Continuing the previous tales of obstruction of assistance and other abuse of resources, President Bush has now pulled highly trained firefighters to walk beside him as living props in a photo op. Never mind that New Orleans is in dire need of firefighters, the local ones being overworked and exhausted, this particular act of abuse is just icing on the cake for when FEMA called for a thousand firefighters, not to put out fires or help with rescues... but to work as "community relations" officers handing out flyers.
This is the kind of thing that you draft college kids or other random volunteers to do. This quote from the Salt Lake Tribune article pretty much sums it up:
"They've got people here who are search-and-rescue certified, paramedics, haz-mat certified," said a Texas firefighter. "We're sitting in here having a sexual-harassment class while there are still [victims] in Louisiana who haven't been contacted yet."The firefighter, who has encouraged his superiors back home not to send any more volunteers for now, declined to give his name because FEMA has warned them not to talk to reporters.
