New Orleans as a new Baghdad

You probably all remember an excellent article by William Langewiesche in The Atlantic Monthly (November 2004)-- "Welcome to the Green Zone: The American bubble in Baghdad"

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200411/langewiesche
(by subscription)

He has a great description there of many right wingers from Heritage and Enterprise foundations rushing to Baghdad to treat it as experimental grounds for all their initiatives which were stymied in the US -- like opportunity zones, vouchers for everything, flat tax, etc. They all soon left because the Green Zone was becoming so unsafe. But, guess what? -- now they have New Orleans to play with! (If we let them, of course.) What they are planning for it (there was a woman from Enterprise on Newshour yesterday who was spelling it all out) is exactly what Langewiesche described in the article.

getting anything done with (local, parish, state) government in Louisiana is like herding cats.

I lived there.

I still hear the Heritage and AEI puppets claim that Iraq, one day, will be this model state of utopia in the Middle East. That's all they have left considering all the plundering, corruption and ineptness of this invasion and occupation. That plundering went on thousands of miles away, against people who were demonized by the media and popular culture. The invasion destroyed all concepts of civil law in that country and the corruption flourished under this "fog".

Louisiana is a lot closer and there's a lot more interests involved. There are tons of legal claims and lawsuits that will be filed, criminal investigations that will be conducted (at least on state and local levels) and probably an independent commission to look at the federal screw-ups. This is waaaay too much light for the neo-cons to work under...and there's no political gain, other than replacing Blanco and Mary Landrieu...not quite the big picture stuff the Frank Gaffneys and Bill Kristols are interested in.

Of course, the big problem here is all the money that is being funneled into the region and who is getting it. We're already seeing no-bid Haliburton, Blackwater and other pet contractors getting in on the action, but it's still too soon to tell.

You're starting to hear fiscal conservatives bitching about the costs of meeester boooosh's "throw money at it and the black people will go away" solution...and you're not going to see the blank checks issued here that you did in Iraq. There's too much territory that invades on too many other special interests and egos.

I don't think we're really going to get the scope of the long-term needs of this region for months if not years to come. By then I suspect we'll be dealing with a totally different political dynamic.

that it's coming from the same people who thought that in Baghdad the "liberating" army will be showered with flowers. Realistic and knowledgeable they ain't. It won't work in NO either for reasons both of you mention but it does not mean that they are not having wet dreams about it right now and will not try to use the same blueprint. Ideologues are usually very slow learners...

For some maybe this is the chance to "redesign" the city...create some new great public housing system or social engineering...but then look at any major catastrophe and it always changes the area. Being in Chicago, the 1871 fire is considered one of the best things that ever happened to this city since it gave planners a fresh start in addressing old problems and setting a blueprint for the future. Here's hoping New Orleans can find a Daniel Burnham.

The real game here is all that money that is being thrown into the area. The thing that I find so disengenuous, is how this regime is pretending this is to help alleviate the suffering and to rebuild the city...instead of its true purpose...to dip, once again, into the federal treasury and give billions to their pet donors and patrons while they can. The short term greed here is something shared with the greed in Iraq. Now will this regime be able to let the billions just be squandered as they were there? Stay tuned.

Cheers...

Plenty in terms of economics and social engineering of the "right" kind, as in Steve Forbes and Jack Kemp rolled together plus additional equally profound "theories" coming from the rw think tanks.

All politics is local...and I suspect in the end New Orleans will be rebuilt by those who have and still are in the area. Forbes and Kemp types are carpetbaggers who won't stand a chance in the local political gumbo. We've only seen some of what has been and still the most corrupt state in the country. The locals are gonna have their say in this matter.

This is what happened in 1927 and 1933...massive flooding almost destroyed New Orleans and chruned up the social waters...it brought Huey Long and his attempts at a socialist solution.

My feeling is the courts will have a lot to say in this matter as there are going to be tons of property claims and disputes that could hamper the rebuilding of the city for years.

Cheers...

Just different crooks...but then isn't that always how it works when there's money to be made?

One difference is Rove's in charge of dolling out the cash here, not Bremer. This goes to political cronies before the military-industrial crooks.

went after Clay Shaw for killing Kennedy, and when good old Jim supplemented his income by shaking down parents of Tulane students to dismiss (questionable) drug cases.

Is this our Karma ?