Looking into the future the Pelican feeding its young from a self-induced wound in its own breast (as depicted, mysteriously, on the state flag of Louisiana) is accepted as an appropriate symbol of both self-sacrifice and rebirth. Through his selfless efforts, man is raised from the slavery of ignorance to the condition of freedom conferred by wisdom. Given the current state of affairs in Louisiana, one hopes that the understanding of the Pelican as a symbol shall point the way towards a new consciousness of ourselves as a whole, and lead us to face our futures with strength, grace, wisdom and faith, to learn from our mistakes and carry our successes and zest for living to future generations.

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Hurricane Katrina Huffed and Puffed and Laid President Bush’s Incompetence Bare

September 4, 2005
Reprinted from the Sunday Independent

The reality of George W's regime has, in a needlessly brutal way, been brought home to Americans, writes Gene Kerrigan

New Orleans was one of those places you couldn't help telling people about. And if you went there once you knew that someday you'd have to go back. Too late now.

One of the attractions of America is its variety, and New Orleans was unlike any other city - very much of the South, and also in touch with the wider world and with its own past. It was lively, surprising, friendly, exotic - and vulnerable. Approaching from the north, on a train that ran across Lake Pontchartrain, on a narrow line barely raised above the water, the city's precariousness was obvious.

Given that everyone knew about this vulnerability, what has happened over the past week is hard to believe. Simple incompetence? Racism? Or maybe the disaster was so vast that authorities were overwhelmed?

All of the above?

"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees," President Bush said on Thursday. Not true. There were countless warnings. Sample: 15 months ago, Associated Press reported officials stating that after a major hurricane "the city could be flooded for weeks as flood waters breach the levees ringing the city."

Three years and one month ago, the leading newspaper in the area, the Times-Picayune, published a five-part investigation into the danger to the city. It was uncannily accurate: "Evacuation is the most certain route to safety, but it may be a nightmare. And 100,000 without transportation will be left behind...

"People left behind in an evacuation will be struggling to survive. Some will be housed at the Superdome...Thousands will drown while trapped in homes or cars by rising waters. Others 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."

New Orleans has a much greater percentage of poor people than other cities. People who live from pay cheque to pay cheque simply can't evacuate easily. Many had no cars. Public transport - already weak - closed down. Should the levees break, those seeking refuge in the Superdome and elsewhere would need supplies. They weren't laid on.

The problem, the consequences and the most effective responses were known. The levees needed work. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sought $105 million to improve the levees last year and got $40 million. Walter Maestri, an emergency management official in New Orleans, said in June of last year: "It appears that the money has been moved in the President's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

The hurricane destroyed countless homes in Louisiana and Mississippi, but it could have been coped with. Because of neglect, it was unnecessarily followed by floods that annihilated a city.

Why the subsequent lackadaisical response, as people suffered and died in New Orleans?

Did the Bush regime drag its heels because, as some claim, the majority of those trapped were poor and most of them black? Such claims were fuelled by incidents such as that on Friday, when 700 guests from the Hyatt Hotel, white and well-off, were rushed past and evacuated ahead of a queue of survivors from the Superdome.

Probably, the delay wasn't simply racism. Even if the regime was so callous, they would fear the backlash. Most likely, they simply lacked empathy with the poor. If this had happened in a rich, white area, they would have been instantly subjected to a relentless barrage of demands from powerful wealthy people, their own base, to get their relatives and friends out. Most likely, the regime lacked a sense of urgency.

There's another reason. FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, responsible for organising the response, has been enfeebled. It now plays second fiddle to Homeland Security, which is primarily aimed at defending the U.S. from terrorism. FEMA is a joke, led by a weakling, Michael Brown, who previously specialised in Arabian horseflesh.

It wasn't just that the Bush appointees were incompetent, or that the diverted money and troops to Iraq, or that he ignored warnings. His regime despises state services, except to do with security. It has been policy to cut state services, to provide tax cuts. Ramshackle state services can't protect citizens.

While the Bush appointees sat dazed, citizens acted. A man in Florida bought three pallet-loads of bottled water, drove to Louisiana and handed them out. A teenager in New Orleans stole a school bus. He risked being shot, drove it around, picking up a couple of dozen people, then he drove them to Houston. He'd never driven a bus before.

It's not coincidence that the regime that failed New Orleans is the one that made such a mess of the Iraq war, even in its own terms. It launched a war on a false premise, killed tens of thousands of innocents, created a playground for terrorists, was unable to restore public utilities and spent billions digging a bottomless hole. In Iraq, its incompetence was disguised, because it was all far away and seen through a veil of patriotism.

Last week, at home, dealing with its own citizens, faced with holding a collapsing society together, the regime was stripped bare in its peculiar ideology and its deep incompetence.

Last week, not having to filter everything through a patriotic sieve, some aspects of U.S. TV news lost their juvenile air. NBC news was professional, CNN was scathing, even some reporters on Fox News, Bush's pet station, were visibly angry.

As the supplies roll in, the anger will be dulled by relief. But the reality of the regime has, in a needlessly brutal way, been brought home to Americans.

A lovely city has been damaged in its spirit as well as its structures, and it will take months just to drain the water. Whatever takes its place won't be the same, but hopefully enough of that spirit will survive. New Orleans had a long, bumpy history - it would be nice to believe it can absorb this too.