by http://www.katrinahelp.com
By Rosemary and Walter
Brasch
Almost one-third of Louisiana
Republicans blame President Obama for the slow and largely ineffective response
to Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Gulf Coast, Aug. 31, 2005. More than 1,800
were killed in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana; estimates of property
damage exceeded $100 billion.
Public Policy Polling reveals
that 29 percent of the state's Republicans blame Obama. Only 28 percent blame George
W. Bush. The rest, according to the poll, don't know who to blame.
The disaster occurred in the
first year of George W. Bush's second term. Barack Obama did not become
president until more than three years later
While the Bush--Cheney
administration was embroiled in Iraq and developing all kinds of plans to deal
with foreign terrorists, it failed to keep the homeland safe--for the second time,
the first being 9/11 itself. Natural disasters have been responsible for significantly
more injuries, deaths, and property damage than all terrorist attacks, both
past and projected.
More than a year before
Katrina hit, we had written our first article about the probability that the
U.S. would be unable to provide a quick response to any natural disaster of
great magnitude. We concluded " While we can't put natural disasters into the same category as an
al-Qaeda attack, they both encompass a fear of imminent danger. Death and
destruction by a Category 3/4 hurricane is more imminent than an attack by Iraq
ever was--and could leave more death and destruction than 9/11. Neither our home
nor our land is secure."
Our
evidence to support that conclusion included:
--- The needless war in Iraq had been draining U.S.
funds, personnel, and supplies that could have been needed for disaster
response.
Louisiana politicians and the Army Corps of Engineers
had requested funds to repair and upgrade the levees, but were denied. Under the Bill
Clinton Administration, the Corps of Engineers spent about $500 million to upgrade
the levee system and to build pumping stations. The Category 3 hurricane could
have been stopped by the existing levees if
they hadn't been weakened by political neglect. The water did not spill over
the top, but, the force of the winds and water broke through the levees,
causing the major destruction. The improvements to the levee system couldn't be
completed by the Corps because funds for the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood
Control Project were diverted to support the war in Iraq.
National Guard
troops, which normally would have been a front-line defense to help the people
and protect property, were mobilized for Iraq. Several senior Guard officers
told us they were already operating "short-handed" because of the war; more
than one-third of the Guard was in Iraq when Katrina hit. Most of the Guard's
trucks, bulldozers, and heavy equipment were in Iraq. Also in the Iraqi desert
were deep water recovery vehicles.
--- FEMA was
being decimated by politics and budget cuts.
Both Bush and
Cheney believed that disaster assistance should be primarily handled by private
assistance; they believed the Red Cross, social service agencies, and several
major religious organizations, including the Salvation Army, could and should
be able to respond, as they always had. Because of political bias, the
administration not only cut FEMA's budget but also transferred funding. Between
2003 and 2005, Bush moved $800 million from FEMA into the War in Iraq.
For the head of
FEMA, Bush installed a campaign buddy, Michael D. Brown, who had no experience
in emergency management, but had spent 11 years as commissioner for judges and
stewards of the International Arabian Horse Association (IAHA). In later
articles, we pointed out that at the time Katrina hit, a morale crisis was
smothering the agency; political cronies were moving into the agency;
experienced career staffers were leaving. Seven of the 10 regions were staffed
with interim directors. FEMA, essentially, was being decimated through willful
negligence.
After Katrina hit, we analyzed and determined:
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