"When Mr Bush visits New Orleans, he may have to answer increasing criticism that his Administration took money from a program to reinforce the levee banks to fund the war on Iraq.
The former head of the US Army Corps of Engineers, the agency that handles the infrastructure of the nation's waterways, said the damage in New Orleans probably would have been much less extensive had flood-control efforts been fully funded."
That's the part of the article that got to me.
Yeah, but they never told anyone WHY they were underfunded:
Sierra Club environazis blocked further work.
NO refusal to pay 50% of the grant money (required by law). They wanted the feds to pay 100%.
Funny, every other state understood the terms, as laid out by Congress.
2 questions
1. Is it possible that if the levy were stronger that the eventual failure could have made the flooding faster and harder when the inevitable happened?
2. Why cannot the city/state etc fund the levy's if they are so critical? No one stopped them to my knowledge.