Out of Curiosity…

Posted by on . 60 comments.

Our pal Jim C (2/9/06):

I bet you believe that the government *blew up the levees* on purpose….whatever…

New York Times (2/10/06):

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Bush administration officials said they had been caught by surprise when they were told on Tuesday, Aug. 30, that a levee had broken, allowing floodwaters to engulf New Orleans.

But Congressional investigators have now learned that an eyewitness account of the flooding from a federal emergency official reached the Homeland Security Department’s headquarters starting at 9:27 p.m. the day before, and the White House itself at midnight.
[...]
White House officials have confirmed to Congressional investigators that the report of the levee break arrived there at midnight, and Trent Duffy, the White House spokesman, acknowledged as much in an interview this week, though he said it was surrounded with conflicting reports.

But the alert did not seem to register. Even the next morning, President Bush, on vacation in Texas, was feeling relieved that New Orleans had “dodged the bullet,” he later recalled.

Meanwhile, government agencies reported that New Orleans levees were breached Aug. 29.

Failure to act isn’t the same as committing bad acts, but there’s hardly enough difference to be throwing out disdainful accusations in support of an administration who ignored the danger and then lied about it.

Comments

  1. JimC says:
    February 12, 2006 at 9:29 pm

    >bush’s approval in middle america varies widely from 39% to 43%.

    Is Bush running for reelection again? Time will only tell if Bush’s numbers affect other GOP candidates.

  2. Ken says:
    February 12, 2006 at 9:54 pm

    While I stand by my belief that the lackadaisical federal response had little to do with race, it’s unrealistic to assume that those left in New Orleans after Katrina’s landfall (and thus in greatest need of assistance) had demographics identical to the last census figures.

    It was most likely the city’s poorest who tended to stay, since they would have lacked the resources to travel inland and pay for hotels and restaurants until the storm had passed. Since race is so highly correlated with poverty everywhere else in the country, I think it’s safe to assume that the proportion of blacks in New Orleans on August 31st was higher than on August 2oth.

    I raise this point merely for clarity – again, I do not personally believe that race or racism was what led to the Administration’s anemic and fumbling response.

  3. Nailed Saviour says:
    February 13, 2006 at 12:23 am

    I do not personally believe that race or racism was what led to the Administration’s anemic and fumbling response.

    Nor do I, though I also believe that the response would have been a little more urgent in a whiter, richer area.

    In some ways though, what you have is worse – the only other reason the response could be so dreadful would have to be just plain ineptitude.

    I’m sure it’s been mentioned before, but 4 years and billions of dollars of investment into responding to just such a disaster, and thats the result?

    What have the administration been DOING for 4 years? The answer is obviously the same as in my country – wasting time, effort, men, machinery and dollars fighting a war which didn’t need to be fought.

    Very disappointing.

  4. JimC says:
    February 13, 2006 at 7:58 am

    >Nor do I, though I also believe that the response would have been a little more urgent in a whiter, richer area.

    Then you do beleive it is racial, you can’t have it both ways…

    In some ways though, what you have is worse – the only other reason the response could be so dreadful would have to be just plain ineptitude.

    This is the problem, failure at *all* levels of government from Nagin to Blanco to Brown to Chertoff to Bush

    What have the administration been DOING for 4 years? The answer is obviously the same as in my country – wasting time, effort, men, machinery and dollars fighting a war which didn’t need to be fought.

    Your opinion, obviously…

  5. Nick in Beantown says:
    February 13, 2006 at 8:30 am

    This is the problem, failure at *all* levels of government from Nagin to Blanco to Brown to Chertoff to Bush

    Even if this is true, Nailed Saviour raises a point you haven’t addressed: Just what the hell have they been doing for the last several years?

    Spreading the blame out to encompass smaller, less capable entities of government who actually had to ride-out the storm only saves the administration from 100% culpability. When it comes to resources, coordination and preparedness, FEMA under Homeland Security should have been the hero in this case. Otherwise, why all the money and effort in creating DHS?

    So, even if the failure was at all levels of government, the federal failure was the most catastrophic.

  6. Matthew Tobey says:
    February 13, 2006 at 8:52 am

    This is the problem, failure at *all* levels of government from Nagin to Blanco to Brown to Chertoff to Bush

    Seems peculiar that the person in the middle of that equation is the only one who got sacked.

  7. Nick in Beantown says:
    February 13, 2006 at 10:28 am

    From The Guardian::

    The preface to the report states: “If 9/11 was a failure of imagination, then Katrina was a failure of initiative. It was a failure of leadership. In this instance, blinding lack of situational awareness and disjointed decision-making needlessly compounded and prolonged Katrina’s horror.”
    …
    It finds that President George Bush was the one person who could have cut through the bureaucratic paralysis crippling the federal response to last summer’s hurricane. “Earlier presidential involvement could have speeded the response,” it says.

    These are House Republicans saying this. The full report should be available on Wednesday.

  8. JimC says:
    February 13, 2006 at 11:20 am

    The preface to the report states: “If 9/11 was a failure of imagination, then Katrina was a failure of initiative. It was a failure of leadership. In this instance, blinding lack of situational awareness and disjointed decision-making needlessly compounded and prolonged Katrina’s horror.”
    …
    It finds that President George Bush was the one person who could have cut through the bureaucratic paralysis crippling the federal response to last summer’s hurricane. “Earlier presidential involvement could have speeded the response,” it says.

    These are House Republicans saying this. The full report should be available on Wednesday.

    And Chertoff anounced complete overhaul of FEMA. So is this the outcome you all are looking for or is there something else?

  9. Nick in Beantown says:
    February 13, 2006 at 11:29 am

    And Chertoff anounced complete overhaul of FEMA. So is this the outcome you all are looking for or is there something else?

    Mr. Tobey highlights that something else here.

    In other words, that something else requires much more in the way of accountability. I would like to see an independent panel like that of the 9/11 Commission, as a start.

  10. screwtape says:
    February 13, 2006 at 11:32 am

    So is this the outcome you all are looking for or is there something else?

    Personally, I was hoping Nagin, Blanco, Brown, Chertoff and Bush would do the only honorable thing and commit seppuku.

    Of course, that would leave “Dead Eye” Dick, the rootinist, tootinist rifleman this side of the Pecos in charge. I bet hunting with him is like spending an afternoon with Yosemite Sam.