on your watch , dub ..."assets were deployed, but the order to use them never came"

Mortuary Director Tells Local Paper 40,000 Could Be Lost in Hurricane

By E&P Staff

Published: September 06, 2005 9:30 PM ET

NEW YORK In a profoundly troubling article in the Shelbyville (Tenn.) Times-Gazette today by Clint Confehr, a co-owner of a local mortuary revealed that he had been asked to join in recovering bodies lost in the Gulf Coast hurricane and had been told "to expect up to 40,000 bodies" in total.

Dan Hicks is co-owner of Shelbyville-based Gowen-Smith Chapel and has been deployed to Gulfport, Miss., to help with recovery. His partner, Dan Buckner, told the paper, "DMort is telling us to expect up to 40,000 bodies," quoting officials with the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT), a volunteer arm of Homeland Security.

Their funeral home is one of several collection sites for donations to be taken to the Red Cross in Fayetteville on Wednesday for transfer to places in need.

The 40,000 estimate does "not include the number of disinterred remains that have been displaced from ... mausoleums," Buckner grimly told the Times-Gazette Monday.

"Until they search each and every remaining house and remove all the fallen materials ... they will not know how many people are there," Buckner said. "The National Association of Funeral Directors and Embalmers will be making assignments to coordinate with local officials ... [for] preparation of bodies," he said. "They'll probably establish a mortuary there where bodies can be taken so forensics can identify bodies and families can decide what they want to do.

"My personal opinion is they will be recovering bodies for 30 ... to 120 days," Buckner said.



FINALLY the american media--long the lapdogs of the bush administration realize they have to ask some non-softball questions or lose ALL credibility.

taken from a Q&A session with whitehouse spokesperson scott mcclellan

http:// www.editorandpublisher.co...t_id=1001055403

White House Press Briefing: Angry Reporters Hit McClellan Hard on Hurricane, Ask if Heads Will Roll

"Q But, Scott, more concretely, an officer of the Northern Command is quoted as saying that as early as the time Hurricane Katrina went through Florida and worked its way up to the Gulf, there was a massive military response ready to go, but that the President did not order it. It could have been ordered on Sunday, on Monday, on Tuesday -- the call didn't come. Why not?

MR. McCLELLAN: Bill, let's point out a couple of things. There were a lot of assets that were deployed and pre-positioned prior to the hurricane hitting. And you have to look back --

Q These assets were deployed, but the order to use them never came. The Bataan was sitting off behind the hurricane.

MR. McCLELLAN: I know these are all facts that you want to look at and want to determine what went wrong and what went right. I'm not prepared to agree with your assessment just there. There is a much larger picture here that we have to take a look at, and --

Q It's not mine, it's an officer in the Northern Command.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- in terms of the President, the President issued disaster declarations ahead of time so that we could make sure we're fully mobilizing resources and pre-positioning them. But this was a hurricane of unprecedented magnitude.

Q Right, but the military can't go into action without his order."