Watching the devestation, panic and utter chaos that is New Orleans this week it is painfully clear that the Bush Administration have completely abrogated their responsibilities to protect the American people.

After 9/11 evacuation and disaster preparedness plans should have been in place in every city in the country. There should have been drills and tweaking and different plans for different situations, including natural disasters.

Shelter areas for each situation should have been well equipped and communicated to the citizens in advance. Supplies should have been available x10 at each area. There should have been more than one Black Hawk available to either rescue people or save a levee from breaking. ONE. What if it wasn’t a hurricane, but a terrorist who blew up the levees?

You can say hindsight is 20/20, but that is an inexcusable statement in this “new age of terror”, post 9/11 world.

Isn’t that why the Patriot Act was passed and the Dept of Homeland Security created? To ensure America was prepared? To protect the American people? Wasn’t it?? Answer us Mr. President.
1 million people have been displaced and are refugees. People are living on overpasses and highways without food or water. The Astrodome has been given its own Zip Code because they anticipate the refugees living there until at least December. Tens of thousands are still trapped in the city without medicine, food or water. If they don’t die, where will they go? How will they rebuild? These people are poor and don’t have assets available to pick up and start over. Is there a plan? If there is I haven’t heard it. Has money been set aside to help these people start over? What about jobs programs, counselling, housing and moving options?

Why has the President not accepted help from Canada and the rest of the world? It is painfully obvious you don’t have the resources to handle this on your own. Not accepting the help is directly contributing to these peoples suffering.

It is anarchy in New Orleans. The main concerns early on were to stop looters and “save property” vs. getting people out of the city and get them the food and water they need (which is probably what they were stealing anyway). That was the concern. Save the businesses stuff even though it is ruined anyway as the levees continued to break. Now that is some planning and prioritizing right there. That was something the President himself specifically mentioned early on ~ stopping the looters.

The Mayor of New Orleans says he is defending his city with a few hundred police officers and 250 National Guard. 250. When there are 3000 in Iraq from the area. My God. The folly of the war can not be more clear at this moment. And the President should be ashamed of himself. But he’s not. He doesn’t care. I saw it in his eyes just now in Mobile, Alabama. If he cared there would be a sense of urgency in his tone and his eyes. There is not. That is truly frightening.

From Krugman today:

Before 9/11 the Federal Emergency Management Agency listed the three most likely catastrophic disasters facing America: a terrorist attack on New York, a major earthquake in San Francisco and a hurricane strike on New Orleans. “The New Orleans hurricane scenario,” The Houston Chronicle wrote in December 2001, “may be the deadliest of all.” It described a potential catastrophe very much like the one now happening.

….

“On Wednesday,” said an editorial in The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss., “reporters listening to horrific stories of death and survival at the Biloxi Junior High School shelter looked north across Irish Hill Road and saw Air Force personnel playing basketball and performing calisthenics. Playing basketball and performing calisthenics!”

…

After 2003 the Army Corps of Engineers sharply slowed its flood-control work, including work on sinking levees. “The corps,” an Editor and Publisher article says, citing a series of articles in The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, “never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security – coming at the same time as federal tax cuts – was the reason for the strain.”

In 2002 the corps’ chief resigned, reportedly under threat of being fired, after he criticized the administration’s proposed cuts in the corps’ budget, including flood-control spending.

But it was nice to hear that Trent Lott was going to get an even better house out of the whole disaster and that the Prez can’t wait to go sit on his new porch.

In light of all of the above I couldn’t help wondering what the US would look like if something else happened right now.

What happens in this absolutely chaotic situation if a massive earthquake hits Los Angeles? What if a terrorist attacked in Washington?

Would the system completely collapse? Would you be able to save lives? Would you have to choose which ones to help? Does anyone have an actual written down plan here? Has the government even considered this possiblity?

One thing has been very obvious out of this to me ~ if I’m thinking America would collapse right now with another disaster, you can be pretty sure America’s enemies see it too.

The government has failed to protect the citizens of America. They lied. They failed. They must go. And someone better start fixing their messes right quick before it’s too late.