The parts of this catastrophe which I do not lay at Mother Nature's
door, I lay at George W.'s. A short chronology, cribbed from Kevin Drum:<br>
<br>
January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, a crony from Texas, as head of FEMA. Allbaugh has no previous experience in disaster management.<br>
<br>
April 2001: Budget Director Mitch Daniels announces the Bush administration's goal
of privatizing much of FEMA's work. In May, Allbaugh confirms that FEMA
will be downsized: "Many are concerned that federal disaster assistance
may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program...." he
said. "Expectations of when the federal government should be involved
and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an
appropriate level.<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br>
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br>
</span></span>2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of the
three "likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country.<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br>
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></span><br>
December 2003<a href="http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/16/allbaugh.resignation/index.html">:</a>
After less than two years at FEMA, Allbaugh announces he is leaving to
start up a consulting firm that advises companies seeking to do
business in Iraq. He is succeeded by his deputy, Michael Brown, who,
like Allbaugh, has no previous experience in disaster management<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br>
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br>
</span></span>March 2003: FEMA is downgraded from a cabinet level position and folded into the
Department of Homeland Security. Its mission is refocused on fighting
acts of terrorism<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><br>
<br>
2003: Under its new organization chart within DHS, FEMA's preparation and
planning functions are reassigned to a new Office of Preparedness and
Response. FEMA will henceforth focus only on response and recovery<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br>
</span><br>
Summer 2005: FEMA denies Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation funding requests. Says
Jefferson Parish flood zone manager Tom Rodrigue: "You would think we
would get maximum consideration....This is what the grant program
called for. We were more than qualified for it.<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br>
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br>
</span></span>June 2005: The Army Corps of Engineers budget for levee construction in New
Orleans is slashed. Jefferson Parish emergency management chiefs Walter
Maestri comments: "It appears that the money has been moved in the
president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and
I suppose that's the price we pay.<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br>
<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br>
</span></span>June 2005: Funding for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers is cut by a record $71.2 million. One of the hardest-hit
areas is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which was
created after the May 1995 flood to improve drainage in Jefferson,
Orleans and St. Tammany parishes.<br>
<br>
August 2005: While New Orleans is undergoing a slow motion catastrophe, Bush mugs
for the cameras, cuts a cake for John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark
Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his
vacation. When he finally gets around to acknowledging the scope of the
unfolding disaster, he delivers only a photo op on Air Force One and a
flat, defensive, laundry list speech in the Rose Garden.<br>
<br>
The Bush administration knew that a disaster of this scope was
possible, even inevitable, adn they were criminally neglegent in not
taking safe, sane precautions against it. They filled FEMA, one of the
most important agencies in the federal government, with political hacks
and untested contractors. This is, pardon my language, a fuck-up of
truly epic proportions, one that, in the end, is going to make 9/11
look like a drop in the bucket. It might not have been able to be
prevented, but when Bush got on TV today and told us he didn't know the
levees would break -- he's lying. Outright. Through his teeth. And he's
lying to save his ass.<br>
<br>
-- ACS<br>