Sidney Blumenthal (Salon): No one can say they didn't see it coming

[Jack Rabbit]

From Salon.com (Subscription or Day Pass Required)
Dated Wednesday August 31

"No one can say they didn't see it coming"
In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the Iraq war.
By Sidney Blumenthal

Biblical in its uncontrolled rage and scope, Hurricane Katrina has left millions of Americans to scavenge for food and shelter and hundreds to thousands reportedly dead. With its main levee broken, the evacuated city of New Orleans has become part of the Gulf of Mexico. But the damage wrought by the hurricane may not entirely be the result of an act of nature.

A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration ordered that the research not be undertaken. After a flood killed six people in 1995, Congress created the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, in which the Corps of Engineers strengthened and renovated levees and pumping stations. In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S., including a terrorist attack on New York City. But by 2003 the federal funding for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was drained into the Iraq war. In 2004, the Bush administration cut funding requested by the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain by more than 80 percent. Additional cuts at the beginning of this year (for a total reduction in funding of 44.2 percent since 2001) forced the New Orleans district of the Corps to impose a hiring freeze. The Senate had debated adding funds for fixing New Orleans' levees, but it was too late.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune, which before the hurricane published a series on the federal funding problem, and whose presses are now underwater, reported online: "No one can say they didn't see it coming ... Now in the wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation."

Read more.

[Demeter]

1. We Need To Rename New Orleans

Some possible monnickers come to mind:


BushWorld

Bush's Waterworld

Atlantis on the Gulf

Armageddon

[confludemocrat]

2. Talk about black humor. "Bush's Waterworld" fits. (n/t)

[kenny blankenship]

4. W's Waterworld

[kenny blankenship]

3. This is the worst UNnatural disaster in American history

and as Andrea Mitchell says, 'nothing could have been done to prevent it' --except the release of previously budgetted funds to carry out already scheduled repairs and improvements of the flood control infrastructure in the New Orleans area.
Improvements and repairs blocked by Bush's appetite for war.

THe floodwaters broke their way in not charging headon from the Gulf but "sneaking in through the backdoor", just like Bush broke into the White House.

[Demeter]

5. I Think They Could Have Lowered The Lake

That's what the Army Corp of Engineers is supposed to be good at: regulating water levels and maintaining levees.

[kenny blankenship]

6. Oh I agree that this was preventable

but you see what leading exponents of the the Cult Of Bush (C.O.B.) are saying to spin this catastrophe.
The Corps of Engineers can only do what they are given resources to do. The repairs and improvements were projected and planned and the cost was also projected in federal budgets when Bush came into office. His priorities can't comprehend spending on infrastructure items unless they are directly related to weapon-systems, or helping oil, mineral, and timber companies extract natural wealth from the land more rapidly.
Public safety particularly of cities is outside his sphere of concern.
Perhaps now after witnessing the horrific destruction of New Orleans he could follow a discussion about flood control measures, and be persuaded to see the value of saving the city and its important role as a point of importation, if not the value of saving lives.

Not only was the in-place flood control infrastructure allowed to degrade, but the Corps clearly didn't have what it needed to address (more or less inevitable) emergencies like this one. Everyone knows the danger to New Orleans comes from the possibility of failing levees. This exact danger has been a subject of a lot of talk and study since the terrible flooding on the Mississippi in 1993-4. The Army Corps knows all about this and they have surely "war-gamed" what to do in the event of failure. Monday morning was the day of the BIG GAME. And it turned out they didn't have nearly the manpower or material to win. As with the decision to let the infrastructure continue to decay, lack of support and understanding from the Executive Branch has to be cited for this flood spiralling into an epic sized, city-killing disaster.

[acmavm]

7. Can't get a site pass. And I refuse to watch that commercial one more

time.

Oh well.