Blumenthal lays out a case against Bush* RE: Katrina

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

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."
-snip-

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,372455,00.html

pounding the squatter in our White House on this.

Keep repeating: This is bush**s fault. He cut the funding. This is bush**s fault. He cut the funding. This is...

I've just sent this article, along with two others, to a local black journalist suggesting that he write about the hurricane's effect as collateral damage from Iraq impacting the poor/black.

Here are the other two links. Note the date in the LA National Guard article--at the beginning of August.

http://www.pensitoreview.com/2005/08/30/bush-fiddles-with-a-guitar-while-new-orleans-floods/



http://abc26.trb.com/news/natguard08012005,0,7101775,print.story?coll=wgno-news-1

There will be time enough for that after order is restored and the dead have been recovered.

No doubt in my mind this can be laid at George's feet. But let's not do it yet.

They are already trying to take the high ground and blame it on the Mayor of NOLA. If they repeat it enough, it will become fact.

Am I defending George? Hell no! But I think the blame game is premature at this point. Finger pointing is less important than saving lives. But maybe I'm just stupid.

Well...you act as if we all have the choice of either saving lives or pointing fingers. I can only speak for myself but I'm not a rescue worker in LA or MS so it's really impossible for me, personally, to save any lives. I can send money and pray and I have done that. In the meantime it's VERY IMPORTANT to hold accountable those who are responsible. You can use terms as "blame" and "finger pointing"...but this is about responsibility...and now is the time to talk about it.

We were all very quick to place blame after 9/11...how is this different? Yes...the hurricane was an act of God. But we didn't need to lose so many lives and lose a city.

I am sick to death of this idiot president screwing us over time and time again, treating peoples lives as if they don't matter and we aren't suppose to notice because it's not patriotic and other such
sh!t! And now I suppose it will dishonor the dead if we point fingers...I don't think so!!!!

Blame will be doled out in due course. Any energy we expend trying to nail George to the wall just seems petty to me right now. He's a lamer than lame duck, but we're stuck with him for 3 more years. And some of the people who helped make this happen don't have any place to live now. Let's remember how fortunate we are to be living someplace outside the hurricane's path.

WE, on the other hand can do our part by gathering info and spreading it.

Once you've donated your money, blood or goods, it's time to SLAM THE SHIT out of this fucking loser administration until they FUCKING BEG TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE.

Rite now people are pissed and the sooner we pin this on Bush the better.

local disaster coordinators in the outlying parishes today PLEADING for ANY kind of assistance. Their shelters are out of food and water and they have commandeered every boat and raided every shop, but still don't have enough. People are DYING, right now, unnecessarily, because of poor preparation. Bush should have mobilized national forces Monday morning AT THE LATEST! They should, as a minimum, be dropping minimal rations and water to the shelters.

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Then why hasn't anyone other than local guard been seen on site? Why has it only been local and state resources available other than what FEMA has at it's disposal (direct control)? Why haven't we seen chinook's dropping supplies? If they really _were_ mobilized, how the fuck have we ever won a battle anywhere if it takes 5+ days to get someplace where there isn't even enemy fire?

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People are starving and dying, all they have is the clothes on their backs...and I should worry that Walmart may lose some of their fine merchandise! I don't think so!

Well the FEMA director just said he didn't know the storm would be so huge, which of course is a lie.

Rove and Co are already sitting up in late night strategy sessions trying to figure out how to turn this into 9/11 part 2. They're planning photo ops, vetting survivors to see if they would be convincing in campaign commercials, digging through Clinton-era records to see how the blame can be shifted onto Clinton, etc. Hell, they're probably buying up bullhorns on ebay in preparation for another one of Dubya's heroic "impromptu" speeches to rescue workers. We have to get out ahead of that and make sure that people are aware of the facts before the Bush hagiography begins.

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:kick:

2. FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans - Ignored.

Meanwhile chimp strums a guitar and reads a rove speech.

:kick: