LTTE that will probably never be published

Chichiri

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Wed Aug-31-05 01:35 PM
Original message

LTTE that will probably never be published

Dear Editor,

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Republicans were quick to politicize this disaster -- ironically, in part by accusing Democrats of doing just that. Some even said that we would accuse President Bush himself of having caused the hurricane. As I write this, most of my fellow Democrats are concerned with disaster relief efforts; they have the good grace not to speak, at this time, about how a terrible disaster was made worse in the aftermath by the Bush administration. I, however, cannot remain silent.

Of course, Bush didn't cause the hurricane -- no one did, or could have. But Bush did cut more than $71 million dollars from the budget of the New Orleans district of the US Army Corps of Engineers, and had proposed further cuts for fiscal year 2006. This prevented hurricane and flood protection projects that may have otherwise saved the city from massive flooding. It also prevented a study on ways to protect the region against a category 5 hurricane.

Bush didn't cause the hurricane, but he did prevent funds from reaching the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project. This project, if fully funded, may have seen the completion of the bridge and levee job at the 17th Street Canal in New Orleans -- site of the main levee breach that, as of this writing (August 31st, two days after landfall), is turning New Orleans into Atlantis.

Bush didn't cause the hurricane, but he did send thousands of members of the Louisiana National Guard's 256th Brigade, who should have been front and center protecting their neighbors from natural disasters, to Iraq.

Bush didn't cause the hurricane, but he did ignore a warning issued by FEMA in early 2001, stating that a hurricane in New Orleans was one of three catastrophes most likely to hit the United States. (The other two, incidentally, were an earthquake in San Francisco, and a terrorist atack in New York.)

Bush didn't cause the hurricane, but he has, again as of this writing, refused to answer the phone as the Mayor of New Orleans has been desperately trying to call his President to request life-or-death assistance. I'm not completely sure what he's been doing the last couple days, but based on wire photos of him licking his fingers of the cake frosting at John McCain's birthday party, and strumming a guitar with the Presidential Seal printed on it, I'm guessing he's enjoying himself.

I don't mean to suggest, of course, that Bush has been completely apathetic about the disaster. He did cut his five-week vacation short by a day or two, and he did send 3,000 National Guard operatives to the city, or about one-tenth the number required for such a rescue operation. Too little, too late.

George Bush's policies and priorities have caused needless suffering and death to innocent people in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and if I'm politicizing a natural disaster by pointing that out, so be it. I care too much about my fellow Americans not to. The question is, how much more are we, as a nation, willing to take?