I'm surprised so few people see the parallels
between 9/11 and New Orleans 2005.
Here are nine similarities that some to mind right away:
1. Warnings from a highly sophisticated tracking and early
warning system were ignored by government officials
In the case of 9/11, NSA intercepts, FBI investigative reports
and radar imagery were ignored.
In the case of New Orleans, meteorological data which predicted
the severity of the storm was actively ignored by the government
2. An expensive system which was designed to protect
citizens failed catastrophically
In the case of 9/11, the air defence system designed and
maintained at a lifetime cost exceeding one trillion dollars
failed.
In the case of New Orleans, levees COLLAPSED ("topping"
was never more than a minor problem for the city.)
3. Nothing was done to mitigate the effects of the catastrophe
In the case of 9/11, fighter jets sat on the ground and were
even ordered to stay away when in the air.
In the case of New Orleans, nothing was done to evacuate people
without cars or even clearly inform people that an evacuation
was necessary.
4. Immediately after both incidents, the government claimed
that no one could have predicted it
In fact, in both cases numerous detailed government studies
predicted the very thing that happened.
5. Relief efforts were non-existent
In the case of 9/11, there was no plan on the books to deal
with the need for a mass evacuation from Manhattan. It
was only a spontaneous armada of private ships directed
by a local mariner that saved the day. Over 500,000 were
evacuated from Manhattan in less than 12 hours.
In the case of New Orleans, not only did the government not
provide relief efforts, it also actively interfered with them.
The non-relief efforts extended for days - even weeks and
months after the incident.
6. The "solution" to the problem involved glorifying military
might and removing traditional legal limits on its use
9/11 became the justification for a series of illegal and
pointlessly vicious wars that have resulted in the death
of well over 100,000 innocent civilians.
New Orleans has become the justification to use military
force in the US any time without traditional legal
restraints.
7. The victims continue to suffer - largely untreated - in
spite of billions of dollars spent "to help"
In the case of 9/11, first responders and relief workers
are dying of lung and other ailments and are being refused
help with their medical expenses.
In the case of New Orleans, the list of government malfeasance
is almost too long to cite, but one glaring example is that
the working poor, who bore the brunt of the catastrophe,
are being victimized again as storm damage is being
used as an excuse to bulldoze public housing.
8. The exact cause of the system collapse that made
the catastrophe possible is still not clear
In the case of 9/11, the "official" engineering report
as to why the towers collapsed simply does not make
physical sense.
In the case of New Orleans, many residents say they
heard explosions that preceded several of the levee
collapses.
The AP reported a "shoot out" in the vicinity of
one of the levees which collapsed. The story was pulled
and never run again. At the time, there was no looting
reported anywhere in the city and this area was completely
free of looting. (It's kind of hard to loot a levee.)
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20050913&articleId=941
http://www.arcticbeacon.com/11-Jan-2006.html
9. Both catastrophes have proven to be massive financial
windfalls for contractors who are allied with the Bush White House
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=21843
Final observation:
9/11 became the justification for a massive oil
grab in Iraq.
Did you know there is oil and gas under the ground in
many of the New Orleans area communities that were devastated
by the levee failures?
Previously, drilling for oil and gas in these areas
was unthinkable because they were so densely populated.
Now, oil and gas drilling are already getting fast
tracked in St. Bernard's Parish. More to come
I'm sure....
http://www.sbpg.net/cannizaro080206.html
~~~~
"The truth comes out..."
I could be referring to any number of stories.
9-11, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq,
the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.
The carefully packaged lies saturate the
front pages of newspapers and evening news
on TV...and then months, sometimes
years, later the truth comes out - usually
in small print in the back pages of the
newspaper.
Here's one for you.
What caused the flooding of New Orleans which
resulted in the gruesome death of thousands
of innocent people (bodies are *still* being
discovered) and rendered hundreds of thousands
homeless?
Hurricane Katrina?
A post-hurricane storm surge?
The capricious power of nature?
Guess again.
Here's the information that the local
and federal government actively suppressed:
http://www.brasscheck.com/videos/neworleans/neworleans8.html
~~~
I've just returned from a trip to New Orleans,
my third since June.
On every visit, I find myself even more impressed
by the courage of the people who live in that
city.
I also come away disgusted by the utter corruptness
of the government - local, state and federal.
The levees were poorly constructed and collapsed
killing hundreds of people and rendering hundreds
of thousands homeless.
No plans were made to help these people leave
the city in a safe and orderly way and help them
in their refugee status.
And now, the government is actively destroying what's
left of the city's public housing stock.
Imagine: Perfectly good public housing units that
could provide low cost homes to thousands of the
working poor have been locked up and are awaiting
demolition.
Details:
http://www.brasscheck.com/videos/neworleans/neworleans7.html
