News that the Obama Administration ordered scientists not to contradict the BP low-balling effort in the early days of the spill rightly dominates the news cycle.
We are among those anticipating firings will follow. But it’s worth also noting that other critical reports from that same committee are nearly as appalling. They also offer findings that are the first to dare criticize media darling Adm. Thad Allen – trust me, they will not be the last as we get to peak behind the curtain at what was actually happening in the oil spill response.
Mark Seibel, writing for McClatchy Newspapers in the Miami Herald, reports that: A second report, entitled “Decision-Making in the Unified Command,” portrays the cleanup effort as confused, wasteful and often ineffective, and offers thinly veiled criticism of some of the key figures in the effort, including Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen… Allen, who President Barack Obama appointed as the National Incident Commander to oversee the response, saw the center he ran as intended primarily ‘to deal with high-level political and media inquiries’ and not to direct the response effort, the report said. As a result, the public was confused about who was in charge of the response, the report said.”
See. We said all along that Adm. Allen was mostly a BP spokesperson. And now we have confirmation. Worse for him: Now that he doesn’t control access to “The Story,” the media might just turn on its longtime master. Meanwhile, can we PLEASE move behind this “the public was confused” or “there was a perception” that nobody was in charge? It was NOT a perception – nobody was in charge.
Well… it is most likely BP was in charge and nobody wants to admit it. Now we have a presidential commission report noting that Adm. Allen – the point man for the American people, no less – was more or less BP’s PR guy. The bar on “outrageous” has been raised once again.
See Mr. Seibel’s report:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/06/1861165/study-slams-confusion-waste-in.html
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