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Indybay Feature

Bush rules out significant federal aid to hurricane victims

by wsws (reposted)
Only hours after reports that the death toll from Hurricane Katrina may number in the thousands, President Bush delivered perfunctory remarks that offered little except condescending sympathy to the victims of the worst natural disaster in American history.
Nothing in his words, facial expression, or body language indicated that Bush either comprehended or was even concerned about the monumental catastrophe that has struck hundreds of thousands of people in one of the United States’ greatest and most historic cities.

Rather, with a smirk on his face, he allowed that “the days seem awfully dark for those affected”—a phrase that could only have been uttered in these terrible circumstances by someone who did not count himself among those unfortunates. This from the President of the United States!

And yet, this was not merely a poor choice of words. For the Bush administration, the tragedy of New Orleans is not particularly important and requires no major effort on the part of the United States.

In a brief nine-minute speech, Bush made no statement committing the federal government to a significant or sustained effort to aid the citizens of New Orleans and other areas that have been shattered by the hurricane.

The president said he had instructed his cabinet “to work closely with state and local officials, as well as with the private sector, to ensure that we’re helping, not hindering, recovery efforts.”

In the course of his brief remarks, he repeated multiple times that the federal government would be working with “local officials.” The government would be “assisting local officials in New Orleans” to evacuate remaining citizens; the Coast Guard was “working alongside local officials, local assets” to conduct search and rescue missions; the National Guard would “assist governors and local officials” with disaster response efforts; the cabinet would “work with local folks, local officials, to develop a comprehensive strategy to rebuild the communities affected.”

The process of recovery, Bush said, would take “years.” This is not a timetable that indicates any exceptional level of urgency.

This language was chosen by Bush’s handlers to convey a definite message: the administration will not allow the disaster to entangle the federal government in significant financial commitments.

Beyond the most immediate and basic rescue efforts, the immense human problems arising from the hurricane will be left largely in the hands of local authorities, who have no access to the tens of billions of dollars required to meet the needs of those affected, particularly in New Orleans.

Read More
http://wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/hurr-s01.shtml
§Police unable to aid sick woman
by more
On the way out of New Orleans, it looked like the dust bowl. You've seen the pictures of the dust bowl, of people piled onto the backs of tracks and moving their lives. That's what is happening here. It's extraordinary to witness.

I truly believe that apart from 9/11 this is one of the most significant events that has ever hit this country. Anybody who tells you this disaster is going to be rectified in a matter of months hasn't seen the situation.

People are carrying their children, trying to get them to safety. A woman coming down to the police, close to hysterics, saying, "My elderly mother is in a building over there, she needs dialysis. She can't get it. She is dying. Can you help me?"

And the police had to say, "There is absolutely nothing we can do. We don't have a precinct house. We don't have communication. There is absolutely nothing we can do for you."

More
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/31/scene.blog/index.html
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by NW
As Katrina forced President Bush to cut short his vacation, the White House is facing a perfect storm of trouble at home and abroad.
...
From the moment Katrina set aim for the Gulf Coast, White House officials have had two other storms on their minds: last year’s devastating tsunami, to which Bush was criticized for responding too slowly, and the political turmoil that Bush faces here at home over the war and the economy. Indeed, August has not been a good month for the Bush administration. White House officials had hoped to capitalize on a slow news cycle to tout the president’s second-term agenda and his accomplishments so far. Yet a spike in casualties in Iraq this month has deepened already widespread worries about the war. That bad news was only compounded by the stampede in Baghdad on Wednesday that left more than 800 Shia pilgrims dead after rumors of a suicide bomber sparked panic.

That dismal news from Iraq, combined with rising gas prices here at home, has sent Bush’s poll numbers plummeting to new lows. An ABC News/Washington Post survey released Wednesday has Bush’s approval rating at 45 percent—down 7 points since January and the lowest every recorded this president by that particular poll.
...
In Louisiana, more than a quarter of the state’s National Guard troops are currently in Iraq—a stat that had local officials concerned considering the role the guard typically plays in helping the state weather such storms.
...
Beyond the poll numbers, the Bush administration faces some immediate, urgent challenges—and serious questions about its response to the disaster. For all the president’s statements ahead of the hurricane, the region seemed woefully unprepared for the flooding of New Orleans—a catastrophe that has long been predicted by experts and politicians alike. There seems to have been no contingency planning for a total evacuation of the city, including the final refuges of the city’s Superdome and its hospitals. There were no supplies of food and water ready offshore—on Navy ships for instance—in the event of such flooding, even though government officials knew there were thousands of people stranded inside the sweltering and powerless city.

Then there’s the speed of the Bush administration’s response to such disasters. Just one week ago the White House declared that a major disaster existed in Louisiana, specifically most of the areas (such as Jefferson Parish) that are now under water. Was the White House psychic about the disaster ahead? Not exactly. In fact the major disaster referred to Tropical Storm Cindy, which struck the state a full seven weeks earlier. That announcement triggered federal aid for the stricken areas, where the clean-up had been on hold for almost two months while the White House chewed things over.

Now, faced with a far bigger and deadlier disaster, the Bush administration faces at least two difficult questions: Was it ready to deal with the long-predicted flooding of New Orleans? And is it ready to deal with the long-predicted terrorist attack that might some day strike another of our big cities?

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9148526/site/newsweek/page/2/
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9148526/site/newsweek/
by deanosor (deanosor [at] comcast.net)
It is now being reported even in mainstream media and even on FOX that the Bush Adminisitration cut the funding for the Army Corps of Engineers, in order to fund his war in Iraq. The Army COE does amongst its other jobs (some good and some bad) routine and infrastrucutral maintenance of the levees that broke and flooded the City of New Orleans.
by Good
The more blatant this 'let them eat cake' message gets, and the more average people suffer the consequences, the more they'll wake the fuck up. It's a shame that's what it takes.
by cp
well - that will come fairly soon when the gas prices caused by the temporary shortage crippled farmers and truckers who need diesel to harvest crops this month and get goods to stores. How could this ripple effect *not* transpire, given the trajectory of the past two days.
by Bill Cribbs (cribbswh [at] gmail.com)
The World Socialist bunch are so full of idiocy, it baffles me that indybay.org would give them credence.
Reading the President's feelings by his "facial expressions" and supposed "smirks" and his choice of words is immediately shallow and shows superficial intelligence.
What the heck are YOU doing, socialists, to help the victims of the storm. Put up or shut up.
by Re:
The real faiulure on Bush's part wast he faiulure to take real notice of the scale of the disaster until 4 days after peopel started dying. FEMA completely messed things up and prevented poepel from getting in to help and while that isnt Bush's personal fault, it is his fault for appointing Brown and it is his fault for not noticing that Brown was messing everything up until thousands were dead (and it looks like most of the dead WILL BE people who died Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as they drowned in the floodwaters with the delayed aid, not people who died in the unpreventable hurricane)
tomt_waronweather.jpg
Sad, but all too familiar and all too true.
by BBC (reposted)
US President George W Bush has declared Friday 16 September a national day of prayer and remembrance for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Mr Bush asked agencies in the disaster zone to treat bodies with "dignity and respect", and announced initial aid of $2,000 (£1,090) for displaced families.

Vice-President Dick Cheney is in the worst-hit areas of the US south to review the progress of relief work.

Washington has been accused of failing to react swiftly to the disaster.

Mr Cheney's arrival in the largely flattened coastal town of Biloxi, Mississippi, came as 25,000 body bags were being sent to New Orleans and rescuers began recovering victims.

More
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4227974.stm
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