Better Late Than Never?

[via Deccan Herald]

Neither the political friends of Mr Bush nor his political foes have commended the official response to the tragedy about which there were several advance warnings.

No one says that the Bush administration caused the hurricane but many critics have traced the problem of flooding to the Bush administration’s policies related to environment, cost-cutting for flood-control schemes and emergency services, and diversion of resources to the Iraq war and tax relief to the rich.

The fact that the hurricane struck while Mr Bush was having his long and controversial holiday did not help. When he visited the storm-stricken area, it had witnessed a chaotic exodus. A vast lake of flood water, human waste, snakes and toxic chemicals had drowned an urban settlement....

President Bush had responded a few hours late even to the September 11 tragedy. However, he more than made up by providing what was seen as a resolute leadership in what he turned into a “war” against terrorism.

Experts doubt whether his delayed response to this natural disaster will have such a transformational impact.

In the case of September 11, there was a foreign demon to be fought and to be united against. Nature can not be cast in the mould of Osama bin Laden. That tragedy united the nation. The hurricane and the disproportionate suffering of black Americans and the conduct of the poor have only divided the nation.

This crisis is expected to take a toll of thousands of lives. Losses are estimated at 100 billion dollars. The city of New Orleans can not be drained for weeks. It will be easier to build a new skyscraper on the site in New York where the World Trade Centre stood till very early morning on September 11.

The future of New Orleans remains to be debated. Some say it should be abandoned. For months the after-effects of the storm will be felt by the victims who remain without homes or fall prey to infectious diseases.

As if all that was not bad enough, President Bush is having to confront this crisis at a time when his popularity ratings are falling, the Iraq war is not going well, violence is resurfacing in Afghanistan,and the domestic economic scene and the surge in petrol prices are fuelling anxiety.

from Katrina takes a toll on Bush by L K Sharma