On this first anniversary of the greatest natural disaster ever to have struck the United States (the back-to-back stolen elections of George W. Bush topping the list of
unnatural disasters) right-wing apologists are tripping all over each other in the media trying to spread enough bullshit to cover the fetid, steaming turd their leadership laid on America's lawn after Katrina struck New Orleans.
But all the manure distribution in the world cannot obscure the singular fact that the responsibility for the government's response to Hurricane Katrina rests squarely on the doorstep of George W. Bush and his administration.
This fact is irrefutably demonstrated by even a cursory reading of the
National Response Plan (NRP), a much-touted blueprint for disaster response drawn up after 9/11, whose impetus was a push by the Bush administration for a consolidated federal "Department of
Fatherland Homeland Security" (also known as The Largest Government Bureaucracy Ever Created In The History Of The World).
Here's what the National Response Plan has to say about who's responsible for the Hurricane Katrina fiasco:
Overall Coordination of Federal Incident Management Activities
The President leads the Nation in responding effectively and ensuring the necessary resources are applied quickly and efficiently to all Incidents of National Significance.
Any questions?
Oh, and the NRP was signed by every Cabinet secretary, as well as several other department heads. The entire administration.
If you haven't, I would suggest you read the NRP. It makes abundantly clear whose responsibility disaster response is: the President's.
Although George Bush might not have recognized Katrina as an Incident of National Significance - saving that label, evidently, for git-ar strummin' and cake-holdin' - Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco clearly did, as evidenced by the letter that she sent to President Bush on August 27, two days before the storm hit. Here's an excerpt:
Pursuant to 44 CFR § 206.35, I have determined that this incident is of
such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the
capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that
supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect
property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a
disaster. I am specifically requesting emergency protective measures,
direct Federal Assistance, Individual and Household Program (IHP)
assistance, Special Needs Program assistance, and debris removal.
In the letter, Blanco goes on to specify in detail exactly what aid, and at what cost, will be needed. Any attempts to shift blame onto Blanco for the unmitigated disaster that was the federal response are pure bullshit. Blanco followed up that letter with this one on August 28, the day before Katrina made landfall:
So in spite of ample warning, and repeated requests for assistance from the State of Louisiana, the Bush administration did virtually nothing to prepare for, or respond to, the greatest natural disaster this country has ever seen - a disaster that gave ample warning of its coming. Nor did it demonstrate the slightest interest in doing so, or has it ever.
So clueless - and careless - were the crony hack political appointees in the Bush administration about the realities on the ground in New Orleans after Katrina hit that on Thursday, September 1, three days after the storm hit, when DHS Director Michael Chertoff was interviewed by NPR's Robert Siegel and asked about thousands of evacuees at the Convention Center who had no food or water, Chertoff dismissed those reports as "rumor." Siegel was understandably almost at a loss for words in the face of such overwhelming ignorance / apathy / incompetence and/or cynicism. (Link to audio file)
Siegel: And our reporter said 2,000 people at the Convention Center without any food.
Chertoff: I can't argue with what your reporter tells you. I can only tell you that we are getting water, and, and food and other supplies to people, where we have them staged, where we can find them, and where we can get it to them. And if you're suggesting that somehow the National Guard missed a group of people, I will certainly call up and make sure they don't miss them. But I'm not in a position to argue with you about what your reporter said.
We must never forget what was allowed to happen in the face of Katrina. We must never forget the choices the Bush Republicans made in the face of unprecedented human tragedy in this country.
And - we must never lose sight of the fact that it was no accident.
The federal government's initial and continuing lack of response to the effects of Hurricane Katrina is part and parcel of a deliberate, cynical strategy designed to ultimately build support for privatization of traditional government functions by repeatedly demonstrating the ostensible "incompetence" of the federal government.
The Grover Norquist Republicans would like the American people to believe that the moral of the Katrina story is that you cannot trust "government" to respond effectively to overwhelming disasters.
The fact is that the American people cannot trust THIS government to respond effectively to anything.
FEMA under Bill Clinton and its director James Lee Witt was far from incompetent; in fact, it was one of the federal government's most effective programs. It wasn't perfect, but it was a far cry from the pathetic shell of an organization headed by political appointee Michael Brown that let thousands die needlessly in New Orleans a year ago today.
That shell was but a hint of what the Republicans would like to leave as the remnants of the entire federal government, if they have their way. Lining their pockets at the expense of the blood of others does not give them one moment of pause.
We must never forget that.