The Devastating Impact of Hurricane George

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Fri, 1 Sep 2005 17:23:26

The Devastating Impact of Hurricane George

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The Devastating Impact of Hurricane George

by Mike Whitney

 

 

September 1, 2005

 

The full force of the Bush catastrophe is finally beginning to be felt.

Currently, New Orleans is flooded with tons of chemical contaminants

and hydrocarbons " that will continue to poison the Gulf of Mexico for

more than a decade " . (Democracy Now) An official from the

Environmental Protection Agency told the Washington Post, " This is the

worst case.. There's not enough money in the Gross National Product of

the United States to dispose of the amount of hazardous material in

this area. "

 

Could the tragedy have been avoided?

What might have happened if the Bush Administration hadn't ordered the

" steepest reduction in hurricane-and-flood control funding for New

Orleans in history? " (Will Bunch " Why the Levee Broke " )

Despite the constant warnings from SELA (Southeast Louisiana Urban

Flood Control Project) Bush elected to under-fund the Lake

Pontchartrain levee project by nearly 80%. Of the $20 million the

project required, the Bush administration only provided a paltry $4

million. Now New Orleans is buried under a 10 ft deep chemical-stew

and corpses are reported to be bobbing atop the storm waters in the

poorer neighborhoods.

 

Welcome to Bush's America; where the uber-rich can expect lavish tax

cuts and the huddled masses get a 3 day lock-up at the Superdome;

where the government redirects desperately-needed resources to the oil

wars in Mesopatamia and entire regions disappear beneath the

flood-waters at home.

The New Orleans tragedy is America's tragedy; the inevitable victory

of ideology over science; the triumph of greed over reason.

The Bush tax cuts and the skyrocketing costs of the war in Iraq have

brought Falluja to Louisiana; the only difference being that snipers

are not perched on the buildings to shoot the wounded on their way to

the hospital.

 

As Will Bunch said, " Washington knew exactly what needed to be done to

protect the citizens of New Orleans from disasters like Katrina. Yet

federal funding for Louisiana flood control projects was diverted to

pay for the war in Iraq. " The Army Corps of Engineers couldn't

complete their vital work because Bush turned off the spigot while the

levees continued to sink.

 

The hurricane was not avoidable; the Bush flood certainly was.

Bush also played a major role in savaging the wetlands that protect

the surrounding area from the storm surges that result from hurricanes

like Katrina. As Sidney Blumenthal points out, " Every two miles of

wetland between the Crescent City and the Gulf reduces a surge by half

a foot. " Even though he was aware of this, in 2003 Bush allowed

developers to destroy the sensitive wetland areas that buffer the

coast. It was the equivalent of taking the seat-belts, air bags, and

bumpers off a car and then driving the opposite way on the freeway.

The disaster was just the predictable outcome of dreadfully flawed

policies.

 

Now, the administration will have to deal with the devastation in New

Orleans like they deal with every tragedy of their own making; by

diverting attention from themselves and by mounting a public relations

offensive spearheaded by the performer-in chief.

Expect to see Bush in a National Guard jumpsuit; preening before the

adoring media while he condemns the wretched minorities who are

picking through the debris of downtown New Orleans.

 

The looting is just another Karl Rove red-herring intended to draw

attention from the criminal negligence of the Bush cabal. The 10 ft

wave that marched through New Orleans; devastating everything in its

path and creating a small army of American refugees, originated in

Washington. Don't forget it.

 

Courtesy and Mike Whitney