It’s shocking and sad how we, the richest nation in the world, can’t figure out a way to help all the people who are stranded in New Orleans — on rooftops, in parking lots, at the convention center. What are they still doing there? Why can’t they get out?
It’s certainly poor people who are stuck without the means to leave town or seek food and shelter elsewhere. But why aren’t we doing more to help? Could it be that all our National Guard troops are in Iraq? That’s part of the reason.
Why New Orleans Is in Deep Water:
Just plain political bad luck that, in June, Bush took his little ax and chopped $71.2 million from the budget of the New Orleans Corps of Engineers, a 44 percent reduction. As was reported in New Orleans CityBusiness at the time, that meant “major hurricane and flood projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now.”
…
Unfortunately, the war in Iraq is directly related to the devastation left by the hurricane. About 35 percent of Louisiana’s National Guard is now serving in Iraq, where four out of every 10 soldiers are guardsmen. Recruiting for the Guard is also down significantly because people are afraid of being sent to Iraq if they join, leaving the Guard even more short-handed.
Vacation is Over… an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush
3 responses so far ↓
1 Chris // Sep 5, 2005 at 10:25 pm
Part of the problem is certainly the National Guard deployment in Iraq, but I think the larger problem may be that FEMA’s head is a Bush crony and is totally unqualified for the job. Mike Brown oversaw horse show judging for 10 years before being appointed as FEMA’s general council. He happens to be the former FEMA director’s college roommate. He spent “four or five years” at FEMA before becoming director.
Where does the buck stop?
2 Sirc_Valence // Sep 15, 2005 at 7:58 pm
You might be interested in this: The Superdome and Convention Center: What Went Wrong? Its probably the best analysis out there so far.
In terms of the 200 ft wide breach of the levee, and the non-sequitor report that appeared about how President Bush shortchanged Louisiana which you posted on September 2, soon and early into the disaster, which you quoted here – the fact is that Louisiana was wasting money and the Presdient was right to try to stop it. See the link in this paragraph.
Even more has been learned since. During this Katrina disaster basically all the media did was repeat criticisms about Michael Brown’s qualifications. In the scheme of things they really were beside the point. Of course there’s always “better”, but the way that this was turned into another attack ad on President Bush and the war in Iraq was just surreal.
Just thought that you might be interested in the updates and what has surfaced since Sept. 2. Did you see this? Do you still blame the Iraq war for the devastation that followed Hurricane Katrina?
I hope this answers some of your questions, gabe.
Citations are not a blanket endorsement of any site linked, especially the TIME one.
I’ll accept your email if you want to reply that way. In the interest of clarity and truth.
3 Sirc_Valence // Sep 15, 2005 at 8:11 pm
I almost forgot to mention that 7,500 National Guardsmen and women from 4 states were in Louisiana within 24 hours of Katrina.
Did Molly Ivins count them?