WWL-AM Interview with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin Angry at Lack
Mirrored from: The Pirate Bay
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin Angry at Lack of Action
Recorded on the afternoon (4:45PM CST) of September 1st. Interview with the radio station WWL-AM, probably the first frank and HONEST report from a politician that will likely be forever remembered in the narratives of our own time as a voice for the frustration and lack of action for the dead, dying, and homeless. One of the first glimpses of the real lack of internal organization of the Hurrican Katrina rescue mission.
This is the rebroadcast ripped from WWL-AM live feed http://ccri.eonstreams.com/ccri_la_batonrouge_wskr_am.asf at Sept 2nd 2:30 AM PST. Ripped without authorization, but earlier in the broadcast they said they sent the interview to newswires and CNN, so I assume they want this message spread and was released into the public domain (and a crisis like this DEMANDS outrage and ATTENTION for the sake of human life).
His comments about the levees being the EXACT same as right after the disaster and the factor of the drug addicts bring in new, harrowing news.
The interivew itself begins 35 seconds in.
I wish the best for those affected by the hurricane.
Download file here.
Updated: Mirrored Transcript
This is a transcript of an interview the mayor of New Orleans gave to
CNN; I have transcribed this from an mp3 sample that appeared on
#interdictor-chat on irc.freenode.net; I did it as quickly as I could,
so there might be errors, especially in names (I did not watch the
interview live, and am not a resident of New Orleans or the United
States). If you spot any, please msg me on freenode and I will correct
them.
Thanks,
--Soiha (ksoiha@gmail.com)
(SAMPLE BEGINS MID-SENTENCE)
...me to dictate and to manage military resources down here and I'll fix this
for you. You call him right now and you call the governor and you tell him
that delegate the power that they have to the man who [wants it?] and we'll
get this thing fixed. It's politics, man, and they're playing games and they
spin it; they're out there spinning for the cameras.
[0:25] INTERVIEWER: But... But can't they just, if nothing else, look at
25 percent of their energy coming from this state is not flowing
through the pipelines, we're on the verge of anarchy. Can't they
understand that, if nothing else, they're going to be hurt politically?
NAGIN: 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. Umm... maybe there's some...
some smoke coming out of the air-conditioning units that's clogging some
folks, it's... you know... their vision.
[0:57]
INTERVIEWER: Have you talked with the president?
NAGIN: I've talked directly with the president. I've talked to the head of
homeland security. I've talked to everybody under the sun. I've been out
there, man, I've flown these helicopters, been in the crowds, talking to
people crying, who don't know where their relatives are. I've done it all,
man, and I'll tell you, man, I keep hearing it's coming. This is coming
and that is coming. My answer to that today is: BS, where is the beef?
Because there is no beef in this city. There is no beef anywhere in
south-east Louisiana and these goddamn ships that are coming: I don't see
'em.
[1:35]
INTERVIEWER: What did you say to the President of the United States and what
did he say to you?
NAGIN: 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've
been all around this city and I am very frustrated because we are
not able to marshal 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 was stuck in attics, man, old ladies, when you pull off
the [doggone?] ventilator vents and you look down there and they're
standing in there and water up to their frigging neck. And they don't
have a clue what's going on down here, 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.
[2:36]
INTERVIEWER: Did you say to the President of the United States: "I
need the military in here"?
NAGIN: I said I need everything. Now I will tell you this, and I give
the President some credit on this: he sent one John Wayne dude down
here that can get some stuff done and his name is General [Honery?]
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 - full authority to get
the job done. And we can... we can save some people.
INTERVIEWER: What do you need right now to get control of this
situation?
NAGIN: I need reinforcements. I need troops, man, I need 500 buses,
man. We ain't talking about, you know, one of the briefings we had
they were talking about getting, you know, public school bus drivers
to come down here and bus people out of here. I'm like: "you 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 they thinking small, man, and this is major, major,
MAJOR deal. And I can't emphasize it enough, man. This is crazy. I've
got fifteen to twenty thousand people over there at the convention
center, it's bursting at the seams. The poor people in [Packeman's?]
parish, they're... they're evacing people over here in New Orleans. We
don't have anything and we're sharing with our brothers in
[Packeman's?] parish. We... It's... is... is... awful down here, man.
[4:15]
INTERVIEWER: Do you believe that the President is seeing this, holding
news conference on it, but can't do anything until Kathleen Blanko
requests him to do it and do you know whether or not she's made that
request?
NAGIN: I have no idea what they're doing, but, err, I will tell you
this: you know God is looking down on all of this and if they're 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 of em [...]. We're getting reports and
calls that's breaking my heart, from people saying: "I've been in my
attic, I can't take it anymore. 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 them points on the
seventeenth street canal issue. We said: "Please, please take care of
this. We don't care what you do, figure it out".
[5:15]
INTERVIEWER: Who did you say that to?
NAGIN: Everybody. Governor, you know, homeland security, FEMA, you
name it, we said it. And, you know, they allowed that pumping
station next to it, pumping station six, to... to go underwater. Our
sewage and waterboard people [unt] stayed there and endangered their
lives. And what happened when that pumping station went down the water
started flowing again in the city. And it started getting to levels
that probably killed more people. In addition to that we had water
flowing through the pipes in this city. That's a power station over
there. So there's no water flowing anywhere on the east bank of the
Orleans parish. So critical water supply was destroyed because of lack
of action.
[6:05]
INTERVIEWER: Why couldn't they the three thousand pounds of sandbags
or the containers that they were talking about earlier? Was it an
engineering feat that just couldn't be done?
NAGIN: It... it... they said it was some [policy?] that they had to
manufacture, but, you know, in a state of emergency, man,
you... you... you are creative, you figure out ways to get stuff
done. Then they told me that they went overnight and they built
seventeen... seventeen concrete structures and they had the [pulleys?]
on them and they were going to drop them. I flew over that thing
yesterday and it is in the same shape that it was after the storm
hit. There was nothing happening. And they're feeding the public a
line of bull and they're spinning and people are dying down here.
[6:49]
INTERVIEWER: If... If some of the public called and they're... 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?
NAGIN: I've already called for martial law in the city of New
Orleans. We did that a few days ago.
INTERVIEWER: Did the Governor do that too?
NAGIN: Umm... umm... I don't know. I don't think so. But we called for
martial law when we realized that the looting was getting out of
control and we redirected all our police officers back to patrolling
the streets, they were dirt... dead tired [from] saving people, but
they worked all night, because we thought this thing was going to blow
wide open last night. So we redirected all of our resources and we
held it under check. I'm not sure that we can do it another night with
the current resources. And I am telling you right now that showing all
these reports of people looting and... and doing all that weird stuff,
they are doing that, but people are desperate and they're trying to
find food and water, the majority of them. Now, you've got some
knuckleheads out there and they are taking advantage of this lawless,
this situation where we really cannot control it and they are doing
some awful, awful things. But that's a small majority [to?] the people,
most people are looking to try and survive. And you've got to... one
of the things nobody is talking about this: drugs flowed in and out of
New Orleans and the surrounding metropolitan area so freely it was
scary to me. And that's why we're having an escalation in
murders. People don't want to talk about this, but I['m going to] talk
about it. You had drug addicts that are now walking around the city,
looking for a fix. And that's the reason why they're breaking in
hospitals and drug stores. They're looking for something to take the
edge off their jones, if you will. And right now they don't have
anything to take the edge off, and they've... they've probably found
guns. So what you've seen is drug-starving, crazy addicts, drug
addicts that are wreacking havoc and we don't have the manpower to
adequately deal with them. We can only target certain sections of the
city and... and form a perimeter around them and hope to God we're not
overrun.
[9:17]
INTERVIEWER: You and I must be in a minority because apparently
there's a section of our citizenry out there that thinks, because a
law that says the federal government can't come in unless requested by the
proper people, that everything's that's going on to this point has
been done is as good as it can possibly be.
NAGIN: Really?
INTERVIEWER: I know you don't feel that way.
NAGIN: Well... did the, the tsunami victims request, go through a
formal process to request? Umm, you know, did Iraq, the Iraqi people
request that we go in there? Did they ask us to go in there? What is
more important, this is... I'll... I'll tell you man, I... I'm
probably going to get into a whole bunch of trouble, I'm probably
going to get into so much trouble it aint't even funny. They
probably won't even want to deal with me after this interview is over.
INTERVIEWER: Then you and I will be in a funny place together.
NAGIN: But: we authorized eight billion dollars 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 the place 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 a
place where you probably have thousands of people that have died and
thousands more that are dying every day that we cannot figure out a
way to authorize the resources that we need. Come on man. You know, I
am not one of those drug addicts, I am thinking very clearly. And I
don't know whose problem it is. I don't know if it is the Governor's
problem, I don't know whether it is the President's problem. But
somebody needs to get their ass on the plane, and sit down to the two
of them and figure this out. Right now.
INTERVIEWER: What can we do here?
NAGIN: Keep talking about it.
INTERVIEWER: Ok, good, we'll do that. What else can we do?
NAGIN: Organize people to write letters, make calls to their
congressmen, to the President, to the Governor. Flood their doggone
offices with requests to DO something. This is redicilous. 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, when there are military trucks and troops that we
can't even count. Don't tell me fourty thousand people are coming
here! They're not here! It's too doggone late. Now get off your asses
and let's do something, let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the
history of this country.
INTERVIEWER: I'll say it right now, you're the only politican that's
called and called for arms like this. And if whatever it takes the
Governor, the President, whatever law precedent it takes, I bet that
the people listening to you are on your side.
NAGIN: Well I hope so [Garland?], I'm 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... in
this time.