Delftsman

Is Bush to Blame?

IS Bush to blame for the flooding in New Orleans? Chck out Fact Check.org for the answer.
In a nutshell, the report concludes that even though funding had been cut back, EVEN if the proposed projects ( and they weren't sheduled to be completed untill 2015)had all been completed, Katrina would have still overwhelmed the defenses.

The situation has been known for decades, by both local and federal officials. The fact is, there is a finite amount of funds availible, and the STATE officials have the final say on how federal funds received are used. Note to Liberals: you hate the Patriot Act as an usurption of power by the federal govt. (with some just cause); remember that aversion against Federalism when examining this matter. The STATE had the say on where/how funds were spent on water projects, because of regulations limiting Federal authority over local issues. As they SHOULD be limited.

That authority was MISUSED by the state and local authorities:

In Katrina's wake, Louisiana politicians and other critics have complained about paltry funding for the Army Corps in general and Louisiana projects in particular. But over the five years of President Bush's administration, Louisiana has received far more money for Corps civil works projects than any other state, about $1.9 billion; California was a distant second with less than $1.4 billion, even though its population is more than seven times larger.Much of that Louisiana money was spent to try to keep low-lying New Orleans dry. But hundreds of millions of dollars have gone to unrelated water projects demanded by the state's congressional delegation and approved by the Corps, often after economic analyses that turned out to be inaccurate. Despite a series of independent investigations criticizing Army Corps construction projects as wasteful pork-barrel spending, Louisiana's representatives have kept bringing home the bacon.

For example, after a $194 million deepening project for the Port of Iberia flunked a Corps cost-benefit analysis, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., tucked language into an emergency Iraq spending bill ordering the agency to redo its calculations. The Corps also spends tens of millions of dollars a year dredging little-used waterways like the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, the Atchafalaya River and the Red River -- now known as the J. Bennett Johnston Waterway, in honor of the project's congressional godfather -- for barge traffic that turns out to be less than forecast.

In the forthcoming investigations that will occur, lets see just how much responsibility/blame accrues to all the parties concerned. That some will accrue to President Bush, I have no doubt, and he'll have to answer for that, but I believe that an honest investigation will determine that the LA state/NOcity officials bear the lions share of responsiblity. Look at the funds provided, and look how they were used, and I think Bush will come out (relatively) "clean" in this tragedy.

Posted by Delftsman3 at September 8, 2005 06:15 PM | TrackBack