Thursday Sept 1,2005
NAGIN: I 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
have 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 were stuck in
attics, man, old ladies. ... You pull off the doggone ventilator vent
and you look down there and they're standing in there in water up to
their freaking necks.
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 kind of goddamn --
excuse my French everybody in America, but I am pissed.
WWL: 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 [Lt.] Gen. [Russel] Honore.
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, give him
full authority to get the job done, and we can save some people.
WWL: 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 public school bus drivers to come down here and
bus people out here.
I'm like, "You got to be kidding me. This is
a national disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the
country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."
That's --
they're thinking small, man. And this is a major, major, major deal.
And I can't emphasize it enough, man. This is crazy.
I've got
15,000 to 20,000 people over at the convention center. It's bursting at
the seams. The poor people in Plaquemines Parish. ... We don't have
anything, and we're sharing with our brothers in Plaquemines Parish.
It's awful down here, man.
WWL:
Do you believe that the president is seeing this, holding a news
conference on it but can't do anything until [Louisiana Gov.] Kathleen
Blanco requested him to do it? And do you know whether or not she has
made that request?
NAGIN: I have no idea what they're
doing. But I will tell you this: You know, God is looking down on all
this, and if they are 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, I'm willing
to bet you.
We're getting reports and calls that are breaking
my heart, from people saying, "I've been in my attic. I can't take it
anymore. The water is up to my neck. I don't think I can hold out." And
that's happening as we speak.
You know what really upsets me,
Garland? We told everybody the importance of the 17th Street Canal
issue. We said, "Please, please take care of this. We don't care what
you do. Figure it out."
WWL: Who'd you say that to?
NAGIN: Everybody: the governor, Homeland Security, FEMA. You name it, we said it.
And
they allowed that pumping station next to Pumping Station 6 to go under
water. Our sewage and water board people ... 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
starting getting to levels that probably killed more people.
In addition to that, we had water flowing through the pipes in the city. That's a power station over there.
So
there's no water flowing anywhere on the east bank of Orleans Parish.
So our critical water supply was destroyed because of lack of action.
WWL:
Why couldn't they drop the 3,000-pound sandbags or the containers that
they were talking about earlier? Was it an engineering feat that just
couldn't be done?
NAGIN: They said it was some pulleys
that they had to manufacture. But, you know, in a state of emergency,
man, you are creative, you figure out ways to get stuff done.
Then
they told me that they went overnight, and they built 17 concrete
structures and they had the pulleys on them and they were going to drop
them.
I flew over that thing yesterday, and it's in the same
shape that it was after the storm hit. There is nothing happening. And
they're feeding the public a line of bull and they're spinning, and
people are dying down here.
WWL: If some of the public
called and they're right, that there's a law that the president, that
the federal government can't do anything without local or state
requests, 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.
WWL: Did the governor do that, too?
NAGIN: 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 of our police officers back to
patrolling the streets. They were dead-tired from saving people, but
they worked all night because we thought this thing was going to blow
wide open last night. And so we redirected all of our resources, and we
hold it under check.
I'm not sure if we can do that another night with the current resources.
And
I am telling you right now: They're showing all these reports of people
looting and doing all that weird stuff, and they are doing that, but
people are desperate and they're trying to find food and water, the
majority of them.
Now you got some knuckleheads out there, and
they are taking advantage of this lawless -- this situation where, you
know, we can't really control it, and they're doing some awful, awful
things. But that's a small majority of the people. Most people are
looking to try and survive.
And one of the things people --
nobody's talked 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 were having the escalation in murders. People don't want
to talk about this, but I'm going to talk about it.
You have
drug addicts that are now walking around this city looking for a fix,
and that's the reason why they were breaking in hospitals and
drugstores. They're looking for something to take the edge off of their
jones, if you will.
And right now, they don't have anything to
take the edge off. And they've probably found guns. So what you're
seeing is drug-starving crazy addicts, drug addicts, that are wrecking
havoc. And we don't have the manpower to adequately deal with it. We
can only target certain sections of the city and form a perimeter
around them and hope to God that we're not overrun.
WWL:
Well, you and I must be in the minority. Because apparently there's a
section of our citizenry out there that thinks because of a law that
says the federal government can't come in unless requested by the
proper people, that everything that's going on to this point has been
done as good as it can possibly be.
NAGIN: Really?
WWL: I know you don't feel that way.
NAGIN: Well, did the tsunami victims request? Did it go through a formal process to request?
You know, did the Iraqi people request that we go in there? Did they ask us to go in there? What is more important?
And
I'll tell you, man, I'm probably going get in a whole bunch of trouble.
I'm probably going to get in so much trouble it ain't even funny. You
probably won't even want to deal with me after this interview is over.
WWL: You and I will be in the funny place together.
NAGIN:
But we authorized $8 billion 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 a
place where most of your 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 that a place where you
probably have thousands of people that have died and thousands more
that are dying every day, that we can't figure out a way to authorize
the resources that we need? Come on, man.
You know, I'm not one of those drug addicts. I am thinking very clearly.
And
I don't know whose problem it is. I don't know whether it's the
governor's problem. I don't know whether it's the president's problem,
but somebody needs to get their ass on a plane and sit down, the two of
them, and figure this out right now.
WWL: What can we do here?
NAGIN: Keep talking about it.
WWL: We'll do that. What else can we do?
NAGIN:
Organize people to write letters and make calls to their congressmen,
to the president, to the governor. Flood their doggone offices with
requests to do something. This is ridiculous.
I don't want to see
anybody do anymore goddamn press conferences. Put a moratorium on press
conferences. Don't do another press conference until the resources are
in this city. And then 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 40,000 people are coming here. They're not here. It's too
doggone late. Now get off your asses and do something, and let's fix
the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country.
WWL: I'll
say it right now, you're the only politician that's called and called
for arms like this. And if -- whatever it takes, the governor,
president -- whatever law precedent it takes, whatever it takes, I bet
that the people listening to you are on your side.
NAGIN:
Well, I hope so, Garland. I am 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.
WWL: We're both pretty speechless here.
NAGIN: Yeah, I don't know what to say. I got to go.
WWL: OK. Keep in touch. Keep in touch.