THE CATECHISM OF GEORGE BUSH

By Andrew Williams

As with any major disaster (are there ever any minor ones?) it may never be possible to ascertain certain facts about the disastrous breakdown of relief agencies in New Orleans in the wake of Katrina. Information has already disappeared down the memory hole, and TV journalists are already beginning to back down from their questioning posture and wonder aloud if pointing fingers is inappropriate. Sometimes, fingers are all you have.

Irregardless of responsibility, George Bush, as President and Commander-in-Chief, has gotten the lionπs share of the blame, as did his underlings, especially Michael Brown and Michael Chertoff. Not just because of the mishandling of the post-Katrina crisis, but the administrationπs gross mishandling of Iraq as well. (Iπm sticking to that last assertion; even a casual reading of Machiavelliπs The Prince lays bare the numerous tactical and strategic errors made by Bush and his cabal in Iraq.) There are also many legitimate questions about the in/actions of Governor Blanco and Mayor Lapin. The reports of hundreds of apparently unused buses, if true, can only fill on with horror, pity and anger.

≥It canπt happen hereä≤ I remember that from Frank Zappaπs first album. Itπs the American mantra: weπll never have a fascist government because we learned the lessons of Nazi Germany and, besides, weπre a democracy; weπll never allow parts of our great country to resemble the Third World; weπll never engage in actions that will cause any of our citizens to feel ashamed of being Americans. Well, it has happened here, it did happen here, and it will continue to happen here. Unless we learn, and grow.

It didnπt take a crystal ball, a government-funded computer simulation or the Times-Picayune article in 2002 to predict that, eventually, something like Katrina would smash into Nπawlins. Anyone with a smattering of geography knows that practically the whole city is at sea level and could, at any time, become Americaπs Venice--as it has done now. But complacency, like rot, set in and apparently nobody at the city, state or Federal level did what was necessary to ensure that even the poorest of its citizens could escape flood waters.

As a ≥libertarian,≥ I think thereπs a lot to be said for self-reliance: if you know a storm and possibly a flood are coming, you do your damnedest to get out of its way--you donπt sit and wait for someone to come get you, unless youπre sick or infirm. Even children demonstrated survival traits: a six-year old boy led his siblings to safety over miles of flooded streets and unknown dangers.

But New Orleans is now in the same spot as Gene Wilderπs character in Blazing Saddles: when asked if he needs help, his response is, ≥Ohäall I can get.≤ The state and local facilities were seemingly overwhelmed from the git-go. And yet FEMA didnπt go in right when this paralysis was apparent because they either werenπt asked to right away or with insufficient urgency. Sorry, Msrs. Brown and Chertoff, but you arenπt the head cheerleader and this isnπt the prom. In an emergency situation, you go in immediately.

And some disturbing new details are emerging about Bushπs complicity and responsibility for what went wrong in the Big Easy:

Saturday, September 03, 2005

Bush visit halts food delivery

By Michelle Krupa

Staff writer

Three tons of food ready for delivery by air to refugees in St. Bernard Parish and on Algiers Point sat on the Crescent City Connection bridge Friday afternoon as air traffic was halted because of President Bushπs visit to New Orleans, officials said.

The provisions, secured by U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, and state Agriculture Commissioner Bob Odom, baked in the afternoon sun as Bush surveyed damage across southeast Louisiana five days after Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 storm, said Melanconπs chief of staff, Casey OπShea.

≥We had arrangements to airlift food by helicopter to these folks, and now the food is sitting in trucks because they wonπt let helicopters fly,≤ OπShea said Friday afternoon.

The food was expected to be in the hands of storm survivors after the president left the devastated region Friday night, he said.

And this:

September 7, 2005

Frustrated: Fire crews to hand out fliers for FEMA

By Lisa Rosetta

The Salt Lake Tribune

lrosetta@sltrib.com

Salt Lake Tribune ATLANTA - Not long after some 1,000 firefighters sat down for eight hours of training, the whispering began: "What are we doing here?"

As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pleaded on national television for firefighters - his own are exhausted after working around the clock for a week - a battalion of highly trained men and women sat idle Sunday in a muggy Sheraton Hotel conference room in Atlanta.

Many of the firefighters, assembled from Utah and throughout the United States by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, thought they were going to be deployed as emergency workers.

Instead, they have learned they are going to be community-relations officers for FEMA, shuffled throughout the Gulf Coast region to disseminate fliers and a phone number: 1-800-621-FEMA.

On Monday, some firefighters stuck in the staging area at the Sheraton peeled off their FEMA-issued shirts and stuffed them in backpacks, saying they refuse to represent the federal agency.

Federal officials are unapologetic.

"I would go back and ask the firefighter to revisit his commitment to FEMA, to firefighting and to the citizens of this country," said FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak.

The firefighters - or at least the fire chiefs who assigned them to come to Atlanta - knew what the assignment would be, Hudak said.

"The initial call to action very specifically says we're looking for two-person fire teams to do community relations," she said. "So if there is a breakdown [in communication], it was likely in their own departments."

One fire chief from Texas agreed that the call was clear to work as community-relations officers. But he wonders why the 1,400 firefighters FEMA attracted to Atlanta aren't being put to better use. He also questioned why the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - of which FEMA is a part - has not responded better to the disaster.

The firefighters, several of whom are from Utah, were told to bring backpacks, sleeping bags, first-aid kits and Meals Ready to Eat. They were told to prepare for "austere conditions." Many of them came with awkward fire gear and expected to wade in floodwaters, sift through rubble and save lives.

"They've got people here who are search-and-rescue certified, paramedics, haz-mat certified," said a Texas firefighter. "We're sitting in here having a sexual-harassment class while there are still [victims] in Louisiana who haven't been contacted yet."

The firefighter, who has encouraged his superiors back home not to send any more volunteers for now, declined to give his name because FEMA has warned them not to talk to reporters.

On Monday, two firefighters from South Jordan and two from Layton headed for San Antonio to help hurricane evacuees there. Four firefighters from Roy awaited their marching orders, crossing their fingers that they would get to do rescue and recovery work, rather than paperwork.

"A lot of people are bickering because there are rumors they'll just be handing out fliers," said Roy firefighter Logan Layne, adding that his squad hopes to be in the thick of the action. "But we'll do anything. We'll do whatever they need us to do."

While FEMA's community-relations job may be an important one - displaced hurricane victims need basic services and a variety of resources - it may be a job best suited for someone else, say firefighters assembled at the Sheraton.

"It's a misallocation of resources. Completely," said the Texas firefighter.

"It's just an under-utilization of very talented people," said South Salt Lake Fire Chief Steve Foote, who sent a team of firefighters to Atlanta. "I was hoping once they saw the level of people . . . they would shift gears a little bit."

Foote said his crews would be better used doing the jobs they are trained to do.

But Louis H. Botta, a coordinating officer for FEMA, said sending out firefighters on community relations makes sense. They already have had background checks and meet the qualifications to be sworn as a federal employee. They have medical training that will prove invaluable as they come across hurricane victims in the field.

A firefighter from California said he feels ill prepared to even carry out the job FEMA has assigned him. In the field, Hurricane Katrina victims will approach him with questions about everything from insurance claims to financial assistance.

"My only answer to them is, '1-800-621-FEMA,' " he said. "I'm not used to not being in the know."

Roy Fire Chief Jon Ritchie said his crews would be a "little frustrated" if they were assigned to hand out phone numbers at an evacuee center in Texas rather than find and treat victims of the disaster.

Also of concern to some of the firefighters is the cost borne by their municipalities in the wake of their absence. Cities are picking up the tab to fill the firefighters' vacancies while they work 30 days for the federal government.

"There are all of these guys with all of this training and we're sending them out to hand out a phone number," an Oregon firefighter said. "They [the hurricane victims] are screaming for help and this day [of FEMA training] was a waste."

Firefighters say they want to brave the heat, the debris-littered roads, the poisonous cottonmouth snakes and fire ants and travel into pockets of Louisiana where many people have yet to receive emergency aid.

But as specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.

This is help being refused or misallocated, not by the Mayor or the Governor, but by Federal agencies who supposedly wrote (or at least re-wrote) the book on disaster preparedness.

Like it or lump it, George Bush is the C-in-C; the buck stops with him. Whatever the local authorities did or didnπt do, the Federal authorities compounded their mistakes. In schoolyard terms, they kicked Nπawlins when it was down. And that, as some of our allies would say, is definitely not cricket.

The funniest part is that even the conservatives talking about the rebuild are waxing nostalgic about their adventures in the city when they were in their salad days and green in judgement. They say they want N'awlins to have its original spirit. I believe it will--because of or despite them. And that will be the ultimate triumph over adversity and incompetence.