When Hurricane Rita’s projected route threatened Bush’s home state of Texas, he raced to the aid of Texans, or at least he wanted it to look that way. The BAD published pictures of Bush leaning over in a conference room in “action” trying to prevent another act of genocide like Katrina. The pictures showed Bush and FEMA director Chertoff “working hard.” Too bad they hadn’t worked so hard at helping out the 150,000 African Americans trapped in New Orleans. Pictures of someone doing something other than what their actions really are don’t cut it.
Bush was vacationing at his ranch in Texas and then flew to southern California to give a speech at a convention. Meanwhile, blacks were drowning and begging for their lives from their rooftops. In his speech, he happened to fit in the New Orleans disaster. He said that people shouldn't return to their houses until crews could do their work. What houses? What crews? Little did he know there were no homes to return to and no crews to do any work. He hadn't even bothered to turn on a television to watch the news footage for the first four days. Later on, a white house aid had to provide a DVD of the news footage to fill him in on the crisis. The president then had the nerve to make a plea to the American people to donate money to the hurricane disaster; meanwhile every American has been paying for his illegitimate war in Iraq where his friends in big oil have profited. When Bush finally arrived in New Orleans, what did our "respectful" leader do? He reminisced with laughs and chuckles about how he used to party and get drunk there!
On September 15, 2005 in a primetime speech to the nation on the recovery of Hurricane Katrina and Rita, Bush said, "Please call this number." He proceeded to read off a toll free phone number for the victims to call. Like the victims even had telephones or televisions to watch his speech? They had nothing. No phones, no TVs, no electric, no homes. Yet the president is telling these poor people more than two weeks later to call a phone number for help! But that's not all. Bush even went on to mention his battle against weapons of mass destruction. WMD in a speech about hurricane recovery? Completely inappropriate.
It took four days for George W. Bush to even acknowledge the December 26, 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, the worst natural disaster in world history. He was too busy still celebrating Christmas and drinking the spiked eggnog. When Bush finally emerged he offered a measly amount of aid to the affected 12 nations: $12 million. This measly amount of aid was an utter disgrace to the United States.
It took another four days for Bush to acknowledge the wrath of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi. The deadly storm had killed and injured thousands of already less fortunate African Americans and others who were obviously not a priority to the president. People lay trapped in contaminated water without food or shelter for over four days, dying from starvation, heat, and disease, all reminiscent of a third world country. Some roamed the streets searching for food. Others looted the stores for food or what was left of it. Thousands more had died because they didn't have the money to fill up their expensive gas tanks or because they were turned away from shelters that didn't allow their pets.
While the dead floated to the surface and the survivors roamed searching for food, Bush circled over the devastation at 2,500 feet in his presidential jet, his shoes too shiny to get out in that kind of muck. He then continued on his trip back to the White House returning after a long one month vacation where he proceeded to send his sympathy via satellite from the Rose Garden; too bad no one in Louisiana and Mississippi even saw it.
Former President Bill Clinton offered criticism of the Bush team and their botched up disaster relief:
"You can’t have an emergency plan that works if it only affects middle-class people up…This is a matter of public policy and whether it’s race-based or not, if you give your tax cuts to the rich and hope everything works out all right, and poverty goes up and it disproportionately affects black and brown people, that’s a consequence of the action made. That’s what they did in the ‘80s; that’s what they’ve done in this decade. In the middle, we had a different policy."
With Hurricane Katrina, both the war and the budget had an affect on preparation and post-disaster aid. More than one third of the Mississippi and Louisiana National Guard were in Iraq and Afghanistan, which slowed recovery efforts after the disaster. In 2003, federal funding for the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project pretty much came to a halt. The SELA was created in 1995 in response to serious flooding. In early 2004, Bush proposed spending less than 20% of what the Corps recommended for preparing Lake Pontchartrain for a hurricane. As a result of these poor judgments and under-funding, levees were not repaired and emergency resources were not readily available. And as a result of the lack of troops due to the war (as well as Bush's own neglect) people in effected areas suffered. At least one million people became homeless and over a thousand were killed in the category 5 hurricane.
It's not like the warnings weren't out there for a disastrous hurricane like Katrina to hit the Gulf Coast. In early 2001, FEMA declared a future Louisiana hurricane as one of the top three potential U.S. disasters. Several newspapers ran national stories on the subject. Eric Berger reported in the 12/01/01 Houston Chronicle KEEPING ITS HEAD ABOVE WATER: New Orleans faces doomsday scenario:
"New Orleans is sinking… In the face of an approaching storm, scientists say, the city’s less-than-adequate evacuation routes would strand 250,000 people or more, and probably kill one of 10 left behind as the city drowned under 20 feet of water. Thousands of refugees could land in Houston. Economically, the toll would be shattering. The only solution, scientists, politicians and other Louisiana officials agree, is to take large-scale steps to minimize the risks." [i]
Yet, no steps were taken and Americans died. A Republican Congress stalled Senator Mary Landrieu's legislation for a preventative proadministrationng. Moreover, the adminsitration ignored local pleas to issue a plan and cut funding, all because they were too worried about funding their Iraq war.
President Bush said, "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." Nobody, except a generation of scientists and the Army Corps of Engineers and local politicians who pleaded for years for funding and assistance. Ron Fournier of The Associated Press reported that the Army Corps of Engineers asked for $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans in 2004. The White House refused to fund it, yet they approved a wasteful $286 billion highway bill that builds bridges to nowhere.
In the weeks that followed the disaster, congressional Republicans responded to Hurricane Katrina by proposing to cut nearly a trillion dollars from vital national services, like student loans, health care for the poor and elderly, and elimination of Public Broadcasting. When Congress asked the state of Alaska to give back some of the unnecessary funds from the Highway Bill, to put towards the effort in New Orleans, the Republican governor of Alaska refused. Republicans obviously care more about unnecessary funding for bridges to nowhere, rather than helping out fellow Americans in need of assistance.
Hurricane Katrina's damages were at an estimated $70-130 billion, which tops Hurricane Andrew as the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history. Federal disaster declarations covered 90,000 square miles, an area almost as large as the United Kingdom. Environmentally speaking, the New Orleans area was a toxic mess of pollution. Toxic household chemicals from destroyed homes floated through the flooded streets mixing with other chemicals, which unfortunately led to the death of thousands of loose animals. Other toxic chemicals from plants and factories also added to the pollution. In addition to the chemicals, there were 44 oil spills in southeast Louisiana, most of which polluted the Mississippi River. One spill was as large as 4 million gallons. The Coast Guard estimated that more than 7 million gallons of oil were spilled from industrial plants, storage depots and other facilities around southeast Louisiana. This is about two-thirds as much spilled oil as the Exxon Valdez tanker in 1989.
Most importantly and most depressingly were the number of human casualties caused by the hurricane and its disastrous aftermath. The estimated death toll was 1,302. Close to half of those deaths were estimated to have occurred in the days that followed the hurricane, due to starvation and disease. Most of these deaths and some of the damages could have been prevented, if only the federal government hadn't had so many unqualified appointees.
Hurricane Katrina showed us how dangerous hiring friends can be. Five of the top Federal Emergency Management Agency officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters. This is not post-9/11 progress in preparation. The extent of Director Michael D. Brown's experience was heading the International Arabian Horse Association. Even though African Americans and others were dying and suffering, while Brown was more concerned about his wardrobe and when he'd be returning home because he was "tired," Bush still had the gall to say to him, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
Ok, so we know why there was no prevention: incompetence and under-funding.
But what about the stalled recovery preparation for Katrina? Maybe it was because the administration was too busy with other more important things like vacation. Bush was at his ranch in Texas and then at a convention in southern California. Dick Cheney was vacationing in Wyoming. Andy Card was up in Maine. Condoleezza Rice was spending thousands shoe shopping at Ferragamo's on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Vacation, ah, nothing like it! But wait a minute, this sounds too familiar. Oh yeah, 9/11.
Four years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the federal government failed to enact crucial homeland security reforms that could have saved lives and improved the sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina, according to a report issued by former members of the 9/11 Commission. "The federal government still has no clear system of command and control for responding to a crisis, and authorities have faltered in enacting basic border controls designed to keep out terrorists," said the report's findings.
In a November 1, 2005 MSNBC poll, 87% of Americans did not trust the government for protecting them from the Avian Bird Flu. On the same day, Bush also happened to outline a $7.1 billion strategy to deal with apharmaceutical (which of course is making the pharmecutical corporations richer). Rushing to beat the press? The problem: we can't trust this guy when he says there's a threat. In the same speech about a hurricane disaster he brings up WMD. In the same speech about bird flu he brings up WMD. In every one of his speeches, WMD WMD WMD. There were no WMD! We know he's slow, but when is he going to get it?
To some people, Hurricane Katrina may be the worst natural disaster in history to hit the United States of America, but they're wrong. There was one storm that began in Texas many years ago and in 2000 it expanded, blanketing the skies above the entire United States--
Hurricane George-- the most destructive disaster to strike America.
If you don't believe me, just look around or read the rest of this blog.
