Michael Brown Resigns [Archive] - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

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tybee204

09-12-2005, 03:00 PM

According to CNN

Marstan

09-12-2005, 03:02 PM

According to Fox News.

DEPUTYDAWG

09-12-2005, 03:03 PM

Yeah!

Jeana (DP)

09-12-2005, 03:17 PM

:woohoo: :woohoo: :clap: :clap: :clap: :woohoo: :woohoo:

ShowerSinger

09-12-2005, 03:23 PM

I hope he was given the old ultimatum----
Resign, or be fired.
(Would have liked to have seen him fired, though.)

Pepper

09-12-2005, 03:25 PM

I hope he was given the old ultimatum----
Resign, or be fired.
(Would have liked to have seen him fired, though.) You can bet on it!

kato

09-12-2005, 03:28 PM

If there was ever a poster boy for ineptitude he was it.

rollerbladr123

09-12-2005, 03:30 PM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050912/ap_on_go_ot/katrina_brownEmbattled FEMA Director Mike Brown Resigns

Quote : Embattled FEMA director Mike Brown said Monday he has resigned "in the best interest of the agency and best interest of the president," three days after losing his onsite command of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. "The focus has got to be on FEMA, what the people are trying to do down there," Brown told The Associated Press.His decision was not a surprise. Brown was abruptly recalled to Washington on Friday, a clear vote of no confidence from his superiors at the White House and the Department of Homeland Security. Brown had been roundly criticized for FEMA's bearish response to the hurricane, which has caused political problem for Bush and fellow Republicans.

more at link...

Pepper

09-12-2005, 03:44 PM

Between the Times allegation of resume embellishment, and the Paula Zahn interview, the guy was toast.

FACE-IT

09-12-2005, 03:45 PM

Someone had to be the scapegoat for this major foul-up. FEMA is now under the Dept. Of Homeland Security. When was Mike Brown appointed head of FEMA and who was resposnsible for appointing him??

Ntegrity

09-12-2005, 04:06 PM

Jeana (DP)

09-12-2005, 04:16 PM

I'm sure FEMA didn't do things perfectly, but mostly I think he's becoming a scapegoat for a failure on many levels. I'm not sure anyone could've handled a disaster of this magnitude -- not even Rudy.

Here's the guy who can (and IS) doing it!!!:

NEW ORLEANS – To troops, he's the "Ragin' Cajun," an affable but demanding general barking orders to resuscitate a drowning city. To his country, he's an icon of leadership in a land hungry for a leader after a hurricane exposed the nation's vulnerability to disasters.

With a can-do attitude and a cigar in hand, Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore arrived after Hurricane Katrina and directed troops to point weapons down in respect for a stunned and stranded population lacking food, electricity and safety.

Each morning, Gen. Honore (pronounced AHN'-ur-ay) boards a Blackhawk helicopter at Camp Shelby in Mississippi, 100 miles north of New Orleans, for a humanitarian mission as head of the military's Joint Task Force Katrina.

Gen. Honore was born at home 57 years ago during a hurricane, his mother and an uncle always told him. He grew up poor in Lakeland, La., northwest of Baton Rouge, with 11 siblings, once winning a 4-H contest with the family's lone dairy cow, Weasel.

His daughter and friends live in New Orleans. As a child, he spent two weeks at Charity Hospital, where Katrina's floodwaters trapped doctors and patients, after he was hit in the head with a baseball bat.

Stepping into a crisis that has drawn criticism of leaders at every level of government, Gen. Honore was praised for his compassionate approach to residents and his colorful bursts of instructions to troops, delivered in a Louisiana drawl with spits of profanity for emphasis.

more at:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/katrina/rescue/stories/DN-kathonore_12tex.ART.State.Edition2.8a33ab2.html

Mabel

09-12-2005, 04:18 PM

I'm sure FEMA didn't do things perfectly, but mostly I think he's becoming a scapegoat for a failure on many levels. I'm not sure anyone could've handled a disaster of this magnitude -- not even Rudy.

But for him to deny even having any knowledge of issues that the rest of the world had been watching live on every news channel for days goes beyond an inability to handle the disaster.

Ntegrity

09-12-2005, 04:26 PM

But for him to deny even having any knowledge of issues that the rest of the world had been watching live on every news channel for days goes beyond an inability to handle the disaster.
I'm pretty sure he was too busy to watch TV during that time. Don't you think? :confused: Who was responsible for updating him on the situation?

Ntegrity

09-12-2005, 04:28 PM

Here's the guy who can (and IS) doing it!!!:

And he seems to be doing a good job, but he's in command of military troops. What was Brown supposed to do? I'm serious here. Not being an apologist for him, just curious.

Jeana (DP)

09-12-2005, 04:32 PM

And he seems to be doing a good job, but he's in command of military troops. What was Brown supposed to do? I'm serious here. Not being an apologist for him, just curious.

Dude shouldn't have ever accepted a job he was not qualified to do. By doing so, he put lifes in jeapordy. Just my :twocents: . :)

Military experience is exactly what's needed to get that many people moved, fed, etc. in a short amount of time.

kgeaux

09-12-2005, 04:33 PM

"You can't win the first quarter in a disaster. It's impossible to do it. You got to do the best you can. But you better win the next quarter, take care of the evacuees," he says. "If the first quarter taught us anything, your plan is a plan, but it needs to be executed."

He really tells it like it is. Gotta like that guy!

less0305

09-12-2005, 04:37 PM

I'm sure FEMA didn't do things perfectly, but mostly I think he's becoming a scapegoat for a failure on many levels. I'm not sure anyone could've handled a disaster of this magnitude -- not even Rudy.

I said that also. The huge magnitude of this disaster would have engulfed anybody - even Rudy, I believe. And I still don't believe there are enough FEMA employees out there to handle the mass destruction over three states - and now having to have employees set up shop in every state to help those that have been evacuated out. Nothing this country has ever seen before.

Ntegrity

09-12-2005, 04:38 PM

"You can't win the first quarter in a disaster.
I liked this part of the quote best. As I said, I don't think there's anyone who would've come out looking good after watching the first few days unfold. Maybe I'm not understanding the role of FEMA, but I don't see them as first responders. That should be a function of local law enforcement and National Guard, shouldn't it?

less0305

09-12-2005, 04:38 PM

I'm pretty sure he was too busy to watch TV during that time. Don't you think? :confused: Who was responsible for updating him on the situation?

Once again....state officials!

Cypros

09-12-2005, 04:40 PM

Hallelujah! The guy had no clue what was going on and was clearly UNQUALIFIED. This would have been a difficult challenge for anybody, but not knowing about the existence of thousands of people who had been shown and discussed on TV for at least two days does indicate a true disconnect from the reality of the situation. And it wasn't just Brown who didn't know they existed. In that interview with Paula Zahn, Brown said that "WE (FEMA) didn't even know about the people at the Convention Center until today". So he implicated the whole darn lot of them. There is no excuse for FEMA not to be using the reports from TV reporters -- the only ones who ventured iinto New Orleans those first days! -- as important sources for what was going on.

Yep, You did a heck of a job there, BROWNIE!! :crazy:

Mabel

09-12-2005, 04:43 PM

I'm pretty sure he was too busy to watch TV during that time. Don't you think? :confused: Who was responsible for updating him on the situation?

If he wasn't watching TV and he wasn't providing assistance and he wasn't investigating the situation to find where help was needed, what was he doing?

less0305

09-12-2005, 04:50 PM

If he wasn't watching TV and he wasn't providing assistance and he wasn't investigating the situation to find where help was needed, what was he doing?

Well, for one...getting together supplies to send there that were turned away and refused admittance. I'm not defending the guy totally - I don't think he did a good job and I don't like the bit about embellishing his resume....but I don't think the guy sat around and purposely did nothing and didn't care. I really don't. I'm sorry if the masses think this guy just didn't care, but I don't believe that. I think he definately was in over his head - and I think he was working with a Governor who clearly didn't want OUTSIDE help. She didn't even want supplies brought in because it would encourage people to stay. I think Mike Brown got a lot of crap heaped on him that also lay at the feet of the STATE FEMA guy and in my opinion - he oughta be in the unemployment line also.

Ntegrity

09-12-2005, 04:58 PM

I'm with you on this, less. I'm not particularly a fan of Brown, but I still think he's the scapegoat for failures on the part of many, many others. If the supplies were rebuffed by the governor, what was he supposed to do?

FACE-IT

09-12-2005, 05:06 PM

This goes back to something I posted early last week; in a major disaster like this, the troops should be sent in first, to achieve imediate order, and establish a communications network. This is all covered under their duties and responsibilities. A hodge-podge of civilian organizations, police, or otherwise, aren't going to cut it.

Jeana (DP)

09-12-2005, 05:12 PM

Pepper

09-12-2005, 05:27 PM

Exactly! ESPECIALLY when you consider that there were people shooting at those first responders trying to help. I agree with you, but I think some changes will need to be made in the Constitution for that to work. Or, at the very least, some group concensus of delegation of power of the various states and governors of those states - otherwise, guaranteed, it will become a Constitutional review issue.

Ntegrity

09-12-2005, 05:37 PM

Any wagers on how long Chertoff will last? :D

Pepper

09-12-2005, 06:13 PM

Any wagers on how long Chertoff will last? :D Hmmmm......good question. I'm wondering how long before FEMA is cut loose from the DHS.

Pepper

09-12-2005, 06:46 PM

Paula Zahn interview with Michael Brown on 9/1/05. Could this possibly be one of the reasons he got the axe?

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/01/pzn.01.html

The big question, of course, tonight is, where do things stand with the federal response?

Federal Emergency Management Director Mike Brown joins me now from the FEMA command center in Baton Rouge.

Thank you, sir, for joining us. I understand that security isn't your job. I understand that you are up against tremendous obstacles. But how can it be that hundreds and hundreds of thousands of victims have not received any food and water more than 100 hours after Katrina hit?

MICHAEL BROWN, DIRECTOR, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: Paula, I think it's so important for the American public to understand exactly how catastrophic this disaster is.

I mean, we have a major American city, a major urban area that has been totally demolished. And what we're finding is, is that, as we continue to do the evacuation and get people out, people who have completely lost everything, they have no place to go, they have nothing, that we're finding other people who are literally coming out of second stories of homes, that are suddenly appearing on bridges that are not under water, that people who were unable or chose not to evacuate are suddenly appearing.

And so, this -- this catastrophic disaster continues to grow. I will tell you this, though. Every person in that Convention Center, we just learned about that today. And so, I have directed that we have all available resources to get to that Convention Center to make certain that they have the food and water, the medical care that they need...

ZAHN: Sir, you aren't telling me...

BROWN: ... and that we take care of those bodies that are there.

(CROSSTALK)

ZAHN: Sir, you aren't just telling me you just learned that the folks at the Convention Center didn't have food and water until today, are you? You had no idea they were completely cut off?
(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Paula, the federal government did not even know about the Convention Center people until today.

tipper

09-12-2005, 07:06 PM

I'm pretty sure he was too busy to watch TV during that time. Don't you think? :confused: Who was responsible for updating him on the situation?
Mr. tipper said that every high ranking official he knows in DC including generals all have at least one tv in their office tuned to CNN, MSNBC etc. Just so they will be up to date on what the public is hearing. Sometimes it scoops what they are hearing from their people.