"Will New York Be Next?"

Anybody want to take odds on New Orleans being rebuilt?

Remember all of the fanfare that accompanied GW’s six visits to
New Orleans after the failed FEMA program set off a stream of steady attacks on the government by the media?

Heard much about that program lately aside from some “tokenism?”

(Okay, today, they approved another billion plus—that’s between 0 .005% and 1.000% of what they need to get the job done…Still smoke and mirrors! The new head of the president’s special task force when asked about will this new money make the levee capable of standing up against a force level 5 storm answered that “it will be better than any protection New Orleans has had to date. More obfuscation! What does that mean since New Orleans was piss-poorly protected against Katrina.)

Four months have gone by and most the people in this forsaken city are still sitting on piles of rubble. What does that auger about the government’s commitment to rebuilding?

Interviews with New Orleans citizens who are trying to get their lives back in order are asking one thing: “Where is the promised help?”

State and local leaders underscore their concerns.

Sound familiar?

Take a look at the promises we made when we first took over in Iraq? We were going to rebuild the infrastructure. We were going to get electricity going again. We were going to provide fresh water. And make the streets safe again.

Let’s take a look. The oil is flowing again but into whose pockets are the profits going? Certainly the people have not become the beneficiaries of Iraq’s oil wealth. Electricity is only operational perhaps three or four hours a day. Water is still not running in many quarters.And the streets are certainly not safe enough for the average Iraqi to allow his children to go to school.

Why?

Money has been allocated to these purposes; but most of it has been awarded to no-bid contractors who have yet to explain their invoices to the GAO.. For the massive consulting projects that are on the table, the government has used as a clearing an organization recently formed by a former official connected with Bush’s Texas re-election bid. So it appears that if you are not in the pipeline, if you don’t have access, don’t even bother to bid. Add to this irregularities, only a fraction of the original monies promised have been allocated or released.

As a result, the average Iraqi feels no better off than he did under Saddam. And the time for winning them over for democracy seems long past.

If these promises made in full view of the public have not been fulfilled what can we expect to happen in New Orleans?

Right now, it makes little sense for the average New Orleans resident to rebuild unless he or she knows that the government is going to make the levees safer and rebuild the barrier islands.

And while both sides are tossing around the blame for rebuilding, the fact remains that the levees gave in and that is the reason New Orleans flooded. In addition, as many experts have provided testimony, the Corps of Engineers actions on the upper Mississippi are the reason that the barrier islands died.

Both can be rebuilt with the proper commitment.

But the government must acknowledge its own responsibility for what happened and part of that was due to the fact that the government failed to act on the request of the Louisiana government for rebuilding the levees. This was after the results of several simulations showing what would happen if New Orleans was struck by a hurricane of three level intensity. Instead of acting on the Louisiana request, the government cut the money requested despite the urging of scientists and the government that the rebuilding effort should be considered the highest priority..

If the government fails to accede to its obligations in this matter, we may all take that as a sign we have been put on notice. If future predictions are correct about global warming and the increasing incidence of hurricanes over the next ten or twenty years, not only New Orleans will be put into jeopardy.

The message is clear: We are all on our own! Rowboats anyone….

Les Aaron