enlarged and very
            profitable combination of industrial park and office building
            section. The money for this would, naturally, come from
            government grants which a terrified Congress (Mid Term
            elections are coming) had just voted for and the contracts to
            demolish the wrecked low-income slums would go, as a no-bid
            contract, to another stellar Bush supporter.
            ...As for the refugees, our table of proto-fascists all commented
            on the fact that most of them were on welfare and probably all
            voted Democratic so they could all be shipped to California or
            Chicago at the public expense and allowed to occupy less
            valuable public housing there.

Some of the "Bush-supporting businessmen":
        http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3335685
        Houston Chronicle 
        Sept.  1, 2005 
        Halliburton hired for storm cleanup 
                The Navy has hired Houston-based Halliburton Co. to restore
                electric power, repair roofs and remove debris at three naval
                facilities in Mississippi damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
                   Halliburton subsidiary KBR will also perform damage
                assessments at other naval installations in New Orleans as
                soon as it is safe to do so.
                   KBR was assigned the work under a "construction
                capabilities" contract awarded in 2004 after a competitive
                bidding process. The company is not involved in the Army Corps
                of Engineers' effort to repair New Orleans' levees. [yet]

Violent racism in the streets :
        http://rense.com/general67/rapes.htm
        Rapes, Killings Hit
        Katrina Refugees
        In New Orleans
        By Mark Egan
        9-4-5
            ...Police and National Guard troops on Saturday closed down the
            two centers -- the Superdome arena and the city's convention
            center -- but then penned in the storm victims outside in
            sweltering heat to keep them from trying to walk out of the
            city.
            ...Several residents of the impromptu shantytown recounted two
            horrific incidents where those charged with keeping people
            safe had killed them instead.
            ..."They killed a man here last night," Steve Banka, 28, told
            Reuters. "A young lady was being raped and stabbed. And the
            sounds of her screaming got to this man and so he ran out into
            the street to get help from troops, to try to flag down a
            passing truck of them, and he jumped up on the truck's
            windscreen and they shot him dead."
            ..."Last night at 8 p.m. they shot a kid of just 16. He was just
            crossing the street. They ran him over, the New Orleans police
            did, and then they got out of the car and shot him in the
            head," Batiste said.
            ...People trying to walk out are forced back at gunpoint -
            something troops said was for their own safety...

Pulling the plug on the city:
        http://www.thehandstand.org/archive/september2005/articles/genevieve.htm
        As New Orleans Sinks Might a Texas Star Be Rising?
        By Genevieve Cora Fraser
            ...According to certain participants from Louisiana who helped
            FEMA organize the virtual hurricane disaster, more than 40
            federal, state, local and volunteer organizations practiced
            scenarios in the five-day simulation.  However these Louisiana
            participants were annoyed by members of the Army Corps of
            Engineers who laughed and carried on during the exercises or
            acted bored.  But despite the disinterest of certain
            participants, as a result of this exercise those in
            charge knew what would happen and what needed to be done
            to operate a well organized evacuation/rescue.  They knew the
            levees would break or be flooded over.  They also knew the
            city would be inundated with water which soon would become a
            toxic stew with snake and alligator predators and if those in
            need were not evacuated there would be few places to seek
            shelter except the sports and civic centers.  As first
            responders, they also knew that the job of a first responder
            is to respond! (Special thanks for those who did try.) 
              ...As for the real situation that presented itself in New
            Orleans, as I sat clicking from channel to channel in the past
            week, I happened upon an interview with an Army Corp of
            Engineer top brass where he said the "cost-benefit ratio" did
            not work out in regard to upgrading the levee system.  He
            claimed the decision was NOT to raise the levees to protect
            New Orleans from a Category 4 or 5 hurricane despite
            predictions that it was a matter of time before such a
            catastrophic event would occur.  Basically the decision at the
            top level was to allow New Orleans to suffer its predicted
            fate - which was total destruction without recourse to
            intervention, in effect "to pull the plug" on the city and its
            citizens. Evidence of this decision can be found in the
            significant decrease in funding levels over the past several
            years for Army Corp of Engineer projects for New Orleans
            spearheaded by the administration. 
              ...As a postscript – Once the long delayed evacuation got
            underway, New Orleans' (mostly black) families were forced by
            federal and state authorities to separate - men were not
            allowed to accompany their spouses, loved ones, and
            children also became separated.  This was particularly
            horrifying after suffering the double trauma of a catastrophic
            natural disaster and the natural as well as man-made nightmare
            which followed.  In spite of the rescue, was this not
            reminiscent of America's unsavory history, the African slave
            trade - where mates were forced to separate from one another
            and their children? If these were white families clutching
            hands, awaiting evacuation, would authorities have forced
            their separation too?  This scheme back in the heyday of
            slavery was used to break spirits and further stamp its
            victims as slaves.  America's Apartheid, broken only by the
            Civil Rights movement, once was visible to the world as its
            de-facto counterpart of abandonment and victimization of our
            black communities sadly is today.  We can do better and must
            do better.  If we don't, we who are Americans will sow the
            seeds of our disgrace and ruin.

As with most neocon initiatives, there is usually a Nazi precedent...
the grandson carries on the tradition of Grandpa Prescott (Nazi
front-man during WW II, and employer of Auschwitz slave labor):

        From: RevGeriSolomon @aol.com 
        Sent: Sat, 3 Sep 2005 7:24:09 PM Eastern Daylight Time
        Subject: War and Racism
            ...Nazi officials in Germany did not officially announce their
            campaign of extermination against the Jews.  They merely put
            it in force, while the American State Department deliberately
            looked the other way.  Neither does the Bush Administration
            need to announce its criminal disregard for the lives of black
            people.  It can be seen in every act they take.  They even
            reserved the right to take any "surplus funds" (meaning any
            money they are not forced to spend by the conscience of the
            American people) that may be "left over" from the relief
            effort and use the money to continue the extermination of
            Iraqi people.  Institutional racism did not suddenly appear in
            New Orleans.  The poverty of the people who could not escape
            because they had no money and nowhere to go in the first place
            is clear evidence of racism.  What is new is the clear
            intention of the Bush Administration to drown these people
            rather than help them.  At the very least, they will permit as
            many to die as possible while offering as little help as they
            can with the full cooperation of the media.


---

* Was the hurricane itself engineered?

I think it is clear from what we have seen so far that the
effects of the hurricane have been intentionally amplified,
through systematic non-action - evidently to provide better
conditions for testing the new emergency response model. 
There is also reason to suspect that New Orleans was chosen
some time ago as the test site:

       http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article310186.ece
        New Orleans a 'ghost town' for 9 months
        By Geoffrey Lean and Andrew Gumbel
        Published: 04 September 2005
            ...Although a government exercise last year predicted the
            course of the disaster, Mr Bush drastically cut back spending
            on city defences. Work on strengthening vital levees needed to
            keep out flood water stopped for the first time in 37 years [ !! ]

To the extent this unprecedented cessation of maintenance was
responsible for the breach in the levee, then we can presume that
the disaster itself was 'arranged'. In addition, I continue to
be suspicious about the way in which the levees were breached
- in a newly refurbished, fully concrete section of a canal -
a canal that was not exposed to the worst wave action. If
indeed the test was planned well in advance, with New Orleans
the target, then it would be prudent to have insurance that
the levees actually would give way. And we know our neocons are
well practiced in covertly planting explosives in structures.

It is possible, of course, that the hurricane was entirely
natural (apart from global warming), that the breach was
similarly 'natural', and that the lack of maintenance was
simply a budgetary matter. Nonetheless, I think it is worth
pursuing this thread. We must keep in mind the pace of the
overall PNAC implementation. This is a very big project, with
lots of timing dependencies, pert charts, critical paths,
etc.. If there is to be an attack on Iran, which seems beyond
doubt, then there must be a schedule, based on various issues
such as the growing alliance between Russia and China, Iran's
intention to set up a Euro-based Petroleum Exchange, the
progress of destabilization operations, preparedness of field
commanders, etc.

Preliminary infrastructures, such as the new militarized
'emergency-response' model, must be operational before missiles
start flying, and before a domestic terrorist incident can be
staged. It would be entirely imprudent, in such a major
project, to leave any element of the project to chance. If the
capability to initiate or control hurricanes exists, there is
every reason to assume that capability would be employed to
ensure the overall success - and necessary timing - of the
test incident. Furthermore, the weather-control capability
itself would be looking for test applications. As it turns
out, the capability does indeed exist. The following article
is excerpted from Michel Chossudovsky's highly respected
Global Research website:

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=GIL20040923&articleId=600
        
Environmental Warfare and US Foreign Policy: The Ultimate Weapon of Mass 
Destruction 
        By  Scott  Gilbert 
        September 23, 2004 

            ...Dr. Bernard Eastlund, while working as a consultant for
            Advanced Power Technologies Inc. (APTI) in the 1980s, patented
            devices that are described as capable of "causingŠtotal
            disruption of communications over a very large portion of the
            EarthŠmissile or aircraft destruction, deflection or
            confusionŠweather modificationŠ" These patents were based
            on the ideas and fundamental research of Nicola Tesla (many of
            his ideas were stolen by US corporations). Some of Eastlund's
            patents were temporarily sealed under a US Secrecy Order. APTI
            and Eastlund's patents were quickly purchased by E-Systems, a
            company that is home to many retired and currently employed
            CIA agents. In 1993 E-Systems received $1.8 billion in
            classified contracts. Raytheon, the fourth largest US defense
            contractor and third largest aerospace company, currently
            holds the patents. 
            ...A 1990 internal document obtained by Popular Science describes
            applications of the HAARP project as "Creating a "full global
            shield" that would destroy ballistic missiles by overheating
            their electronic guiding systems as they fly" and for
            "manipulating local weather." The word "local" was used
            because some 150 international treaties prohibit "weather
            warfare". However, Pravda reported: "the works continued
            anyway, despite the signed document. It was simply conducted
            under the disguise of scientific research or the development
            of double-purpose technology." 
            ...Dr. Nicholas Begich, co-author of the book Angels Don't Play
            This HAARP , depicts HAARP as "a super-powerful radio wave
            beaming technology that lifts areas of the ionosphere by
            focusing a beam on them and then heating them. Electromagnetic
            waves then bounce back onto earth and penetrate everything -
            living and dead." This ability allows for better communication
            with submarines and wide-area Earth-penetrating tomography
            (similar to radar) that can be used to locate underground
            missile sites, bunkers and oil reserves. Through his research
            he has come to the conclusion that HAARP has the potential to
            jam global communication systems, change weather patterns over
            large areas, interfere with wildlife migration patterns and
            negatively affect human health. It is also capable of
            potentially triggering targeted floods, droughts, hurricanes
            and earthquakes. 
            ...Michel Chossudovsky, professor of economics at the University
            of Ottawa and Director of the Center for Research on
            Globalization, says that "there are very clear statements by
            the US Air Force to the effect that weather modification
            technology is available, HAARP is fully operational and could
            be used in actually military situations. It is evident weather
            warfare does constitute an instrument of the Air Force, they
            even identify the scenarios of its use."
            

---

* Reader dialog

Several people pointed out that the shoot-to-kill policy was
widely advertised. I'm not sure why BBC changed their
particular story. Perhaps they didn't want the Brits to think
that their own shoot-to-kill policy would be applied the way
it has been in New Orleans. Sorry for not checking more widely.

rkm

--------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 17:31:26 +0200 (W. Europe Standard Time)
From: "Earl" 
To: <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Re: What is Katrina all about?

Richard,
 
Got this email a few minutes ago and you confirm some
questions and suspicions running in my mind as well.  But you
are a step further than I with the possible real reasons; that
was still too foggy for me to see.
    To be brief, you may well be onto what's happening; it adds
up. I just posted this email of yours in my blog as well. 
http://politicsinternational.web-log.nl/
 
Regards,
Earl Duthler
Amsterdam

--------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: What is Katrina all about?
To: •••@••.•••
From: jnikolic
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 13:36:25 -0400

Hello Richard,

Do you really think WW3 is on our door-step? What preparations
are you doing for this imminent threat? I am from Serbia but
live in Canada (currently a pretty docile place). I am
familiar with preparations but don't want to freak out any
friends or neighbors. I just want to have your opinion what
should be done at this time.

Much appreciated,
Jovan

-------

Dear Jovan,

There can be little doubt that an attack on Iran is on our
doorstep. As I've been incorporating the Engdahl material into
my book, the picture has been getting clearer and clearer.
Since 1927, when the Seven Sisters cartel was agreed to
between Anlgo-American banking and oil elites, there has been
a continuous, though covert, Anglo-American alliance at the
highest levels - not just of government, but of covert
elements within banking, oil, and the intelligence services. 
The unwavering strategy of this alliance has been to control
global finance by controlling oil supplies.  Many wars have
been initiated in the pursuit of this strategy.

The occupation of Iraq, the seizing of the oil, and the
cancellation of delivery contracts to Russia, Germany, and
others was part of this strategy.  Iraq's decision to sell oil
for Euros instead of dollars was the crowning crime - it was a
weapon of mass financial destruction: undermining the all-important
petrodollar rip-off scheme, which is central to the
Anglo-American strategy of global financial control.

Iran presents even more problems in this regard. It has a much
more effective military deterrent than Iraq ever had, in the
form of advanced missiles; it is moving ever closer into
alliance with Russia and China - and not only is it planning
to sell its oil for Euros, but it intends to set up a
Euro-based Petroleum Exchange and invite others (e.g.,
Venezuela) to join in. Iran represents a frontal assault on
Anglo-American oil-currency supremacy. How far an 
Iran attack would be likely to escalate is difficult to predict;
we could have WW3 now, or it might wait a bit longer as
the neocons tighten the noose further around China.

As to "what should be done"...that's a tough question. For
myself, I try to contribute to our community understanding of
what's going on. I'm not sure if that will help anything, but
I can't think of anything else I could do that would be
better. I talk a lot about doing things locally, but I can't
get any energy up for that myself. In your case, you might
reconsider your policy of not wanting to freak out your
neighbors. Canada has lots of problems with Uncle Sam and his
new world order: you might find more interest in serious
dialog than you expect.

nice to hear from you
rkm

--------------------------------------------------------
From: "Robert R. Holt"
Subject: Re: What is Katrina all about?
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 14:03:26 -0400
To: •••@••.•••

Dear Richard,

I was dismayed by this posting.  Nothing I have picked up from
any of the other media supports the alleged facts on which
your dark suspicions are based, and in fact it all seems much
more likely to point to incompetence, disdain for
'reality-based' policy, and primary concern for the rich and
the corporations over the poor and black.  This kind of
reaction to a single unverified source gives you a bad
reputation and undermines even my faith in your judgment.  It
makes  you sound, like Bush, too convinced of your own
ideology to be appropriately skeptical of questionable sources
that seem to confirm it.

Do get back to the book; that's where your strength is.

Bob

-------

Hi Bob,

Thanks for taking the time to write. I think it's important to
try to understand breaking stories, particularly when
anomalies begin to show up. This is admittedly a risky
business, and I've been caught more than once on a stray limb.
Clearly one cannot rely solely on mainstream sources, and
other sources can be chancy. I do my best. Perhaps the
additional research in this posting will give more substance
to my analysis in your eyes.

I do think your comparison with Bush is a bit of cheap shot.
For one thing, I don't think Bush has any ideology, other
than:  "Who can I rip off next?"  Second, I don't think that
trying to understand the reality behind the Matrix can be
called an 'ideology'. But thanks for the encouragement on the
book.

rkm

--------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 02 Sep 2005 12:16:13 -0700
From: Lynette <cheekymomma>
Subject: Re: What is Katrina all about?
To: •••@••.•••

Thanks Richard, I agree with your analysis and I think many
others do also, if reading threads on other sites has
validity.  I also think the outcry in the last 48hrs. has
caused them to act. My sense is that it put FEMA on the
defensive because so many people are outraged at the disaster
response.   I can honestly say that for a change I don't think
CNN is kissing the administration's butt on this and if a
picture is worth a thousand words, then Americans know what
constitutes the original agenda as their coverage has been
graphic..

Lynette

--------------------------------------------------------
From: "Robert E. Reynolds" <mdog218>
To: <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Re: What is Katrina all about?
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 16:01:15 -0400

The states governed by Republicans, Mississippi and Alabama
have had no problem getting food and water in contrast to La
and NO where democrats are in control.  Bush has twice praised
the policy espoused by Haley Barbour Gov of Miss. and former
RNC Chair of no tolerance for looters.  While those two states
have had some problems of that nature, the fact that help was
quickly available made a big difference.

In contrast the situation in NO is much more precarious and
after 4 days without food or water and with people dying in
the streets while awaiting help there is an entirely different
situation.  There was also a shortage of civil control forces.

For the purposes of Bush it makes a nice contrast, his
Republican tough guys controlling things while the Dems in La
and NO let things get out of control. As well as playing to
his base and their prejudices against blacks.

Today he was touring Mississippi and Ala.  As expected with
him he is being seen hugging and consoling dark and black
skinned people, but while trailed only by white officials.

Its a dog and pony show. bob

--------------------------------------------------------
From: "David Donnelll"
To: <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Re: What is Katrina all about?
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 17:56:56 -0500

This week will become known throughout the world and history as the true
defining moment of George Bush's Presidency and the conservative movement
that he rode into power. The American death toll from 9/11 and the Iraq war
pale in comparison to the death toll from a well prophesized natural
disaster that only continues to escalate with no end in sight.

Never mind counting the dead, three days after Katrina's wake, we are barely
beginning a feeble attempt to rescue the living; a minimal response by our
"homeland security" in the self-proclaimed "most advanced and prosperous
nation of the world". Instead of immediately airdropping food, water, and
medicine as we do in impoverished countries around the planet we are sending
what few available National Guard and Active duty military left in America,
not to feed and shelter the stricken but "to maintain order".

Someone trapped in the disaster takes a shot at a Chinook helicopter and all
efforts cease; as if the military flying bananas never have been shot at and
yet continued their mission anyway! We can in-bed and airdrop reporters but
dropping inflatable life rafts, MRE's, and bottled water to the stranded
seems to be beyond this nations capability!

Sad, heart-rending, and terrible as the toll from Katrina's grim reaper will
prove to be, it is the unfolding harvest of misery and death from neglect by
our nations "leadership" that is proving to be the most disastrous of all!
Unlike an earthquake, this catastrophe had plenty of warning, plenty of
lead-time to create stockpiles of supplies "just in case". But just as there
wasn't any money to shore up the dikes of New Orleans, there wasn't any
money to create emergency provisions. Prudent for those who have the
foresight and the means, but there is no incentive, it just isn't
profitable.

And who are these poor souls, pray tell, trapped in Katrina's desolation?
Why the poor of course! Those miscreants that couldn't afford gas for their
vehicles, those that didn't have transportation to begin with, and those too
sick or feeble to travel. No free rides!

We have a group in power that hold the scientific theory of evolution and
survival of the fittest in utter contempt and preach Intelligent Design
Creationism, yet they sure do support economic Darwinism, tooth and claw
survival of the richest! You don't need to be physically strong as long as
you're well heeled! Let the poor eat each other, after all their just
surplus population!

There is no end of pandering to the interests of the elite, finance, energy,
and resource extraction industries that externalize their environmental and
social costs and there is no attempt to meet the basic necessities of life
for those without any means. We can give tax cuts to the rich, end the
estate taxes, cut Medicaid, Medicare, and social security, raise tuition,
lower Pell grants, end farm subsidies, cut food stamps, exploit the national
parklands, subsidize the petrochemical industry, invade other countries, but
we can't provide universal healthcare or housing for the poor and homeless.

We can build new highways to nowhere but we can't maintain the bridges and
roads we have in our cities or build dedicated passenger rail systems to
transport the citizens into the future. It just isn't "economically
 feasible", no immediate profit in such endeavors. At least the high price
of fuel in other countries is because of taxes that build infrastructure and
provide public services. The high price of fuel in the US merely feeds the
bloated private coffers of those in control.

Other countries build high speed Maglev's; we build mansions for those that
have the money. We can forgive the taxes of billion dollar businesses that
bank their profits in offshore accounts but we can't forgive the debts of
the middle class and poor. We profess to be rich but Katrina has exposed our
poverty. Our modern Leaders and Pharisees profess to worship Christ in
public, in reality they are morally bankrupt, mostly they just worship
Mammon.

  quote:

  "Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people,
by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall
Street, and for Wall Street." populist orator Mary Elizabeth Lease of Kansas

  Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government
owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To
destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between
corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship
of the day": Theodore Roosevelt, April 19, 1906

  "Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars,
pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the
object." Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) US President 1848
  "Wars are caused by undefended wealth." General Douglas MacArthur
(1880-1964) WWII

  "We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely
controlled and dominated Governments in the world - no longer a Government
of free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and vote of the
majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of small groups of
dominant men." : Woodrow Wilson

  "The issues can be stated very briefly: Who will be controlled? Who will
exercise control? What type of control will be exercised? Most important of
all, toward what end or purpose, or in the pursuit of what value, will
control be exercised?"-- Carl Rogers (1902-1987)

-- 

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Richard Moore (rkm)
Wexford, Ireland
blog: http://harmonization.blogspot.com/

"Escaping The Matrix - 
Global Transformation: 
WHY WE NEED IT, AND HOW WE CAN ACHIEVE IT ", old draft:
    http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/rkmGlblTrans.html
_____________________________
    "...the Patriot Act followed 9-11 as smoothly as the
      suspension of the Weimar constitution followed the
      Reichstag fire."  
      - Srdja Trifkovic

    There is not a problem with the system.
    The system is the problem.

    Faith in ourselves - not gods, ideologies, leaders, or programs.
_____________________________
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Informative links:
    http://www.indymedia.org/
    http://www.globalresearch.ca/
    http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/
    http://www.greenleft.org.au/index.htm
    http://www.MiddleEast.org
    http://www.rachel.org
    http://www.truthout.org
    http://www.williambowles.info/monthly_index/
    http://www.zmag.org
    http://www.co-intelligence.org
============================================================