Rebuild New Orleans - or stay in Iraq?

[derby378]

If you had to choose only one, which would it be? Vote now!

[Deep13]

1. no to both

N.O.'s location is untenable. Even if it can be drained, cleaned and restored, it will only happen again.

All for giving medical and economic relief, though.

[Options Remain]

2. NO is a toxic hellhole now

nobody should live there for a long long time.

TearForger

[Deep13]

3. It is very sad.

N.O. was a cool place. Speaking as a transplanted New Englander, it would be like losing Boston.

[jim3775]

4. That is a ridiculous argument.

How many years did NO exist before the hurricane hit?

According to Wikipedia the city was founded in 1718, NO existed for 287 years without a hurricane.

That is like saying, "houses burn down so I am not going to own a house" or "if I buy a car it I will just get into car crash".

Better not build any tall buildings or else they will just get destroyed in a terrorist attack.

Better not rebuild Europe after WWII, it'll just get destroyed again in WWIII.

[Deep13]

5. The city and the climate have changed.

The city started as a sea port and grew in that location because it was already there. Meanwhile massive levees were constructed to claim dry land from the sea. What started as a river barge town, grew to be one of the world's first class cities, all of it below sea level and yards from a big lake above its altitude. N.O. was dependant on levees and active pumps to keep it dry. Its existance was always precarious. Now it is not just submerged, the water is 20 feet high in some places, but sewerage and toxic chemicals from nearby refineries have contaminated the site.

I may end up being wrong, but it is far from ridiculous.

[ClintonTyree]

6. You're correct......

it would be sheer folly to rebuild NO until they do something about the coastal flood plains. They're going to have to build everything in NO from UNDERGROUND on UP....it ain't gonna happen. All those trees blown down took the water and gas lines with them. The total electrical system, telecommunications systems etc. would have to be rebuilt....everything. Like starting from scratch to build a city in a toxic waste site. New Orleans is finished and they know it.