Arthur wrote: For a
catastrophe that was predicted for 50 years there was just about no disaster
plan in place. Criminal.
There will
be plenty of blame to go around. e.g., why weren't the levees better
protected. why weren't the pumps equipped with emerg. power. why
weren't the fleet of New Orleans city buses pressed into service for those
"who had no cars or couldn't otherwise drive."
etc.
Well, a cynical reply as to the lack of
Bush preparation to the threat in the Gulf Coast is that those states were not
swing states, like Florida.
Already, Bush’s choice to head up FEMA is
under scrutiny. After the GAO suggested changes in 1992, Clinton appointed
James Lee Witt, who is credited
with reorganizing and revitalizing it. But Bush’s 2 appointments have been his
2000 campaign manager and now an Oklahoma lawyer whose only other emergency
management experience was as an assistant city manager. In other words, he
restored FEMA to its previous history as a backwater place to award political
buddies and fundraisers. The
Bush-Cheney White House has a well-documented history of pushing political
appointments onto scientific, medical, environmental and national security
positions. What was the name of that guy from New York – Guliani’s former
police chief – better known as a Rambo talker than a
problem-solver?
As to the question of city buses – a good
one – where would those people have been taken? Did FEMA have plans to
evacuate hundreds of thousands to other sports domes in the South? I’ve heard that the storm pumps in NO
were only prepared to deal with heavy rains – 4-5 inches – not flooding from
the lake. I’ve worked with civil and structural engineers and have great
sympathy for the problem they’re facing. You can bet that those who are
warning about similar problems in other areas are getting a friendly ear from
hometown mayors and governors today.
Are these people destined to live in
concrete houses and trailers, as survivors of Hurricane Andrew have in
Florida? Think of the economic impact of 9/11 and multiply that several times.
The shortage of fuel has already hit jet fuel prices, and the ripples are just
beginning.
