Sad but true.


The Devastating Impact of Hurricane George
by Mike Whitney


September 1, 2005

The full force of the Bush catastrophe is finally beginning to be felt.
Currently, New Orleans is flooded with tons of chemical contaminants
and hydrocarbons "that will continue to poison the Gulf of Mexico for
more than a decade". (Democracy Now) An official from the
Environmental Protection Agency told the Washington Post, "This is the
worst case.. There's not enough money in the Gross National Product of
the United States to dispose of the amount of hazardous material in
this area."

Could the tragedy have been avoided?
What might have happened if the Bush Administration hadn't ordered the
"steepest reduction in hurricane-and-flood control funding for New
Orleans in history?" (Will Bunch "Why the Levee Broke")
Despite the constant warnings from SELA (Southeast Louisiana Urban
Flood Control Project) Bush elected to under-fund the Lake
Pontchartrain levee project by nearly 80%. Of the $20 million the
project required, the Bush administration only provided a paltry $4
million. Now New Orleans is buried under a 10 ft deep chemical-stew
and corpses are reported to be bobbing atop the storm waters in the
poorer neighborhoods.

Welcome to Bush's America; where the uber-rich can expect lavish tax
cuts and the huddled masses get a 3 day lock-up at the Superdome;
where the government redirects desperately-needed resources to the oil
wars in Mesopatamia and entire regions disappear beneath the
flood-waters at home.
The New Orleans tragedy is America's tragedy; the inevitable victory
of ideology over science; the triumph of greed over reason.
The Bush tax cuts and the skyrocketing costs of the war in Iraq have
brought Falluja to Louisiana; the only difference being that snipers
are not perched on the buildings to shoot the wounded on their way to
the hospital.

As Will Bunch said, "Washington knew exactly what needed to be done to
protect the citizens of New Orleans from disasters like Katrina. Yet
federal funding for Louisiana flood control projects was diverted to
pay for the war in Iraq." The Army Corps of Engineers couldn't
complete their vital work because Bush turned off the spigot while the
levees continued to sink.

The hurricane was not avoidable; the Bush flood certainly was.
Bush also played a major role in savaging the wetlands that protect
the surrounding area from the storm surges that result from hurricanes
like Katrina. As Sidney Blumenthal points out, "Every two miles of
wetland between the Crescent City and the Gulf reduces a surge by half
a foot." Even though he was aware of this, in 2003 Bush allowed
developers to destroy the sensitive wetland areas that buffer the
coast. It was the equivalent of taking the seat-belts, air bags, and
bumpers off a car and then driving the opposite way on the freeway.
The disaster was just the predictable outcome of dreadfully flawed
policies.

Now, the administration will have to deal with the devastation in New
Orleans like they deal with every tragedy of their own making; by
diverting attention from themselves and by mounting a public relations
offensive spearheaded by the performer-in chief.
Expect to see Bush in a National Guard jumpsuit; preening before the
adoring media while he condemns the wretched minorities who are
picking through the debris of downtown New Orleans.

The looting is just another Karl Rove red-herring intended to draw
attention from the criminal negligence of the Bush cabal. The 10 ft
wave that marched through New Orleans; devastating everything in its
path and creating a small army of American refugees, originated in
Washington. Don't forget it.