Times Picayune: Catastrophe could have been avoided...

[MnFats]

Newhouse News Service, in an article posted late Tuesday night at The Times-Picayune Web site, reported: "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."

In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness.

On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

Also that June, with the 2004 hurricane season starting, the Corps' project manager Al 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."



http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051313

[linazelle]

1. That story is like reading the warnings for 9/11--people pleaded

and urged and once again, they did nothing until disaster struck.

This story needs to be sent to every media outlet in the country.

[Bluesplayer]

5. this is so much worse that 9/11

in that there is a huge history of studies to determine what was needed to protect the city, projects begun but not finished, and Bush diverting the necessary funds to Iraq and his "base."

We can only hope that the emergency bureaucracy in this country will be able to use their expertise to do what is necessary in spite of the administration's complete fuck-up of everything it has touched.

[jsamuel]

2. Damn, someone said "no proof Bush is responsible", this is PROOF!

[SoCalDem]

4. bzzzzt! wrong-o

He was "misled" by "faulty intelligence". It's NEVER his fault... he hasn't claimed responsibility for ANYTHING..ever!

[Skittles]

3. people don't seem to wonder where all the money for the wars come from

guess what, folks?

[BikeWriter]

6. I think this is a dupe.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4537388&mesg_id=4537388

[MnFats]

8. i think you may be right but even so I thought it worth reposting...nt

[paineinthearse]

7. This and a similar story in WaPo

are featured in John Conyers' blog - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2049693&mesg_id=2049693