dougs digs

I can't make sense of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy, no one can or will ever be able to.

Right now emotions are too high and energy is too low to think or feel clearly. Initially, I really didn't want to watch the television coverage or read about the devastation. I don't want to be a voyeur, I don't want to stare, I don't want to be entertained by real life tragedy and chaos. Plus, I always felt that help was on the way any time now and the scene would change for the better.

A few days in to this thing, I began to hear criticisms of the President and the lack of adequate government reaction and protection. My thoughts and opinions about George Bush and his administration are no secret. I firmly believe history will prove that he was the most ineffectual, destructive, and incompetent President in US history. His pride and prejudice is disgusting. With that said, he has had a lot of shit go down on his watch. A lot. I felt that the criticisms thrown his way regarding the perceived inefficient response to the Hurricane Katrina victims were unwarranted and unfair. I felt no one could have possibly known this could have happened or how to respond to it perfectly. For once I found myself defending George Bush.

Not anymore.

I have started to watch the television coverage and read the reports for the first time. There seems to be a unanimous outrage and embarrassment regarding the Presidents and his administrations actions (or lack of) and comments regarding the tragedy and chaos in New Orleans. It is now understood that the majority of deaths (which could be in the tens of thousands) did not come during hurricane, but rather from the days spent waiting to be rescued while being exposed to fatal conditions. Here are some of the governments comments, they are definetly living in a far different reality:

FEMA chief Brown: "We learned about that (Thursday), so I have directed that we have all available resources to get that convention center to make sure that they have the food and water and medical care that they need." [Sept.1,2005]

Brown: "Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well." [Sept.1,2005]

Brown: "I've had no reports of unrest, if the connotation of the word unrest means that people are beginning to riot, or you know, they're banging on walls and screaming and hollering or burning tires or whatever. I've had no reports of that." [Sept.1,2005]

Brown: "I actually think the security is pretty darn good. There's some really bad people out there that are causing some problems, and it seems to me that every time a bad person wants to scream of cause a problem, there's somebody there with a camera to stick it in their face." [Sept.1,2005]

President George Bush: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." [Sept.2,2005]

MR. RUSSERT: Now, let's turn to Hurricane Katrina. Joining us is the man in charge of the federal response to the disaster, the director of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff.

Mr. Secretary, this is yesterday's Daily News: "Shame Of A Nation." And I want to read it to you and our viewers very carefully. It says, "As for Chertoff, if this is the best his department can do, the homeland is not very secure at all. It is absolutely outrageous that the United States of America could not send help to tens of thousands of forlorn, frightened, sick and hungry human beings at least 24 hours before it did, arguably longer than that. Who is specifically at fault for what is nothing less than a national scandal... It will never be known exactly what a day could have meant to so many unfortunates whose lives came to an end in those hopelessly tortured hours--on scorching roadsides, for lack of a swallow of water, in sweltering hospital beds, for lack of insulin. But what is already more than clear is that the nation's disaster-preparedness mechanisms do not appear to be in the hands of officials who know how to run them."

Mr. Secretary, are you or anyone who reports to you contemplating resignation?

MR. RUSSERT: Well, many Americans believe now is the time for accountability. The Republican governor of Massachusetts said, "We are an embarrassment to the world." The Republican senator from Louisiana, David Vitter, said that you deserve a grade of F, flunk. How would you grade yourself?

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Vitter, the Republican from Louisiana, said the death toll could reach 10,000 because of the lack of response. Do you agree with that number?

MR. RUSSERT: People were stunned by a comment the president of the United States made on Wednesday, Mr. Secretary. He said, "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." How could the president be so wrong, be so misinformed?

MR. RUSSERT: Mr. Secretary, you say prestaged. People were sent to the Convention Center. There was no water, no food, no beds, no authorities there. There was no planning.

MR. RUSSERT: Well, Mr. Secretary, you said--hold on. Mr. Secretary, there was no food or water at the Superdome, either. And I want to stay on this because... I want to stay on this because this is very important. You said you were surprised by the levee being broken. In 2002, The Times-Picayune did story after story--and this is eerie; this is what they wrote and how they predicted what was going to happen. It said, and I'll read it very carefully: "...A major hurricane could decimate the region, but flooding from even a moderate storm could kill thousands. It's just a matter of time. ... The scene's been played out for years in computer models or emergency operations simulations... New Orleans has hurricane levees that create a bowl with the bottom dipping lower than the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain. ...the levees would trap any water that gets inside-- by breach, overtopping or torrential downpour--catastrophic storm. ... The estimated 200,000 or more people left behind in an evacuation will be struggling to survive. Some will be housed at the Superdome, the designated shelter for people too sick or inform to leave the city. ...But many will simply be on their own, in homes or looking for high ground. Thousands will drown while trapped in homes or cars by rising water. Other will be washed away or crushed by debris. Survivors will end up trapped on roofs, in buildings or on high ground surrounded by water, with no means of escape and little food or fresh water, perhaps for several days." That was four years ago. And last summer FEMA, who reports to you, and the LSU Hurricane Center, and local and state officials did a simulated Hurricane Pam in which the levees broke. The levees broke, Mr. Secretary, and people--thousands could die.

MR. RUSSERT: There's a CD which is in your department and the White House has it and the president, and you are saying, "We were surprised that the levees may not hold." How could this be?

MR. RUSSERT: But that's the point. Those who got out were people with SUVs and automobiles and airfares who could get out. Those who could not get out were the poor who rely on public buses to get out. Your Web site says that your department assumes primary responsibility for a national disaster. If you knew a hurricane 3 storm was coming, why weren't buses, trains, planes, cruise ships, trucks provided on Friday, Saturday, Sunday to evacuate people before the storm?

WOW.

Following Chertoff, Russert had on the president of Jefferson Parish in New Orleans, Aaron Broussard. By the end of this segment, he was completely broken down, sobbing uncontrollably [video] :

RUSSERT: You just heard the director of homeland security’s explanation of what has happened this last week. What is your reaction?

BROUSSARD: We have been abandoned by our own country. Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit an American coast. But the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history. … Whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chainsawed off and we’ve got to start with some new leadership. It’s not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now.

Broussard then discussed the difficulties local authorities had with FEMA, including one case where they actually posted armed guards to keep FEMA from cutting their communications lines:

Three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn’t need them. This was a week ago. FEMA, we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. When we got there with our trucks, FEMA says don’t give you the fuel. Yesterday — yesterday — FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards and said no one is getting near these lines…

Finally, Broussard told the tragic personal story of a colleague, and broke down:

I want to give you one last story and I’ll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I’m in, Emergency Management, he’s responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, “Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?” and he said, “Yeah, Mama, somebody’s coming to get you.” Somebody’s coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Friday… and she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night! [Sobbing] Nobody’s coming to get us. Nobody’s coming to get us. The Secretary has promised. Everybody’s promised. They’ve had press conferences. I’m sick of the press conferences. For god’s sakes, just shut up and send us somebody.

I nearly broke down in tears watching it.

I am now convinced beyond any doubt that our country has let it’s people down and is indirectly responsible for thousands of deaths on it’s own soil. Most of our protective programs have been eliminated in favor of less taxes, with the remains of those protective programs being consumed by a baseless war thousands of miles away in Iraq. The race card keeps being played in attempting to rationalize the ineffectivesness of our governments response. I do not believe the government was so embarrassingly ineffective in responding because the people were black. I can maybe believe the point could be made that since the majority of the victims were poor, they were therefor not an extremely high "priority" (i.e. - no/little income = no/little taxes = not a priority). Neither accusation mean much at this point, true or not.

As easy as it may be to point blame (and some of it is much deserved), it won’t help those in need and that is what is truly important. This mornings special Bruderhof Daily Dig echoed that very clearly and eloquently :

In the wake of Katrina, one could say plenty regarding our government’s response (or lack thereof), and about how many more lives could have been saved if those in power had been more on the ball. But this is not the time to point fingers: we have been struck, unprepared, by a mammoth refugee crisis, widespread lawlessness, martial law, and a degree of public panic that has never been associated with life in the United States.

Not surprisingly, the news media is obsessed with the economic consequences of Katrina: the skyrocketing cost of gas, the instability of the real estate market, and the weakening of the dollar, to name just a few. As usual, it seems that the financial and material aspects of the disaster are of paramount importance to us. For many people, the biggest question seems to be, “How long will it be before the price of gas goes down again, and I can return to life-as-usual?”

Very few people seem to be asking what sort of a spiritual impact this disaster will have, and whether we are going to let it affect our consciences and our collective soul. Shouldn’t we all be praying for a spiritual renewal, and for a new era of justice and love? To me, that is the sort of question we should be asking.