Supreme Incompetence

What a surprise:

The federal government so far has been slow in helping the hungry, thirsty and desperate victims of Hurricane Katrina, former top federal, state and local disaster chiefs said yesterday.

The experts, including a former Bush administration disaster-response manager, said that the government was not prepared, had scrimped on storm spending, and had shifted its attention from dealing with natural disasters to the global fight against terrorism.

The agency at the center of the relief effort is the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is now part of the Department of Homeland Security.

"What you're seeing is revealing weaknesses in the state, local and federal levels," said Eric Tolbert, who until February was FEMA's chief of disaster response. "All three levels have been weakened. They've been weakened by diversion into terrorism."

Number one, this disaster will end up killing tens of thousands of people.  In New Orleans alone, 70,000 people are unaccounted for.  To the extent they have survived so far, they are now living without food and water in in a toxic stew of flood water, sewage and rotting corpses.  And we have no way of knowing how many people in the countryside have been killed. 

Second, this is a colossal failure to prepare on all levels of government.  It is tempting for me to blame it all on Bush and his people, but what the hell were the Louisiana emergency preparation officials thinking?  There was no plan which provided for a full evacuation of New Orleans, despite the danger. 

Third, it's a shocking demonstration of how Bush's failure to be honest about the sacrifices necessary to fight the war in Iraq puts us all at risk.  The Louisiana National Guard is elsewhere, so people in New Orleans die waiting to be evacuated as a direct consequence of Bush's fecklessness.  Every dollar diverted from domestic emergency preparedness to Iraq is a bullet aimed at a American at home. Bush is supporting the troops by killing their families at home.

Four, this shows that we are totally unprepared for a large-scale terrorist attack.  In the event that a nightmare scenario comes true - say, a small nuke in New York - you are on your own, kids.  The Bush plan: let 'em die, then stand on their graves and give a speech about how resolute you are.

 

Comments

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Simply unbelievable. I assume you've seen the videos on CNN. But what will annoy and sicken me more is that most of America will still give the bush administration a pass on this deal...