Raw Story, in this article published two days ago, discloses the cooperation between state, local and federal leaders to keep out the Red Cross in the days immediately following the flooding in New Orleans.
Why? Because relief pouring into the city in the form of food and water might encourage people to return to the stricken city, it was decided by the emergency managment team.
Even now, as the city is occupied by a constant military presence, the Red Cross has still not distributed supplies in the city.
This despite the fact that thousands remain in the city.
Withholding food and supplies from those in physical distress might be called genocide by any other name.
Pronunciation: ‘jen-&-“sId
Function: noun
: the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group –compare HOMICIDE –geno·cid·al “jen-&-‘sId-&l adjective
The faces of our brothers and sisters dying of dehydration at the Superdome and Convention Center, is the face of unconscious genocide. Politically unimportant and unempowered, their interests were expendable for convenience sake, for the fear of people, God forbid, wanting to return to their homes.
I’ve already said on this site that I heard Terry Ebbers, New Orleans Homeland Security director, say before the storm, on the local news, that they had no intention of feeding and giving water to Superdome evacuees. This, despite the fact that the National Weather Service had issued a warning for catastrophic flooding for New Orleans on Friday.
After the flooding began, and the Superdome and Convention Center surrounded,there were no plans expedited or improvised to allow in the Red Cross to care for the people.
It is difficult to imagine these so far, nameless state, local and federal leaders on the emergency managment team, in the face of the growing disaster in the Superdome, Convention Center and rooftops and attics of New Orleans, closing the gate, so to speak to Red Cross help. It is difficult to imagine because it was already known that there were thousands of New Orleans citizens left behind in this storm, who, after the storm passed, would need some sort of assistance, even in the face of not knowing what the storm would do to the city.
It is difficult to imagine that the Red Cross would be prevented from going into the city the first 24 hours after the storm, before the anarchy and looting began, but they were.
It is difficult to imagine that this supposed independent, non-profit agency would not raise a hue and cry about not being able to fullfill its mission to help those in distress. Yet not a peep of disagreement has been heard in the face of this lack of response to the people in need.
This might have to do with the cozy, partisan ties the Red Cross shares with this administration. Further, the Red Cross has shown a history of something less than honesty in dealing with donated funds. You read the rest.
The Associated Press reported Sept. 8 that Col. Jay Mayeaux, deputy director of the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security asked the Red Cross not to enter the city at least for the first 24 hours after the storm in order to have time to “set up a feeding station to feed a large number of people.” By Saturday, there was a large-scale evacuation under way.
[snip]
Amid reports that thousands were trapped in the Superdome and the Convention Center, the Red Cross did not distribute or drop supplies to either location. The group’s explanation that its presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city mirrors a National Guard decision not to drop food supplies, saying they did not want to spark riots.
The Red Cross is still not distributing supplies in the city.
Hosler says that although the city is now fully occupied by the National Guard, the Red Cross remains outside the city and is not distributing supplies, largely because of the decision to forcibly evacuate those who remain.
Some residents have been forced to travel at least 17 miles for water.
“Goods that the government personnel are bringing in are for their own forces,” one eyewitness report states. “They are not distributing provisions to people who desperately need them… Thousands of troops are in New Orleans but water is premium and still not available.”
New Orleans resident and construction worker Mark Klar confirmed this account.
Klar managed to stay in his Garden District home in until Sept. 7, when he was handcuffed and forcibly removed by police. Klar’s home is above flooded areas and he was able to gather water and distribute to those in need, in the absence of relief from officials.
[snip]
The day-to-day activities of the Red Cross are run independently of the government. The Board of Governors is, by the Congressional Charter, the governing body. President Bush has appointed six persons to the Board.
The Red Cross’ leading officers are Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, Chair of the Board, and Marsha J. Evans, the President and CEO.
McElveen-Hunter was appointed by Bush in June 2004. Her Red Cross bio says she is the “former U.S. Ambassador to Finland (2001-2003) and the CEO and owner of Pace Communications, Inc., the largest private custom publishing company in the United States. The company’s clients include such Fortune 500 companies as United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, AT&T, Carlson Hotels, and Toyota.”
McElveen-Hunter donated more than $130,000 to the Republican Party since 2000, RAW STORY has found. Her largest donations were $25,000 to the Republican National Committee in April 2004 and $100,000 in July 2000. In May 2000, she gave $1000 to “Bush for President, Inc.”
Marsha J. Evans, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Red Cross, is a Rear Admiral in the Navy and the Director of Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., a global investment bank serving the financial needs of corporations, institutions, governments and high-net-worth investors worldwide, according to the corporation’s web site. Evans also sits on the boards of the May Department Stores Company and Weight Watchers International and was recently elected to the board of the Huntsman Corporation, a large chemical and plastics manufacturer. She is also a presidential appointee to the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Military Academy.
Evans donated $500 to the Republican National Committee in 2004.
[snip]
An investigation by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s oversight panel after 9/11 revealed that while pledging that 9/11 donations (minus overhead) would all go to victims, the Red Cross held back more than half of the $543 million it had raised.
The Red Cross says they funneled these monies to prepare for terrorist attacks.
[snip]
Red Cross holdbacks were also evident after the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco, where it was alleged that the Red Cross turned over to victims only $10 million of the $50 million raised, keeping the difference for future disasters and organizational expansion. According to one researcher, critics also protested holdbacks following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, Red River flooding in 1997 and a San Diego fire in 2001.
Red Cross spokesperson Janine Moss says the organization has always had two ways to contribute. People may contribute to a specific relief fund (such as the Katrina Relief Fund) or to a general Disaster Relief Fund.
Moss told RAW STORY that the Red Cross has always had these options but that the 9/11 hearings brought the issue out into the open more. According to Moss, all Katrina-designated donations to the Red Cross will be used only for Katrina victims.