"No One Can Say they Didn't See it Coming"

[ellenfl]

(i hope this hasn't been posted elsewhere.)

FORMER CLINTON ADVISOR
By Sidney Blumenthal

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.

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."

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ellen fl

[MadisonProgressive]

1. Bush should be impeached immediately!

[chicagiana]

8. The 2006 election ...

The 2006 election should be ALL ABOUT the impeachment of GW Bush!!!!

If the Democrats don't have the balls to step up to the plate ... FUCK EM!!! We need a new party.

[magnolia]

2. It has been posted...

...but it bears repeating.

Great article.

[emald]

3. shrub has squandered all our resources

I saw that this funding had been cut and was wondering where the outrage was over this. Shrub cut the funding and although it may not have made much difference it well could have.
dirtbag president

[Inland]

4. All the New Orleans people who could tell the truth dead, dispersed

the TImes Picayune shouting it's rage over the internet...

[dancingme]

5. Philly Daily News picks up levee-Iraq connection

That June, with the 2004 hurricane seasion starting, the Corps' Naomi went before a local agency, the East Jefferson Levee Authority, and essentially begged for $2 million for urgent work that Washington was now unable to pay for. From the June 18, 2004 Times-Picayune:

"The system is in great shape, but the levees are sinking. Everything is sinking, and if we don’t get the money fast enough to raise them, then we can’t stay ahead of the settlement," he said. "The problem that we have isn’t that the levee is low, but that the federal funds have dried up so that we can’t raise them."

The panel authorized that money, and on July 1, 2004, it had to pony up another $250,000 when it learned that stretches of the levee in Metairie had sunk by four feet. The agency had to pay for the work with higher property taxes. The levee board noted in October 2004 that the feds were also now not paying for a hoped-for $15 million project to better shore up the banks of Lake Pontchartrain.


http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/

[FloridaPat]

6. They had a near miss last year with Ivan and another this year

with Arlene and Cindy. I heard * today authorized sending money for those effected by Cindy. Wonder if this had something to due with Cindy Sheehan? Anyway, that's how much help he is.

[chicagiana]

7. Condi can ...

...
the rules of logic and reason do not apply to these people.

:sarcasm: