Slow Response in New Olreans
Today's headline is President Bush complaining that the slow federal response in New Orleans is "unacceptable." It's about time he realized this.
I can forgive the lack of response on the first day. On Monday the message from the media was that "New Orleans had been spared." But on Tuesday morning the breaking news was threat the levees holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain from city had been breeched.
Now I am no genius, and I've never even visited New Orleans, but when I heard that I knew that this would be very, very bad.
As the week when on, there were reports of wide spread looting - both from citizens and by members of the rapidly disintigrating police department, shootings, and general lawlessness. Citizens are told to go to the convention center, yet no transportation or aid is available there. It wasn't until Thursday afternoon that there were reports of the National Guard entering the city.
So where was the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard, composed of citizens with personal connections to the affected areas, who signed up for the Guard to assist in exactly this sort of crisis? Well, about 6,000 of them are stationed in Iraq, accomplishing little more than the justification of the Bush Administrations misguided policies so that we'll forget about the Iraqi WMDs and 9/11 connections that don't exist.
Donald Rumsfeld boasts of his restructuring the military to be highly mobile and quick to respond. While the effectiveness of this strategy in Iraq is debatable, it seems that these capabilities would be exactly what New Orleans could have used this week. If an armed presence and supplies entered the city by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, this would have been a much different story.
Many people are asking why helicopters were not used more extensively to drop in supplies. Forget helicopters, except in areas inaccessible by road. As far as I can tell, Interstate 10 from Baton Rouge to downtown New Orleans is passable by trucks and busses. If I-10 can accommodate the transportation of much the food eaten in New Orleans in normal times, then why isn't food available in those parts of the city that can be accessed from I-10?
Here are my predictions:
Questions about why effective disaster response was so delayed will become a major scandal. Many people will come to the conclusion that the amount of resources sent to Iraq depleted the amount of resources available for disasters at home.
The federal government will be accused of racism because the large majority of affected people seen in the media are black. I personally don't believe there is a racist motive, but such rumors may cause additional civil unrest in affected areas.
Finally a positive prediction: New Orleans will recover, and within a few years, I'll visit Bourbon street for some jazz, a shot of bourbon, or maybe even an absinthe frapp.
I can forgive the lack of response on the first day. On Monday the message from the media was that "New Orleans had been spared." But on Tuesday morning the breaking news was threat the levees holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain from city had been breeched.
Now I am no genius, and I've never even visited New Orleans, but when I heard that I knew that this would be very, very bad.
As the week when on, there were reports of wide spread looting - both from citizens and by members of the rapidly disintigrating police department, shootings, and general lawlessness. Citizens are told to go to the convention center, yet no transportation or aid is available there. It wasn't until Thursday afternoon that there were reports of the National Guard entering the city.
So where was the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard, composed of citizens with personal connections to the affected areas, who signed up for the Guard to assist in exactly this sort of crisis? Well, about 6,000 of them are stationed in Iraq, accomplishing little more than the justification of the Bush Administrations misguided policies so that we'll forget about the Iraqi WMDs and 9/11 connections that don't exist.
Donald Rumsfeld boasts of his restructuring the military to be highly mobile and quick to respond. While the effectiveness of this strategy in Iraq is debatable, it seems that these capabilities would be exactly what New Orleans could have used this week. If an armed presence and supplies entered the city by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, this would have been a much different story.
Many people are asking why helicopters were not used more extensively to drop in supplies. Forget helicopters, except in areas inaccessible by road. As far as I can tell, Interstate 10 from Baton Rouge to downtown New Orleans is passable by trucks and busses. If I-10 can accommodate the transportation of much the food eaten in New Orleans in normal times, then why isn't food available in those parts of the city that can be accessed from I-10?
Here are my predictions:
Questions about why effective disaster response was so delayed will become a major scandal. Many people will come to the conclusion that the amount of resources sent to Iraq depleted the amount of resources available for disasters at home.
The federal government will be accused of racism because the large majority of affected people seen in the media are black. I personally don't believe there is a racist motive, but such rumors may cause additional civil unrest in affected areas.
Finally a positive prediction: New Orleans will recover, and within a few years, I'll visit Bourbon street for some jazz, a shot of bourbon, or maybe even an absinthe frapp.
posted by Dancar | 7:09 AM
2 Comments:
Someone made a great comment to me today. This morning the President was posed in front of a bunch of helicopters and National Guard troops for a photo op and for a backdrop for his speech.
Um.. don't those helicopters and troops have more important things to do than to be window dressing?
Even the mayor of NewOrleans is asking people to stop having press conferences and get their butts down there to start helping. I heard that the authorities have finally started removing bodies from the Convention Center where they sent people to be evacuated 3 days ago!
I hope that people see the complete and total ineptitude of this administration and start taking steps to show them that people finally see the Emperor Has No Clothes!
But I doubt it will happen. We're sheep. Laura Bush is on TV right now in Lafayette, LA talking about how good things are going there. Bush was on TV with the white mayor of Biloxi and Trent Lott talking about how great things are going and how fast the response is happening. Umm.. I'd like to see both of them on Canal Street in NO and telling that to the mothers of the babies who died from heat and dehydration over the last 4 days and other people who have been sitting there since Monday, waiting for help as their family members die in front of them. I'm guessing the reception there wouldn't be quite as warm.
Unfortunately, the Teflon may keep working since the local officials were also incompetent. It's not Bush's fault that the local agencies asked people to gather at the dome & convention center then provide no food or transport. It wasn't the Federal Government that down the NO harbor patrol instead of using their boats for rescues. That the feds didn't step in and take charge when it was obvious that local agencies were in over their head (by asking people to gather at the dome & convention center then provide no food or transport -- by shutting down their harbor patrol instead of using their boats for rescues) is the failure that Brown/Chertoff/Bush should take responsibility for.
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