In an ideal world, rescue would have come to all individuals trapped in New Orleans almost immediately, law and order would have been maintained, and the survivors would have been spared the trial that so many have born over the past five days. Instead, despite their best efforts (the US Coast Guard alone rescued 22,000 survivors and assisted with a further 9,400 rescues) the available rescue assests were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the disaster, worries about political correctness allowed looting and armed banditry to reach such a point that US military units have been conducting "combat operations" in the city, and the scale of flooding combined with the lawlessness contributed to the length of time required to extract all survivors taking shelter within the city. Yeah, things could have been done better, but I would argue that human factors have made things substantially more difficult than they otherwise would have been.
But wait!! What's this!? It looks as though, prior to the hurricane, all residents were warned that in the event that New Orleans was hit by a hurricane they (residents) would be responsible for their own safety and evacuation. Here's the article. Draw your own conclusions - I respect you enough to let you think for yourself.
Oh, and by now I am sure you've heard about Senator Clinton's request for a 9/11 commission style investigation into Katrina and the disaster response. Does that mean the commission would get to selectively ignore embarrassing revelations? It remains to be seen whether her request has true merit or whether it is a political maneuvering device to distract the administration.
'Nough for now. I was pleased to read that many of the Gulf refineries are beginning to restart operations, that crude oil prices have fallen below pre-Katrina levels, that we got through the Labor Day weekend without serious fuel problems, that various utility crews have made strides of progress in restoring service, and that engineers have been able to plug more of the levees around New Orleans and begin pumping operations.
2 comments:
From the media i conclude the cities and states involved had no responsibilities in relation to the disaster.
I don't belive the Federal govt has any responsibilities for rebuilding either.
dcard,
Yes, your first sentence seems to be the oft repeated mantra - which I don't believe. Sean Hannity (among others) has done a good job of prying into just who had responsibility for what.
As to rebuilding - hopefully I'll get some time to write about that in the near future.
NR
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