Bartender Geek

thank you for sending the links to radioblogger and newshounds. I have read both, and am still not clear about what happened and why. I think the dates of the events are important to understand fully how things unfolded. the interview with Major Garrett was unclear about when the Red Cross was held up by the Louisiana officials. I checked the official website of the Red Cross (Disaster FAQs - Hurricane Katrina: Why is the Red Cross not in New Orleans?) and got a different idea of what happened:

"The original plan was to evacuate all the residents of New Orleans to safe places outside the city. With the hurricane bearing down, the city government decided to open a shelter of last resort in the Superdome downtown. We applaud this decision and believe it saved a significant number of lives."

I couldn't find a date for the above quote on the website. if state officials were trying to evacuate people quickly before the hurricane hit, then it would make sense to hold up the supplies and bring them to wherever people would be taken outside the city. but once people were being sent to the Superdome, why couldn't the Red Cross get the supplies to the Superdome? I think that knowing the date or when the Red Cross was kept away in relation to when Hurricane Katrina hit would tell us a lot about the thinking behind the decision.