Returning to the Scene

Returning to the Scene

March 7, 2006

This Wednesday President Bush plans to visit the Gulf Coast Region. When he gets there he will see the impact of his Administration’s mismanagement and neglect of the embattled region. The President will get a first-hand look at several of the key problems still plaguing New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Despite promises to rebuild the breached levees to withstand future storms, experts warn that the new levees will be significantly weaker than those built prior to Katrina. He will also find his housing plan has fallen woefully behind the immediate needs of the community and has even stirred the ire of conservative columnist Robert Novak who recently wrote, “The government’s post-hurricane program has been a mess…..it may be too little too late.”

• The administration knew that there was a possibility the levees might be breached. Conservatives have attacked the Associated Press for reporting that a new video contradicted what Bush told Diane Sawyer a few days after Katrina. ("I don’t think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees.") They claim that the video never said the levees would be breached, just “topped”. That video aside, President Bush was repeatedly warned about a levee breach, including a report that DHS sent to the White House Situation Room on August 29th stating that a hurricane as strong as Katrina will likely lead to severe flooding and/or levee breaching.
  
  
• Despite promises for fast relief, red tape continues to hinder the recovery process. Just last week, officials in Louisiana restarted their search for hundreds of people who are still unaccounted for. Using cadaver dogs, teams went through ravaged neighborhoods, searching homes that had already been marked empty, only to find bodies in attics. "Since December," CNN reported, "bureaucratic red tape has blocked funding to find more bodies of missing residents hidden in the storm's wreckage." So officials stopped looking for bodies for months until the money came in a few days ago. Over 1,900 Louisiana residents are still missing.
  
  
• The levees system may be too weak to protect New Orleans. Despite a Presidential commitment to build a better and stronger levee system than the one ravaged by Katrina, the new levee system is nowhere near completion. The levees weakened condition raises serious concern with hurricane season rapidly approaching. Experts cited construction shortcuts and “weak, substandard” building materials and continuing this approach would compromise the safety of New Orleans residents.